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Changing Your email Marketing Company - A Lesson Learnt

by longhotsummer
11 replies
I had built up a mailing list of almost 800 Newsletter Subscribers on my website. I sell a very niche product, and 800 is pretty good going. For reasons too long to go into here, I had not mailed the list for over 6 months.

Anyway, I needed to find a new email marketing service and chose AWeber, a market leader. On importing my list to AWeber, it insisted on a double opt-in since it had not been mailed for 6 months+. I lost almost 240 subscribers in one fell swoop (ie, a large percentage of my list). My following email campaign to the mailing list decimated through Weber's policy was a failure. AWeber charged me almost $320 USD per annum for the privilege.

Yes, I know, with a list not serviced for 6 months, there might have been some complaints. There were none. Yes, I lost 80 in Unsubscribes, but nowhere near the 240 that I lost through AWeber's mandatory double opt-in.

I took my complete list to MailChimp. It allowed me to design a beautiful HTML newsletter and mail the complete list of 800 with no double opt-in. My first MailChimp campaign last weekend netted me over £3000 GBP.


For this service, MailChimp charges... wait for it... nothing.


#changing #company #email #learnt #lesson #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author Matt Poc
    This is a business. AWeber is a great service if you mail to a bigger number of people. But I would not recommend buying yearly memberships until you test and know that service will work for you.
    Most good autoresponders do not allow to import subs without a double confirmation. And with a double confirmation you will always lose subscribers.
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    • Profile picture of the author DianaLensbury
      Getresponse will allow you, upon request, to import subscribers without going through a double opt-in. Just tell them that you're moving your list from Aweber to Getresponse because Getresponse looks much better. They like that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sinistar
    I thought MailChimp was double optin only...
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  • Profile picture of the author antina
    GetResponse is just so much better than Aweber.
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    • Profile picture of the author longhotsummer
      MailChimp allowed me to bypass the double opt-in, whereas AWeber did not. I appreciate that AWeber is 'a business', but so am I. MailChimp offers a professional service, without an unavoidable double opt-in, and (for those with smaller mailing lists) absolutely free. AWeber was charging me almost $320 USD pa for a 'service' that included decimating my list.
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  • Profile picture of the author Olympio
    In the past Aweber is leader in market, today Aweber is losing most of the market and GetResponse gets it. You do well to go to mailchimp. We are there to make money not to get rich those companies which are not ready to help us.

    Olympio
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  • Profile picture of the author HugoLand
    "GetResponse is just so much better than Aweber." JaJaJaJa

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  • Profile picture of the author mediadealer
    Aweber allows importing without reconfirm now.
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    Have an internet marketing list? Want to build it bigger...TODAY? PM me to setup a solo ad swap or other jv/cross promo arrangement.

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    • Profile picture of the author bobby_shahzad
      All email Service Providers (ESPs) maintain strict policies to encounter spam. You are one good business owners, but there are plenty of spammers there who can abuse ESPs system and harm their deliverability. That is why ESPs maintain double optin policies on new list import.

      Aweber is just one of those ESPs, but why mailchimp does not require double optin?

      Well Mailchimps approach to this situation is different. They allow you to import anything and then keep a strict watch on your bounce rate and spam complaint. The moment your new list cross the threshold they will either warn you or shut down your account.

      In your case, since you had good relationship with your list in past, you didn't get any complaints. But if some spammer who has purchased a list would try to do this thing he will be caught up front and shown way to doors.

      ESPs take their email reputation very seriously hence justifies the strict double optin plicies.
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      BulkResponse.com Email marketing service , single and double optin accounts. List Hygiene Service Available.
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  • Profile picture of the author Granulr
    Its in the ESP's good intentions to strip out bad email addresses. It doesn't take much to get an IP address blacklisted now days, hence why most now call for double opt in.

    To be fair, it is worth your time and effort to get double opt in anyway, these customers/readers are genuine people interested in your product, and chances are they would buy....
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    • Profile picture of the author longhotsummer
      Originally Posted by Granulr View Post

      To be fair, it is worth your time and effort to get double opt in anyway, these customers/readers are genuine people interested in your product, and chances are they would buy....
      With respect, no way! All double opt-ins lose subscribers. In my case approx 50%. We are in age where almost everyone in the developed world seems to be busy. We all want everything fast, fast, fast. Those of us on the web each day are inundated with emails and other approaches. If the history of double opt-in has taught us anything it is that people often just cannot be bothered to double opt. It is simply human nature. The view that if previous subscribers were committed to the product, then they would cheerfully opt-in yet again is, in my view and experience, both specious and spurious.
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