How to Choose Autoresponder

Choosing an autoresponder provider

June 30, 2020 @ 6:19 am

by Vitaliy

in email marketing, Smart Marketers Advice

Original version of this article was published at my other site: vitalstep.xyz

In this brief review I would like to lay out some ideas on choosing an autoresponder provider. There are dozens of autoresponders to choose from, even hundreds if you consider smaller and self-hosted solutions. It may not be easy to decide which provider to choose from.

One obvious solution that works for many is using one of those well established providers with a good reputation.

Why does it matter? Larger autoresponder companies have a good connection with numerous ISPs, which ensures a better deliverability rate. If no person gets your emails due to the fact they’ve been caught in a spam folder, your results will be close to none. This is why choosing a reliable autoresponder helps to get results with email marketing. If your emails don't get delivered, what's the point in using that autoresponder?

Prices vary considerably depending on the provider. It’s important to analyze how big is your list (how many prospects your emails will be sent to) and how much you are ready to pay for the service. In general, if your list is somewhere in between 500-1000 leads, then get ready to pay around $15-$25 per month. The bigger is the list, the bigger budget you would need. Anyway, you can start small and increase that number gradually.

Some autoresponder systems have additional features that improve your mailings like landing pages, webinar capabilities, tracking, etc. This might impact which autoresponder you choose. However, I'd rather focus on their reliability, quality, and deliverability. You can always get those extra features somewhere else. For example, I have implemented most of those tools on my own hosting (more on that in the succeeding articles).

Aweber

Now, let me briefly refer to a few such services. One of the leading solutions is Aweber. This provider isn't a cheap one but it has lots of features. It also is a newbie-friendly autoresponder.

By the way, if you’re interested in 45+ email content templates and the complete course to writing great emails, here is how you can get it from Aweber for free.

GetResponse

Another excellent provider is GetResponse. It's similar to Aweber, not hard to master and it has slightly lower prices. Both services provide a 30-days free trial, which is enough to evaluate whether you like it or not. My experience with GetResponse left positive impressions on me.

MailChimp

Also, there is MailChimp. Some people choose it because of their free plan of up to 2,000 leads.

However, there is a 10 000 email limitation related to the number of mailings you can do per month. It looks like they have their own philosophy regarding email marketing which does not go in line with internet or affiliate marketing. I have had a few attempts to use this service and it simply didn't work out for me. Whenever I tried to send out my mailings or integrate them with the third party service, there was some sort of a tech problem (the subscriber won't get the message or some additional verification is required on the part of a subscriber).

Maybe it was just my experience, but eventually, I have abandoned my testing outs attempts. Still, MailChimp is plenty of innovative features other autoresponders don’t have. Should you go for it - examine their rules thoroughly and test out your mailings first to make sure it all goes smoothly and reaches your prospect.

ConvertKit

If you just want to test out waters for free, I'd recommend ConvertKit, which is another alternative with a free plan of up to 1000 leads. You don't get a full-featured autoresponder with a free plan, but that's a reliable way to capture leads and redirect them to your landing page. In addition to that, you get 30+ premium landing page templates, unlimited email broadcasts, and signup forms.

All In One Profits

For newbie marketers with limited resources, I would highly recommend AIOP - All In One Profits marketing solution. I doubt you can find a more affordable solution than that.

AIOP comes with unlimited autoresponders, unlimited broadcasts, website hosting, splash page creator and tracking, and all this for just $10 (plus $1.50 admin-transaction fee). Here's my overview of why I've chosen AIOP and the video for your reference.

I have a strong conviction that any marketer that starts out online should have two things in place:
1. Autoresponder 2. Website (hosting). AllInOneProfits easily covers that need and gives you even more marketing tools.

Summary

Anyway, I hope this article was helpful and gets you in the right direction. Whether you choose such autoresponder as Aweber, GetResponse, or AIOP, the keyword here is "start" with something. Test it out and see how much email marketing can do for your business. Feel free to comment or ask me a question if in doubt.

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