My Top Autoresponders Review

An important part of successful affiliate marketing is the ability to stay in touch with your audience, buyers, or potential buyers, and having an autoresponder facilitates that. Emailing people 1 on 1 is simply a non-starter!

Hence my autoresponder review for each service I have personally used.

It took me as a marketer a long time to accept the reality of that email connection and there’s no doubt that I lost out financially by prevaricating and not using one from the get-go.

There are many ways in which you can use an autoresponder:

• You can pre-set the time when a person on your mailing list will receive a message from you. Write ONE email that ALL your subscribers receive. (That is the main point)
• You can set up different levels of communication and switch people from one level to the other ( for example, switch them from one list to another after they have made a purchase)
• You can program the responder to send messages based on what and where people take action on your website or via your emails
• You can email your list on an ad hoc basis whenever you choose OR set up an automated sequence of pre-written emails from the moment they sign-up and receive over time ( set and forget).

There’s plenty of choices when it comes to autoresponders. In this post, I have included five of the top players in the market. Read on to find out more about them ( In no necessary order)…

Aweber Autoresponder Review and Pricing Details

AWeber has been around for two decades and is perceived as the industry leader right now because they were kind of the first to the marketplace but they have a comprehensive set of services that you can test with a one-month free trial. Here are the main features of AWeber:

• A designer tool for automatically creating branded templates for your business or ‘brand’
• Drag and drop campaign editor for automating marketing funnels
• Unlimited emails and over 700 templates to choose from
• Subscriber tagging and targeting
• Sign up forms and pop-ups
• Subscriber segmenting based on preferences, actions, and location
• Email marketing API and integration with online tools
• Split testing and performance tracking
• Over 6000 stock photos
• Deliverability rate (messages delivered to the Inbox instead of spam)
• Free trial

Aweber Drawbacks

At a starting price of $19/month, AWeber costs more than some of its competitors.

Aweber Pricing at the time of posting…

• $19/mo for up to 500 subscribers
• $29/mo for up to 2.5k subscribers
• $49/mo for up to 5k subscribers
• $69/mo for up to 10k subscribers
• $149/mo for up to 25k subscribers
• Custom quotes for over 25k subscribers

AWeber accepts monthly, quarterly, and annual payments. By paying quarterly or annually, you can save 14% and 14.9% on your bill respectively.

> MORE DETAILS RE AWEBER

Mailchimp Autoresponder Review and Pricing Details

Like AWeber, Mailchimp has been around for a long time and has a large customer base, and appeals to first-timers for sure. The marketing platform is simple to use and offers a full set of services. However, they are seriously ‘anti-affiliate’ so handle with care. Mailchimp features:

• Pre‑designed templates and drag‑and‑drop builder
• Segmentation, tagging, and behavioral targeting
• Automation based on date, events, and relationship with the customer
• Product follow-up and retargeting
• A/B Testing
• Scheduled and instant social posting
• Facebook and Instagram ads
• Unlimited landing pages
• Hosted, pop-up, and embedded forms
• Audience insights and lookalike audience finder
• 300+ app integrations

MailChimp Drawbacks

Probably the most ‘strict’ when it comes to affiliate marketing. One Strike and you’re out if you post an affiliate link in an email!

MailChimp Pricing at the time of posting…

$9.99/mo for up to 500 subscribers
$19.99/mo for up to 1.5k subscribers
$29.99/mo for up to 2.5k subscribers
$49.99/mo for up to 5k subscribers
$74.99/mo for up to 10k subscribers
$129/mo for up to 15k subscribers
$159/mo for up to 20 k subscribers
$189/mo for up to 25k subscribers

> MORE DETAILS RE MAILCHIMP

ConvertKit Autoresponder Review and Pricing Details

ConvertKit focuses on the needs of content creators (i.e. bloggers, designers, etc.) and offers cool options for automation and analytics. ConverKit features :

• Unlimited, customizable opt-in forms
• Unlimited email sends
• Templates for landing pages
• Customizable visual automation for funnels
• Single window for editing forms (no need to switch between multiple tabs)
• Subscriber targeting with segments, tags, name, or date ( there’s a learning curve on this but when mastered you are ‘supercharged’)
• Custom template design without coding
• 70+ Direct integrations and API
• Free trial

ConvertKit Drawbacks

The smallest package is for 1k subscribers and it’s pricier than other alternatives but pro-marketers like it because of its ‘Inboxing’ track record.

ConvertKit Pricing at the time of posting…

• $25/month for up to 1k subscribers
• $41/mo for up to 3k subscribers
• $66/mo for up to 5k subscribers
• Custom price for over 5k subscribers

Plus Point: ConverterKit offers free concierge migration to their platform for customers having over 5k subscribers

> MORE DETAILS RE CONVERTKIT

GetResponse Autoresponder Review and Pricing Details

GetResponse offers a feature-rich marketing platform that has tools for marketing automation, webinars, forms, and landing pages. The general consensus seems to be that it is more ‘user-friendly’ than other platforms with features such as:

• Customized messages based on customer interests
• Triggered emails based on time, customer actions, etc.
• Unlimited messages per day and automation templates
• Drag-and-drop message management
• Funnels for leads, sales, and webinars
• Lead scoring
• Free trial

GetResponse Drawbacks

The smallest package is for 1k subscribers. MailChimp gives 2000 on the free option BUT is more affiliate marketer-friendly.

GetResponse Pricing Details

GetResponse offers three packages – Basic, Plus, and Professional – and three payment cycles – monthly, yearly, and 24-monthly. Here are the prices for the Basic plan (paid yearly) at the time of posting…

• $12.30/month for up to 1k subscribers
• $20.50/mo for up to 2.5k subscribers
• $36.90/mo for up to 5k subscribers
• $53.30/mo for 10k subscribers
• $118.90/mo for 25k subscribers

The Basic plan includes one sales funnel, unlimited lead funnels, landing pages, templates, Facebook ads, and e-product sales, along with the autoresponder and email marketing options.

> MORE DETAILS RE GETRESPONSE

Active Campaign Autoresponder Review and Pricing Details

Active Campaign has a wide range of options for internet marketers, including marketing automation, email marketing services, machine learning, lead scoring, and a Gmail extension, to name a few. Here are some of the features Active Campaign has to offer:

• Email scheduling and automated email funnels
• Triggered emails based on engagement, visit, and purchase.
• Audience segmentation
• Sign up forms
• Unlimited lead magnets

Active Campaign Drawbacks

A bigger price jump from 500 to 2.5k subscribers than some of its competitors.
Doesn’t offer landing page support.

Active Campaign Pricing

Active Campaign packages vary by the number of subscribers, the available features, and cycle (monthly/yearly). Here is the pricing for the Lite package (paid yearly)

• $9/month for up to 500 subscribers
• $39/mo for up to 2.5k subscribers
• $69/mo for up to 5k subscribers
• $111/mo for up to 10k subscribers
• $179/mo for up to 25k subscribers
• $239/mo for 50k subscribers

Active Campaign also offers Plus, Professional, and Enterprise packages. The Plus package contains everything in the light package, CRM with sales automation, SMS marketing, lead and contact scoring, etc.

> MORE DETAILS RE ACTIVE CAMPAIGN

NEW KID (niño) ON THE BLOCK!

AcumbaMail

I recently came across AcumbaMail. But the fact is that they have been around for nearly 10 years, based in Spain and until now focused on the European Market. but I was impressed nonetheless, have started using them, and here’s why…

If you are NOT looking to ‘blast’ your subscribers with emails (I’m not!) and just to send them a regular Newsletter ( 100’s of templates included) this is an economical, scalable solution

AcumbaMail Drawbacks

Parts of their user interface and their tutorials are Spanish-oriented.  They are working on this, I spoke to the very helpful Support Team and they confirmed that. Point is that their platform is SO much simpler to use than other AR companies the language issue is not a Big Deal…

AcumbaMail Pricing

Acumbamail packages vary NOT by the number of subscribers, but by the Emails SENT! Unusual but refreshing and that’s what got my initial interest:

• UNLIMITED Subscribers
• FREE Option: 250 Subscribers and 2000 emails per month
• 22 Euros per month = Unlimited Subscribers and 20,000 emails per month ( my current plan)
• Other plans offer more options, i.e. resends to ‘unopens’ etc.
• SMS Text to Subscribers included ( Not something I’ve used to date I have to say).

Acumbamail offers anybody getting started with building a list and email marketing a LOW entry point price-wise and a sensible scaling it up plan. The drawback is that the Spanish aspect CAN get in the way.  BTW: I do NOT speak Spanish and am kind of converted!

> MORE DETAILS RE ACUMBAMAIL

 

My Top Autoresponder Review Conclusion

At the end of the day, it all comes down to ‘Inboxing’ – your emails arriving in your subscriber’s inbox and not their ‘Spam’ folder. The top email providers such as GMail are on the lookout, constantly, for spammy emails. And the price of course.

Unfortunately whatever Autoresponder service you choose there are spammers using it too and the AR companies want to ban them and their primary goal is to keep their inboxing rate high and spammers are not good for business. ‘Deliverability’ is what an Autoresponder’s reputation is built upon.

This is why you should not risk being perceived by them as a spammer and getting your account banned – even losing your ‘list’ that you spent so much time, effort, and money to build.

But there are many things you can do, or NOT do, to minimize the risk of your emails being perceived as Spam, as well as not linking directly to affiliate offers and instead of creating a ‘bridge’ page on your domain.