My Loss = Your Gain?

If you are searching for an email marketing solution or autoresponder software,  you are on the right page, because my story of using an autoresponder may help you save lots of time and potential lost money.

I failed so that you may gain.    It was definitely a mistake on my side, by trying to think “smart”, by using some free or low cost autoresponder service earlier in my internet marketing career.   This made me lose 2 years with my online venture!

By picking a wrong email autoresponder, I’ve lost lots of time, which was more invaluable to me…

Here is my embarrassing story, and I hope you won’t make the same mistake, or I won’t take pity on you.

Back in 2004, I wanted “cheap and easy” method to manage my email marketing campaign. I bought a script (very famous third party script) and managed to install it onto my shared hosting server.

At the very beginning, I had some success and in 3 weeks time. I sold 3-4 of my e-publications.  How did I do it?  Simple,  you set up your pre-loaded follow up  messages in your autoresponders and then it automatically send emails to my subscribers.

I was happy…. too early.

That success was also the beginning of my online misery. It was one of my biggest marketing mistakes I should have avoided if I listened to what other experienced marketers were doing.

The script worked fine in the beginning, but later the script was not fully supported by the vendor.  Mind you it was not a cheap autoresponder – it cost me $197!

My emails were simply not getting to my subscribers!

Many web service providers like AOL blocked my emails as they thought my emails were were SPAM! I had used double opt-in subscription method to sign up my subscribers.

In case, if you are new to the term “double opt-in”, it means that people who subscribe or optin to your email list has to confirm, before you can officially contact them.  This is done to comply with the CAN-SPAM act and is recommended commonly these days.

No matter how well you manage your newsletter, someone will complain to his/her ISP (internet service provider) that your emails are spams. It will happen, one day soon, if that has not happened.

Now, after 2 years of frustration, I quied using that self-hosted auto-responder service. I am now using third-party auto responder.

Autoresponder Comparison

I did my homework and researched it hard enough. There were two final autoresponder contestants: GetResponse and Aweber back in 2006-7 when I first used Aweber.

Both GetResponse and Aweber have very good reputation – while Aweber is a tad more popular due to the fact that it is more user-friendly and the web-interface is more fine-tuned, while GetResponse has more criticisms towards its interface for not being intuitive enough.

Aweber tries hard to deliver your email. At the time of writing, it delivers 99 out of 100 emails! (Actually it!|s 99.4%!) The highest deliverability known.

8 out of 10 internet marketers use Aweber as their autoresponder provider. Aweber simply delivers. I have watched and read many reviews before commiting myself to it.

I highly recommend Aweber, especially if you are trying to market/ sell anything online.

I have used Aweber for more than 2 years, and have only good things to say about it.

Want to experience the power of Aweber yourself? Sign up the form below and test it out immediately.

AWeber Demo

Capture Hidden Profits with Unlimited auto responders AWeber!|s automated unlimited autoresponder follow up increases sales, lowers costs, builds lasting customer relationships, and increases your profits! Find out how with Unlimited auto responders.

Let’s face it, you need a truly functional autoresponder – one that really delivers – email that is. I have seen some online marketers asking for cheap or free autoresponder service but I think they are a tad off.

Autoresponder is not a service to cut corner from, as a reliable list management system is vital component of any viral traffic.  By viral, I mean, you’ve only have to do it once, you may have recurring traffic to your site as long as they remain as a subscriber.

The money is in the list

For more articles to learn how to build your subscriber list, click here.

You may get an optin-software which will boost the effectiveness of your email campaign when you subscribe.  It does not matter whether you use what type of autoresponder.

Update: Nov 11, 2009

The information I posted (above) was 2 years back.  So, do I still think the same?

Fast forward to 2009, do I still recommend AWeber as my top choice?  In one word, yes.

But… here are the caveats for you:

While I still think AWeber is one of the top autoresponders and I still personally use it as my primary list building tool.  You may want to check out a few other autoresponder services for other reasons below:

Cost/ Price

The cost structure for AWeber and many other autoresponders has significantly changed.  Previously, AWeber was inclusive package for unlimited number of list for a fixed price of $19.   Now that many third party autoresponder services (including AWeber) have adopted a “step-up” or “tiered-level” approach when it comes to cost of using their services.  Sadly, that applies to major Autoresponder companies, like  iContact, AWeber , GetResponse.

If you are looking from a cost perspective, it’s figured that iContact offers the better prices than AWeber and GetResponse.  Besides, iContact has received very good feedback, from some of the comments on my review page for iContact.  You may check it on the left and see their feedback.

If you love being cool and want to send out multimedia messages, you may want to check out GetResponse, who has revolutionized itself in Oct 09, whereby it combines video marketing and email marketing!

Of course, it’s only for those advanced marekters.   For only an additional $10 per month, your subscribers can immediately click, watch and listen to your message.  It definitely gives a personal touch and added advantages for your marketing campaigns.

All In One Package

If you are a newbie, I recommend you check out GVO - short name for “Global Virtual Opportunities”.  This is an exciting integrated service which was launched in November.  This is a complete solution which includes web hosting, unlimited autoresponder, video marketing, build-it automatical prospecting system and a lucrative profit plan.

It’s relatively cheap, if you consider it’s a total package.   If you count separately the functions, it can easily add up to $200-$300 per month.

GVO is only charging at $44.95.  I truly think it’s a true bargain.

Phew… that’s a long page and contained some of the top autoresponder review information for your consideration.    Hopefully, it helps you how to choose an autoresponder, not only a good autoresponder for your liking, but also one that fit your situation and budget.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know and I shall try to answer your questions shortly (below).
Cheers

Roy