Getresponse: Think before you press the Upgrade button

[ppc4profit]

When you log into the new Getresponse you are presented with a popup which says

We have successfully migrated your account to the New GetResponse.

Upgrade your account to the new features, or upgrade your account to the new pricing and the awesome, totally new GetResponse 6.0 features. The choice is up to you!

I recommend you select the "Don't Upgrade" button and take time fully understand the new pricing model and the new features. You can always upgrade at any time later and do not disadvantage yourself by delaying the decision.

In the FAQ section there is relevant information as follows.

I bought GetResponse before new version was available. Can I keep the old payment plan?

Yes, you may continue with your current payment plan and you will be able to take advantage of the new interface and some new features we have prepared for you. More features such us surveys, multimedia studio or split-tests will be unlocked however if you upgrade your account.

I nearly clicked the "Upgrade Now" button as the new pricing and new features seemed to be only $0.05 more than I am currently paying .... I then realised that the payment structure has now changed and depends upon list size.

[samstephens]

It looks like GetResponse has followed Aweber with their new pricing structure, which is a bit of a shame.

I hope existing customers can stay on the original plan when renewal time swings round.

cheers
Sam

[dylanloh]

I'm sticking with the old plan. Still trying to get used to the new interface of GR.

[Paul Hancox]

Thanks for the tips. I didn't get the pop-up message. I wanted to look at the split testing feature but was told I'd need to upgrade to get access.

The trouble is, the upgrade page didn't actually mention anything about the feature! I'm now a confused user.

Maybe they needed to have split tested their own improvements

[Simon Grabowski]

Paul, you'd need to upgrade to the new plan to take advantage of the split-test. We'll be more clear about this on the "upgrade" page. Thanks,

[Paul Hancox]

Wow, Simon... thanks for the fast response

Yeah, I just got confused, as the upgrade page itself didn't mention the split test thing.

Anyway, great job on the upgrade... pity your prices went up too ... but that's business, I guess

Again, thanks for answering so quickly. That's what I call service!

[Simon Grabowski]

Paul, thanks for your kind words.

Regarding the pricing issue:

For 95% of GetResponse users with lists less than 500 subscribers
the new pricing plan means an increase of $0.05 per month
(increasing from $17.95/mo to to $18.00/mo). That's less than 0.3%
increase for amazing value-adding features such as video email
marketing, surveys, split-tests, email analytics, iPhone app,
Twitter integration, integration with PayPal and other shopping carts
and more...

Customers with larger lists will find that GetResponse is still the most
reliable and cost-effective email marketing and autoresponder
service on the market, with competitive pricing and innovative features
that our competitors lack.

According to Forrester, video emails generate 85% higher
click-through rates than "regular" emails. Turn-key video email marketing
(recording, hosting, broadcasting) is just one of the features of the new
GetResponse 6.0. We're confident that with the all-new GetResponse
you will find that the overall cost of our service is a small price to pay
compared to the increased results you will see with the new features.

While we do recommend upgrading to the new service plan, we are
not forcing our customers to upgrade. Existing customers who do not
need the new features may stick to the legacy pricing plan.

[lilgrace]

Last week was the week I was deciding who to go with, aweber or get response. I picked getresponse. I wanted to wait till the improved getresponse was up and running so I wouldn't have to learn new changes. I wasn't too impressed with the new pricing stucture BUT I don't really have my list built up yet, just starting. I am assuming that by the time my list is up to 501 (the next pricing level) I will be earning enough to afford the increase anyway. Here's hoping!!! My site is done today and now I start marketing it!

[Paul Hancox]

Hi Simon

If you get the chance, could you briefly explain how the new split testing feature works?

Assuming I set up 5 versions, does it send out the versions to a SAMPLE of a list, work out the best response... and then email the winner out to the rest?

However it works, it sounds like a really useful feature

[Andy Hakeem]

I can't understand much with what does it means with 'Paypal intergration', does anyone care to explain?

-Andy

[Devan Koshal]

Im going to switch mail mailchimp, better pricing structure + features.

[globalpro]

I just missed the change on pricing. Should have jumped on it. Now that it's like Aweber's, makes me wonder if the service will follow Aweber's also.

They used to be good, then it seemed like something always going wrong.

Oh well, such is life.

Thanks,

John

[shirland]

I logged into my GetResponse yesterday to check out the new upgrades. I did not upgrade because I truly want to see the differences. The new design was a little tricky at first because I was able to set up a new campaign very easily.

[nicholasb]

I personally think I am gonna find somewhere else, I dont like the new optin forms..

I hate when companies switch everything on you, I wish I would of at least had a choice to say no or chose the old version

[Simon Grabowski]

Originally Posted by Paul Hancox

Assuming I set up 5 versions, does it send out the versions to a SAMPLE of a list, work out the best response... and then email the winner out to the rest?

Paul, that's exactly how it works. You can create up to 5 alternatives, then GR sends these different messages out to a sample of your list, monitors the results (you choose which results you want to track, i.e. open-rates), then picks the winner after X days (you choose "X") and sends out the winner to the rest of your list. And if you are a power user and need manual control rather than autopilot, that's available to you as well.

[Simon Grabowski]

Originally Posted by nicholasb

I personally think I am gonna find somewhere else, I dont like the new optin forms..

I hate when companies switch everything on you, I wish I would of at least had a choice to say no or chose the old version

We are not forcing you to use our webforms. By tomorrow you'll be able to extract the full HTML code and you'll be able to modify and customize the HTML exactly the way as you like it. Also all the "legacy" GR webforms and HTML code will continue working just fine.. So we're absolutely not forcing you to use our forms.

[cotum]

I opted out of the "upgrade" and am now back to my prior sane pricing. Thank you, Simon.

One thing that apparently was lost during the upgrade was the blacklist option - I can't find it anywhere. I always put refunding people on that to get rid of them, now it seems to be gone

[GarrieWilson]

Originally Posted by cotum

I opted out of the "upgrade" and am now back to my prior sane pricing. Thank you, Simon.

One thing that apparently was lost during the upgrade was the blacklist option - I can't find it anywhere. I always put refunding people on that to get rid of them, now it seems to be gone

Click the word contacts and it will be on the screen. For some reason, this and other options arent on the hover menu.

[Teo]

Originally Posted by Simon Grabowski

Paul, thanks for your kind words.

Regarding the pricing issue:

For 95% of GetResponse users with lists less than 500 subscribers
the new pricing plan means an increase of $0.05 per month
(increasing from $17.95/mo to to $18.00/mo). That's less than 0.3%
increase for amazing value-adding features such as video email
marketing, surveys, split-tests, email analytics, iPhone app,
Twitter integration, integration with PayPal and other shopping carts
and more...

Customers with larger lists will find that GetResponse is still the most
reliable and cost-effective email marketing and autoresponder
service on the market, with competitive pricing and innovative features
that our competitors lack.

According to Forrester, video emails generate 85% higher
click-through rates than "regular" emails. Turn-key video email marketing
(recording, hosting, broadcasting) is just one of the features of the new
GetResponse 6.0. We're confident that with the all-new GetResponse
you will find that the overall cost of our service is a small price to pay
compared to the increased results you will see with the new features.

While we do recommend upgrading to the new service plan, we are
not forcing our customers to upgrade. Existing customers who do not
need the new features may stick to the legacy pricing plan.

500 subscribers a month. Is that for 1 list, or all list combine together?

[Marian Berghes]

just 2 questions about getresponse:

1. Do I always need to do double optin?

2. Can I resend an email to the people that didn't open it the first time I send it? Only to those people

Thanks.

[triosolutions]

Hey Simon,

You have not anser my question. As your existing customer Do we have to pay the higher price at the time of renewal or we can pay as per our old plan. Recent we had join and paid for yearly membership. Do you need to pay any extra money to keep our existing subscriptions? Do you have to pay extra money for renewal? we dont mind to stick with you old version if you dont change our prices for renewal.

[embrown]

Originally Posted by Devan Koshal

Im going to switch mail mailchimp, better pricing structure + features.

I was just about to say this. I've been using mailchimp free for a while now and once I get to 500, I'm sticking with them. Same features, plus some, for alot cheaper. You can't beat $10/month, when you are just starting out.

[Josh Anderson]

Simon,

Originally Posted by Simon Grabowski

According to Forrester, video emails generate 85% higher
click-through rates than "regular" emails. Turn-key video email marketing
(recording, hosting, broadcasting) is just one of the features of the new
GetResponse 6.0. We're confident that with the all-new GetResponse
you will find that the overall cost of our service is a small price to pay
compared to the increased results you will see with the new features

I always had a problem with the term "video email" since there is no such thing.

Video can be sent as an attachment (usually too big) or an email can be sent with a link pointing to a web page with a video message on it... but that is not really email and can be done by putting a youtube link in your email or linking to any page that you put a video on.

You might consider going after the budget priced market with list volume up to 5k offering say a basic feature account minus the new enhancements. That way you can continue to grab market that you traditionally dominated because of your previous low market pricing.

I have a question for you:

I searched your knowledge base and did not find an answer but I wanted to confirm...

Will your API for adding and removing subscribers continue to work as it has been?

We refer publishers to you from our 4 ecommerce automation/affiliate networks because of this feature.

[Simon Grabowski]

Originally Posted by Josh Anderson

Will your API for adding and removing subscribers continue to work as it has been?

We refer publishers to you from our 4 ecommerce automation/affiliate networks because of this feature.

Yes, the API will continue to work, and will be expanded in the next coming weeks.

[gapsapman]

To be honest, i was thinking about choosing getresponse or aweber, now i think i will choose aweber simply because they are an already established while getresponse have always been the cheaper alternative.

I think trying to compete for the same piece of pie with Aweber is a mistake by Getresponse. Getresponse will end up losing alot of business from the newbie email marketers because Aweber is gonna be recommended as the reptutated brand when anyone do research on autoresponder services.

Without any diffference in prices, there's no special selling point to Getresponse anymore. They can claim all about the new features and how it's value for money, but unless they have something really great Aweber doesn't have, what's the point?

Most of the features seems to be cosemtic, great control panel desigm. new look blah blah blah, how is that gonna make anyone more money?

[Ryan Even]

just 2 questions about getresponse:

1. Do I always need to do double optin?

2. Can I resend an email to the people that didn't open it the first time I send it? Only to those people

Thanks.

These are very important questions asked above that have yet to be answered.

[samstephens]

I personally use GetResponse, and I'll be sticking with them. I like that I've been able to talk and work with Simon and his team on projects, and the customer support has always been great.

While I have a list that puts me into the mid-range pricing, I don't often send emails to them, and so the extra costs for lists I don't often use (it can be months between emails) aren't worth it to my structure.

If I start building lists more for marketing purposes, I'm sure then the new features will be of great use to me.

But I'm glad we have the option to continue on as we are. It'd be nice to see an option for those people that have reasonably sized lists, but don't email often.

By the way, Simon, I really like the new site design!

cheers
Sam

[Josh Anderson]

Originally Posted by Simon Grabowski

Yes, the API will continue to work, and will be expanded in the next coming weeks.

Thanks Simon... however, we already noticed one potential issue. Has the API already been changed or could a bug have been introduced?

We already have one publisher who has been using it fine previously who is now reporting a problem of subscribers failing to be added today since the update.

Nothing has changed on our end and again it worked fine for this particular publisher before the update and the publisher is monitoring it because of the update.

My staff will be looking deeper into this tomorrow as well so please have your team double check and let me know if there have already been changes to the API we need to know.

[GarrieWilson]

Josh,

The API is broken. There is some talk of it at the GR forum and on the GR blog.

[BinaryJoy]

Originally Posted by Simon Grabowski

We are not forcing you to use our webforms. By tomorrow you'll be able to extract the full HTML code and you'll be able to modify and customize the HTML exactly the way as you like it. Also all the "legacy" GR webforms and HTML code will continue working just fine.. So we're absolutely not forcing you to use our forms.

Simon I like the new API! Awesome. However, all my contacts are being added as inactive. No follow-up messages at all to anyone including my own test. Will this be corrected?

Hang in there. I know I am. Just biting my nails at the moment. Cheers.

[Akin Alabi]

My problem with Getresponse is giving me nightmares.

I've got about 20 campaigns in my account but since the
upgrade, I can only see one of them. I cant see my subscribers
I've even paid $65 for the upgrade.

I've been building my lists for over 6 years. This shouldnt just
go down the drain.

[Simon Grabowski]

Interesting how someone would sign up on this forum just to post
a slanderous email with a lot of incorrect information. Very curious,
and I'm sure most Warriors see right through this.

We are very proactive about communicating AND solving any and all
issues with the migration. You can see me posting on this forum all
the time. There's constant updates on Twitter. There's a blog article
that's updated all the time where you can see the status of the
migration. We ARE answering customers emails, phone calls and on
live chat.

This is the biggest upgrade of our service in 10 years and yes, there
have been some issues for some of our customers, but we are
working quickly to address all of the challenges. From the feedback
we've been getting our customers do appreciate our proactive stance
on this, as well as the new interface and new features.

= S

Originally Posted by table32

GetResponse has been seriously messed up since the weekend. Signup forms don't work properly, followup messages are completely mangled, API is broken, can't test emails, various functionality has been removed (reporting etc), it's a shambles.

If anyone is thinking of using these cowboys, just go and have a look at their support forum and see the contempt with which they are treating customers. And the forum only shows a tiny minority of complaints, because they closed registration to stop people posting! They also stopped people posting comments on their blog. Emails aren't being replied to, live support is offline. They claim some things are fixed, then customers show them otherwise. They don't even know how to test their own service.

NoResponse or CannedResponse as they are now known, have been spouting "it will be fixed by the end of the day" for 36 hours now - to be fair - they didn't say which day.

Any normal company would have backed out of this so-called upgrade long ago, realizing that they hadn't tested it properly, and that their customers are losing untold thousands. But these guys just don't seem to care. I've spoken to lots of large mailers who are moving elsewhere.

You have been warned. Do due diligence, and never rely soley on one mailer. Single points of failure in your business are bad.

[Simon Grabowski]

Originally Posted by Akin Alabi

My problem with Getresponse is giving me nightmares.

I've got about 20 campaigns in my account but since the
upgrade, I can only see one of them. I cant see my subscribers
I've even paid $65 for the upgrade.

I've been building my lists for over 6 years. This shouldnt just
go down the drain.

PM me the account name and we'll look into it. There's no
data loss whatsoever and nothing is going down the drain.

[Trader54]

Originally Posted by Marian Berghes

just 2 questions about getresponse:

1. Do I always need to do double optin?

2. Can I resend an email to the people that didn't open it the first time I send it? Only to those people

Thanks.

These are questions I would love to know to. Can't find anything on the site about keeping track of open emails and re-mailing to the unopened ones. But since other questions have been answered and not these two I'm guessing the answer is no.

[triosolutions]

Getresponse is giving me nightmares. Since last 2 days my sign-up has reduce dramatically. there is no sign-up box showing on website. Do I have again reset something? or it's GR problem Whats going on? I am affraid I am loosing lots of prospect because of GR migration. I have paid yearly subscriptions and now I am facing the problem which is not my fault.

Anyone care to help me? Anyone please tell me if this is Get Response problem or I have to do any changes in setting so I can see my Sign-Up Box will re-appear on my website.

I cant see my subscribers. I cant see my subscriber sign-up box on my website.

Somebody please help me.

[cotum]

Still no box telling us how many people have signed up like the old version.

Simon, you said it would be up by today, what gives?

[affirm758]

the help phone number has been giving a "busy" signal all morning... the interface has a lot of bugs, definitely not a well thought out launch.

Simon did you think about hiring more support staff.. I mean it's not like this was unforeseen?

so far not impressed... and the prices are way too high now.

[briankoz]

I just wanted to make a few comments based on comments I've seen here and my own personal experience.

I've been a huge fan of GetResponse. I've used several different autoresponders and prefer GetResponse over all of them for a variety of reasons. Two of the biggest reasons are as follows:

1. Their deliverability has consistently been good. Some other services I've tested have been horrible, others are good at times and horrible at other times, while others have been okay to good (even if some claim to be super high) but I picked GetResponse overall there.

2. Customization/flexible and support help -- I've found the GetResponse staff to be extremely helpful (even Simon himself) when it came to support or needing customized options for my own purposes. Other places won't go out of their way to help you with stuff that falls outside of their normal policies or features, but I've found GR to consistently be willing to help and be flexible here.

As for their pricing, I think a lot of people are misunderstanding this, and perhaps Simon/GetResponse could take reactions here as a sign to clarify a few things, but if you don't want to pay more, you don't have to. When it comes time to being re-billed, if you don't upgrade, you still get the same price plan that you had before.

So if you don't want to pay more, you don't have to.

As for upgrading, yes, if you have a larger list, the prices definitely jump up, but some of the added benefits are well worth it. For instance, if you have a list of even a few thousand, being able to do a split test can more than make up for the cost difference in just one mailing. Now, if you have a list far bigger than that, features like that can be a no brainer. If you're not there yet, I wouldn't worry about pricing that won't really affect you yet.

As for support issues, yeah, I've seen a few things here and there that didn't start out as smooth as possible with the change over, but I've also seen GetResponse quickly fixing these. And yes, I was on the live support chat twice, and yes, there was a decent wait there, but I also understand that they JUST did the update and naturally will have a lot of questions and support tickets even if they have their staff and others working 24/7 ... plus, I've seen support lines for cable tv/internet, phone companies, etc. take longer on a regular day, not just after a big, new update, so I'm not too worried there.

From experience, I can tell you that regardless of how well you test stuff, any major update will almost always be a headache for the first several days for any major tech type product.

And I'm also confident that if they didn't get all the features everyone wanted, chances are that they're probably working on it.

Take care,

Koz

[webatomic]

Originally Posted by embrown

I was just about to say this. I've been using mailchimp free for a while now and once I get to 500, I'm sticking with them. Same features, plus some, for alot cheaper. You can't beat $10/month, when you are just starting out.

Does anyone know how difficult it is to migrate lists from GR to Mailchimp?

[briankoz]

You can't beat $10/month, when you are just starting out.

Don't be too quick to think like that. It can cost you a ton of money.

If you have a list (of any size -- I don't care if it's 100 subscribers or 100,000), would you be willing to pay someone $10 to double, triple, or even quadruple your list size?

There are products that sell for hundreds to even thousands of dollars that TEACH how to BUILD your list to accomplish that...

Or you can spend an extra $10 here or there to get better deliverability, for instance, and have twice as many or more of your e-mails go through (just for the sake of an example). How much do you think essentially "doubling" your list that way is worth to you?

All of a sudden going for a free service with crappy deliverability or a cheap service might not be the best deal, even if you're just starting out.

And just to clarify, this is nothing against mailchimp. To be honest, I've never used them and can't comment on them, but I have used a variety of autoresponders and know how such thinking can cost you a ton of money. Sometimes a few extra bucks here and there can make you a lot more than you might think.

- Koz

[webatomic]

Mailchimp looks pretty solid to me. My list is wimpy anyway...gonna give them a shot and cancel Getresponse.

[uzomaeze]

hi can we use paypal for payments I'm having trouble paying for my account thank you simon

[mobiusman]

I have been using GR for about 3 years now and have not had any problems. If I do have any questions the support is very helpful and I am recommending this autoresponder to everyone on my list.

The new look and upgrade are great also.

Thank Simon for doing such a good job.

David

[warfore]

I am a relatively new GR cusotmer and I'm still getting used to autoresponding in general. My biggest complaint is that the tutorial videos go too fast. They need some hard copy documentation that goes into more detail and examples about all the features.