AUTORESPONDER SERVICES Reviewed
Top 5 AUTORESPONDER SERVICES
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Welcome to my Autoresponder Service Review!We’re dedicated to providing unbiased reviews of the most popular autoresponder services so you can make the right decision for your business. When you select an autoresponder service you trust them with your prospects and the lifeblood of your online marketing endeavors. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly. Here you’ll find a quick summary of the pros and cons of several of the most popular autoresponder services, as well as my final recommendation based on the facts. What is an autoresponder?Many people talk about autoresponders and how they can be used in your business, but what actually is an autoresponder? Simply put, an autoresponder is an online service or downloadable software that will help you send e-mails automatically to a list of prospects. In most cases, the e-mails are only sent to people who have agreed to receive information from you. Without their permission, these types of e-mails could be considered spam. Autoresponders require you to input your own e-mail messages, although as you’ll see in the reviews, some offer customizable templates that can be used to create unique messages. You set up a sequence of pre-written messages that are delivered at a pre-determined time. Every person who signs up to receive your messages will get them, without intervention from you. You can also send broadcast messages to your list if you want to deliver updates and timely messages. Why do I need a list?Your e-mail marketing list is your only link between your website and the future decisions of your potential market. Picture this. A prospect lands on your website and finds the information interesting, but doesn’t want to make a decision just yet. They may bookmark the page, but chances are they will never come back to your website again. Alternatively, you can offer a free report or e-mail course on your website in exchange for a person’s e-mail address. You can send the prospect consistent e-mail messages that are helpful in nature. When the prospect is ready to make their decision, they’ll be more familiar with your site and remember your message. When it comes to selling products or services online, you need to build trust with your audience – and fast! They don’t know if your website is legit until you prove it with quality information and smart business practices. You can build a relationship with your audience when you have an e-mail marketing list. You can extend the time period of your interaction and build more trust. More trust = more sales! How will an autoresponder help me?An autoresponder makes the entire process easy. Can you imagine trying to manage a database of thousands of e-mail addresses and coordinate outgoing messages to these names? You may be able to send mass e-mails, but you definitely wouldn’t have the “set it and forget” capabilities that an autoresponder offers. Without an autoresponder, your website and your message are forgettable. An autoresponder system can make your business run 24/7 without your intervention. Which? An Autoresponder Service or downloadable Software Program?Although there is a monthly fee, the convenience of an autoresponder service provider greatly outweighs the hassle of trying to do it yourself. After all, your online business should be as automated and simple as possible! Instead of having to download or install an autoresponder program, you can use an autoresponder service provider like the ones we are reviewing today. For a low monthly fee, you can have unlimited autoresponders, advanced autoresponder features and protection from spam complaints. With a service provider, you just have to sign up and you’re ready to build your list. You won’t have to worry about installing things correctly, getting banned by your ISP or exceeding bandwidth limits. We have tested and reviewed the following 5 autoresponder sevices: |
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QuickTellPro is a re-vamped autoresponder service that has rejoined the market after nearly 2 years of re-development. They offer a FREE service and an impressive list of features....QuickTellPro is an experienced autoresponder provider that has recently had a facelift. It has been rebuilt from the ground up to make the service more user-friendly and the messaging capabilities on target. It offers a competitive list of benefits, and the developers are continually improving the benefits to include features offered by competitors or requested by customers. List creation and management: You can create an unlimited number of responders within the QuickTellPro system. Once you decide on the name of your list, you can use the form wizard to create one of four different types of boxes – an HTML box, a pop up, an exit pop up or a light box hover. You can also import lists from other services to make the transition to QuickTellPro easy. Message creation: Messages can be created in HTML format with one of several templates, or you can use simple text messages. You can add in images (like your logo), PDF and live links. The WYSIWYG editor allows you to customize the template to meet your needs. If you want to send both HTML and plain text messages, the system will automatically convert HTML to text so you don’t have to write the same message twice. There are dozens of autoresponder tokens that can be used to create customized messages within pre-written templates. Sending messages: You can send unlimited broadcasts per month to your subscribers, or you can put them on a series of pre-loaded follow up messages. This feature is similar to many other autoresponder programs. SPAM filters ensure that your messages are compliant with laws and can be delivered no matter what e-mail program your leads are using. Once your messages go out, you’ll receive an e-mailed report of delivery. Your broadcast messages will all be archived for your future use. Results tracking: QuickTellPro offers graphical representations of your message results, but you also have the option of getting e-mailed reports when your messages are sent. You can get updated on bounced mail and confirmation of delivery. Pricing: There are several levels of membership available for e-mail marketers, the best way is to start with the FREE autoresponder service which includes all the normal features offered and upto 100 list members. As your list gets bigger you can pay on a monthly basis, a quarterly basis (with a 10% discount) or a yearly basis (with a 25% discount). Packages start at just $9.00 for 500 list members and go up to $79.00 for 25000 list members. There are also packages available at 5000 list members and 10000 list members. Final comments: QuickTellPro has a lot of features that other autoresponders don’t offer, and they are continually adding features to meet the needs of their customers. Although their prices increase as you grow your list, their prices are in most cases 60% lower than other competitive autoresponder services and they are the only service that lets you start for free and remain free forever.
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QuickTellpro 
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Aweber is one of the most popular autoresponder service providers, but is it necessarily the best? Learn more about Aweber’s features and pricing....Aweber is an autoresponder service that doesn’t require any downloads to your server. This means that it is easy to use and there is very little technical set up required. It will send messages to your leads on a pre-set schedule but you can also do broadcast messages at any time you wish to contact your list. List creation and management: Lists are built through opt-in forms which can be created within the system. With the web form generator in Aweber’s system, it is easy to create opt-in forms that pop up, pop under, slide in or be imbedded in your website. The main benefit of Aweber is that you can create unlimited accounts within their system and unlimited messages within those lists. Message creation: You can create your messages in Aweber’s message creation screen. You can choose from one of several HTML templates or use a simple text format. You can imbed your links within HTML messages, and the system will let you know if the messages are SPAM compliant. Sending messages: With certain levels of service, you can ensure that your leads get their follow up messages only on certain days of the week (for example, you can prevent weekend delivery on all messages). This is a convenient feature that ensures members receive follow up messages at optimal times no matter when they join your list. Results tracking: You can track your messages 24/7 through their online system, including seeing open rates, bounce rates and spam complaints. Other tracking features include being able to send more than one version of a message for split testing. Pricing: Aweber has three options for payment, $19 per month, $49 per quarter or $194 yearly. There are also additional monthly charges if you have a large amount of subscribers. The rate is the same for up to 500 subscribers. If you have 501 to 2500 subscribers, you’ll be charged an extra $10 per month. Subscriber numbers of 2501 to 5000 will cost you an extra $30 per month. If you have a subscriber list of 5001 to 10,000, you’ll pay an extra $50 per month. The final level is from 10,001 to 25,000 and is an extra $130 charged per month. There is no free trial version of Aweber, but they offer a 30 day guarantee. If you are unhappy with the service, you can get your money back within the first month. Final evaluation: Their customer service and ease of use make Aweber a good choice. They have reliable customer service and extensive tutorials, but for large lists it can be cost prohibitive.
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Aweber
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GetResponse has been in business for the past 12 years. They have a slick interface and easy to use options, however their customer service has not always been reliable...GetResponse has been in business since 1998 and has been considered one of the leaders in the autoresponder industry. It has a 30 day money back guarantee and web-based subscription program that doesn’t require much technical know how to get set up. List creation and management: Once you login to GetResponse, you’ll be able to choose whether you’d like to set up a new message, or a new list. You can also create a survey with the system. Once you’ve established the basic data for your list, you can add follow up messages and broadcast messages, much like other autoresponder programs. Message creation: Messages are created through the online system, with an HTML template or you can create a design of your own. There are over 300 templates for you to choose from. You can edit the templates extensively to meet your personal needs. You can also insert a PDF, video or audio into your e-mail marketing message through GetResponse’s interface. Split testing your messages is also an option. You can create up to five different versions of your message that will be sent to different segments of your list so you can test their effectiveness. Sending messages: Your messages will be sent per your instructions, whether they are delivered immediately after a subscriber opts into your list, weeks or months later. Much like other autoresponder services you can create automated follow up messages and broadcast messages. GetResponse allows you to create an RSS feed from your messages that can be published on a blog. Results tracking: GetReponse has many different tracking tools that help you analyze your campaign. All the basic metrics are covered that you’d expect – open rates, delivery rates, forwards, click-throughs, etc. There are also several features that go above and beyond standard e-mail results tracking. Pricing: GetResponse has a free trial that you can use to test out their service. With the free version of the program, all of the messages you send will include an advertisement for GetResponse. The free version is only available for up to 10 contacts. The first level of service is $18 per month for up to 500 contacts. The price increases to $28 for up to 2,500 contacts. If you need a list of 2,501 to 5,000 contacts, it will be $45 per month. Lists of 5,001 to 10,000 will cost $65 per month. For more than that, the subscription starts at $145 per month. Final evaluation: GetResponse is a leader in the field for a reason. Their service and features are among the best in the industry, but their increasing prices can be a deterrent to growing your list.
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Getresponse
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iContact allows you to send messages to different demographics, without creating a new list....iContact is a web-based autoresponder program that offers a free trial for their services. Since you don’t have to send the e-mail messages from your server, it saves you bandwidth and money. iContact also includes an online community where you can get help from other users in utilizing their system. List creation and management: iContact allows you to use different aliases for your lists, if you are involved in many niches and want to give each a separate identity. You can gather names for your lists with their standard web form or make one of your own. Message creation: Messages can be created with one of over 300 different premade templates. This makes message creation easy for you and attractive to your subscribers. Your messages will automatically be analyzed for SPAM phrases to ensure that your messages will get through to all of your subscribers. You can also design and upload your own templates if you want to get more customized. Sending messages: One of the unique features of iContact is that it allows you to send messages to your list members based on demographics, without having to set up an entirely new list for that demographic. You can send a broadcast message to a segment of your list. You can filter message sending by 13 different standard fields, including age, date of entry to the list or custom fields that you choose to use. Results tracking: iContact takes a detailed accounting of subscriber actions so you know how to target your future marketing to your list. The system will track click-throughs, how many messages have been sent, what your subscribers have forwarded, how many messages have been successfully delivered and which messages caused members to unsubscribe. You can access the data through graphs to see how your campaigns are doing. Pricing: iContact has a flexible pricing system based on how many contacts you collect. There is a 15 day free trial where you can send 500 messages to up to 250 subscribers. By trying it out you can determine if the program is right for you. Prices range from $9.95 per month for 250 contacts, $19 per month for 1000 contacts, $74 per month for 10,000 contacts and $699 per month for 1,000,000 contacts. There are also pricing levels at 500, 5000, 15000, 25000, 35000, 50000 and 75000. Final evaluation: Their interface is nicely designed and easy to use, but the quick price increases as your list grows make it a poor choice for long term use.
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iContact
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MailChimp is a light autoresponder option that is minimal on features, but low in price....MailChimp is relatively new to the e-mail marketing service game. They offer a free version and a monthly subscription version of the autoresponder service. List creation and management: MailChimp allows you to create campaigns in one of several forms. You can choose standard HTML and even A/B split testing campaigns. With this option you can send slightly different e-mails to two different groups of people to test subject lines, send times or different “from” names. The other two options are text only and RSS-driven campaigns. The campaign creation isn’t as straightforward as it is with other systems, but any problems are quickly cleared up by watching the tutorial videos. Message creation: With message creation you can choose colors for your messages based on the colors of your website, which is a nice feature. This makes your e-mail messages fully integrated with your website. The wizard helps you set up your e-mail marketing messages, and there are even examples of subject lines in the FAQ section to help you get started. You can add images to your messages, but there is a limit of 1mb per image. Sending messages: E-mail messages can be sent automatically or at a pre-determined time. The major drawback to sending messages with MailChimp, compared to other services, is that there is no SPAM filter. There is a SPAM filter upgrade for $39 per month that will check your messages against 16 different e-mail services to make sure that your messages will be received. Results tracking: Like the other competitors, MailChimp offers many ways to evaluate your data. You can see the click through rates, sent e-mails, bounced e-mails and a few other options. However, they are missing conversion tracking and several comparison options that other services have. You can integrate your tracking with Google Analytics. Pricing: MailChimp offers a free option that includes 100 contacts and six e-mails per month. There are two pricing options. You can pay on a monthly basis at one of several levels. The monthly plans start at $10 for up to 500 subscribers, all the way up to $240 for 50,000 subscribers. There is also a pay as you go plan which offers “credits” that work like stamps. Each time you send an e-mail, a credit is deducted from your account. It works out to be about .03 per e-mail under 500 e-mails and less for more quantity. Final evaluation: MailChimp has a lot to offer but needs to iron out a few of the kinks before it can be competitive with other options.
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MailChimp |
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Final recommendation: The first thing you should look for in an autoresponder service is features. Based on the various options available, Aweber, GetResponse and QuickTellPro have the widest variety of features to help e-mail marketers. All three services offer list creation, message creation and tracking features that will make e-mail marketing easy for people who are new to using autoresponders. The next consideration is price. All things being considered, QuickTellPro offers the lowest prices of all the services with the best features. They even include a few additional features that the other services don’t offer. For this reason, QuickTellPro is our recommended choice for an autoresponder service, plus they have their Free Autoresponder account offer which includes unlimited followups/broadcasts/responder lists and use of all their great features. |
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