I was using Unbounce previously, the tool is great, but being forced to use online editor - really annoying.
Also, you have no control over your HTML and CSS: you can’t extend it the way you want, online editor limits you.
This is classical vendor lock - if you decide to move to another landing page tool you can’t export and import.
So I decided to build my own tool.
No online editor - just upload your HTML, JS and CSS and it is working.
Hosting, A/B split testing and analytics - all included.
What do you think about the idea? Is it worth implementing?
I would really appreciate if you answer two questions:
If I have a goal, the time, the exact design idea and the knowledge, there’s no doubt I’ll build it myself. DIY is obviously the most flexible way since you have total control.
Now, if you lack of any of these, these landing page builders are extremely handy to the I-have-no-time-for-this type of business owners, solopreneurs and users who would rather hide a developer to do all their landing pages if they didn’t know about them.
About the tools, there are lots out there that fit different needs. Some users are fine with an easy fill-in-the-blank builders like LeadPages’ and it probably works just fine for them, some others prefer tools that will give you as much flexibility possible (not to count features that you mention like A/B test and real-time analytics), like Unbounce - and it works as fine. And I’m abide to say because I work at Wishpond, which also offers a landing page builder tool.
Now, to answer your questions: Me as a developer/semi-designer working at my own pace, heck yes I’d build landing pages myself; Me as a busy marketer, these tools work like a charm.