GetResponse, Aweber, and iContact: Does it really matter what autoresponder you use?

Of course it is. The interface does make a difference and also the options and tools. I believe that Aweber (I use it) is the best.

Mike G

I have not used Aweber ever in my entire IM career so I can not say if Aweber is any better then Getresponse but all I can say is that I have been VERY happy with Getresponse for a couple years now.

Getresponse also has an affiliate program.

Tal

Depends on what you want to use the list for. But with all honesty and yes I sound like a broken record. The money is in the list! So why not spend the extra few bucks a month to get a rock solid program for your list building?

aweber is the best. i have been using it for a long time. they have very user-friendly interface, tons of features + they constantly keep adding new features.

aweber get's my recommendation.

i have used icontact and they are also good, one thing that turns me off is their
send limit...which I don't see anyone talking about.

iContact Knowledge Base - iContact Knowledgebase

basically you get to send 6x your list size in emails...so that means u can broadcast your list 6x per mo. after that you pay per msg! follow up emails also count against that send limit...

enjoy!
--Corey

Each of the companies is very different and each offer different things. You do need to work out what you need for your buisness - long term.

Also look at pricing and look at the high numbers because that is where you want to be and do not go for the cheapest.

Hope this helps
AndyUj

The biggest thing with any autoresponder service is the email deliverability - which basically means, how many of your emails end up in your subscriber's inbox, rather than in the spam/junk folder, or simply getting rejected outright by the recipient's mail server.

Aweber gets my vote, as their deliverability is fantastic.

I've seen GetResponse's free account facility being abused by spammers in the past, so I don't know if I would risk an account with GR.

I also have my own autoresponder/membership software at http://DigitalAccessPass.com (DAP). Of course, with DAP, you can throttle outgoing emails to stay within your host's sending limits, or you can even configure it to use an external email provider like Fusemail to send the outgoing emails, thus totally bypassing your host's email limits.

- Ravi Jayagopal

The one thing about Aweber is their opt in confirmation emails go out straight away. I found that with iContact, even though it's more affordable, the cut on price seems to go with a cut on speed. The emails, in my experience, seemed to take quite some time to send.

As mentioned the key with both Aweber and GR is deliverability. Using your own AR you might get blacklisted so its never a good option. That said GR is just garbage at the moment and they need to sort it and quick.

I believe it might be, but it doesn't determine
your success, that's for sure...

I use getresponse, many use aweber. Those are the 2 most
popular so it just makes sense to use them.

Igor

Yes it matter when your are looking your email marking on serious node.

Actually delivery rates sucks when you choose those cheap services.

I am with Get Response right now and nothing works - my sign up boxes have been out of action for over a week and my advertising on pause.

Customer service is average.

Pricing now going to be in line with Aweber so I would choose Aweber of Get Response without a shadow of doubt.

I'm looking to close my Get Response account very shortly if they don't fix their issues. As I have 71 mailing lists this is not a task I relish!!

Peace of I
Shelley

PS Thank you to those who posted more info on iContact - re limit of email sending - how does Aweber compare with this - do you pay per subscriber no matter how many emails you send or is there also a limit?

Have not used many autoresponders though, but recently bought GetResponse and my experience has been pretty good so far.I have contacted their customer service with queries quite a few times and I am satisfied to hear back from them within a few hours.

Further, have heard aweber is very good too.

Hope this helps,

Thanks

ABSOLUTELY dlmartin - I started out like this and it's more than a pain.

For a start you have to remove bounces but which ones? I had email addresses I knew to be good on the bounce list - they just bounced once because the box was full and were delivered second time.

You've got to have your computer running 24/7 and with Mailloop whenever there was a short cut out of electricity or of the net the programme would stop and you might not discover that till the next morning.

Sending your own emails is the pain of the century. Better off spending your time creating products and doing other marketing.

Shelley

Hi - a comment from me based on instinct is to avoid any re-sellers because you'll have less stability.

A bigger company will be more likely to continue into the future even if there is a change of ownership.

Smaller companies or worse yet, an individual, will put you more at risk. What happens if they die, like Cory Rudl did?

Shelley

I've only ever used AWeber, so I can't tell you how it compares to anything else. But I'd never even think of changing. They've never let me down, and I know they have great deliverability.

It shouldn't matter too much that their prices go up with your subscriber count - you'll be making more money by the time your prices go up. And for the service they offer, their prices are still ridiculously cheap.

I use aweber and havent had a single issue and prefer them for all the features on offer. But then again i havent been with getresponse though there seems to be a lot of bad press about them lately.

kind regards


sam
X

Aweber is the best and ProFollow.com is the best of the best. It's a private label aweber with unlimited autoresponders and everything else all for one low price $20.00 a month. Man I sure wish they had a affiliate program, I could sell this one.

I've used all three, plus several others, including scripts and programs hosted on my own server or my personal PC.

All have their pros and cons and if all you're doing is basic AR marketing stuff (newsletters and autoresponse followups) I think when all is said and done that these 3 provide the same basic service, and for the most part do it well.

No firm/software can guarantee deliver ability. ISPs and others do not take money from these providers to ensure deliver ability. However, if a company establishes a relationship the isps will set expectations with them - ie we wont bounce your emails if you do X(keep complaints below a certain % etc). Plus the firms will get either a priority email or phone number to discuss issues.

Its not pay us $X and we won't bounce your emails. No respectable ISP would do that in fear of losing their bandwidth, BGP peer routes, or ARIN allocations. In fact its these fears that drive most providers to assume you're guilty until you prove you're innocent. They'll shut you down rather than risk getting shut down themselves.

If you use the search button for the forum you'll see this question debated many times each month.

I don't think you can go horribly wrong with any of these firms. Having said that I'll put in my $0.02 worth and say I use and like iContact for a hosted solution. I really like their community system (and so does Google!) and posts there get indexed pretty quick. I've seen local companies using just iContact - w/o a website - and still rank pretty high in local searches from just the link juice iContact provides.

For a PC/Dedicated solution I recommend - and use - Autoresponse Plus. A great program if you have a list who knows you well and is not likely to hit the SPAM button to unsubscribe.

For just sending out newsletters I use WorldMerge on my PC, though I've not done that in a while.

peace,
--Jack

Dear Jacktackett

Thank you for your useful post.

If Get Response continue with their incredible mess I shall switch to iContact.
But with my 71 campaigns I'm hoping GR will fix the mess!
For those wanting news on GR at today's date the service is unavailable to me completely - so not looking good I'm afraid.

Look at the integration and API of services. Aweber has some
good options there. I recently was looking at MailChimp and
it has a bunch of plugins available for things like Drupal and
WordPress.

I use GetResponse - but as my needs change I'll move on to
another option if it makes sense to do so. It's not just
a matter of deliverability which is pretty good for the big
AR services and not something I would recommend getting
too obsessed with.

The services you choose... how well do they work and "talk"
to the other things you use? If you approach it this way
you can design the business you want to have.

Ive been using Aweber for a long time now and have had great success with it, the interface is easy to use and the reliability is great too of course

MailChimp all the way. I used to host my own, then decided I wanted to go to a service, and after checking out every one that I could find, I selected MailChimp and I'm exceptionally pleased. The package they have is awesome, and their support is tremendous.

I have used both IContact and AWeber and I definitely feel that AWeber is the way to go. Their analytics and segment tools are extremely useful.

Hi,

I have not used any of the above, however, use Auto Responder Plus and have had no problems at all. Plus is easy to use and if you need support it is always there.

Hope this helps, good luck with your list building, and best wishes

I tested the 3 about 1-1/2 years ago after my previous company went under and lost all my subscribers. Aweber had the best deliverability at the time so I stuck with them.

I still have intermittent problems getting peoples emails that use Getresponse.

I have used GetResponse for a while and loathe it. I'm moving everything over to other autoresponders as fast as I can.

I've been using iContact for a few days now (free trial) and am having problems with email delivery.

I tested 3 Yahoo! addresses and one hotmail.

After sign up, 2 Yahoo addresses received the welcome/opt-in email in the SPAM folder.

The other Yahoo and Hotmail address didn't receive it at all.

Has anyone used iContact? They're excellent support says the spam filters in Yahoo and Hotmail may be preventing my autoresponders from going through.

If that's the case, then I should switch to Aweber.

I install oemPro on my own web host. I find it cheaper in the long run and the features are pretty good but Aweber/GetResponse do have more features.

I guess it should go without saying....lol
I use http://www.WizardResponderPro.com

Naturally Aweber has a massive client base - so they will always have hoards of people singing their praises...

But if you just want a service that does the job at a price that is more affordable without the fancy analytics - do pop along and check us out

Randy

May I know what you guys think about norabots?? Any comment??

Narobots is a new thing and I think it will be better to discuss it.

If you want a subscription based service then aweber is the best system, but of course there are autoresponders out there that you pay for only once thus saving you hundreds of dollars long term.

Thank you everyone for the great recommendations....I use aweber and really like it ...I am wondering if something is better and if anyone out there uses mailchimp??

thanks!

I think Aweber benefited by "product positioning" in the marketplace, but I've used both Aweber and GetResponse and they are relatively the same in their services in my opinion.

1) Deliverability
2) Deliverability
3) Deliverability
4) Pricing

:-)

Ravi Jayagopal

I love Aweber

I'm going to give a recommendation for a company who I just cancelled with. I have been using Aweber but recently moved another provider because of their integration with an affiliate program I switched to. I miscalculated by a day the time I left with Aweber and was charged a month I didn't plan on using. I contacted support, which has been the first time I have ever needed to contact them, and they immediately chargebacked my credit card for the amount. Even though it was the first time I had to contact them, first rate customer service. Replied quickly and was attentive. Thumbs up.

I have used many different ones and to me Aweber is the best one. Not too expansive, very easy to use, great delivery rates, great support..just love Aweber

DONT use infusionsoft for that - they are so super expensvie - aweber is worth the 20per month.

Of the three GetResponse is more liberal with Internet Marketing/ Make mOney ONline niches.

What would be penalized by aweber might get you a pass from get response!