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How safe is self hosted autoresponder?

by Syamsul Alam
18 replies
I use local third party autoresponder. It is like $8/ month but the service is suck. I can not reach its customer support for about three days now.

I'm planning on install my own autoresponder in my own server. I'm going to start with small list, getting some revenue, and upgrade to good third party autoresponder.

Anyone here using self hosted autoresponder? What is the self hosted autoresponder that you recommend? Does it impact your server so much even if you have small list?

Any response will be great because I need advice now.
#autoresponder #hosted #safe
  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Deegan
    Personally I'm not big on the idea of self hosting. But recently I heard some good things about one particular option.

    That option is using a service like AUTHSMPTP in combination with a self hosted autoresponder. In this scenario your mail is sent through their servers so delivery, spam or other possible issues are not directly related to you or your web server.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      Self-hosted A/R have a lot of drawbacks to using them.

      Your host may not be happy if you are trying to use their service as an A/R and may stop your server from sending.

      With a self-hosted A/R, you do not have the advantage of having the 3rd party A/R companies already having deals with the ISP's for getting the emails delivered.

      I think GetResponse has a free option, maybe that will work for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jake Gray
    Self hosted?

    Nah.

    Just go with something that is completely free such as GetResponse or Perhaps Aweber($1 Trial First Month, Then goes to $19 monthly - Recommended)
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  • Profile picture of the author Sphinx
    Self-hosted autoresponder or mailing list, you need to take into consideration of several disadvantages:

    1. On Shared hosting, you have email sending limit set by your hosting company, and your script must be able to send out email (if you blast) with throttling features. Phplist is able to do so, but does not have autoresponder feature.

    2. If you use VPS or Dedicated server, you risk your mail server IP address has been blacklisted, if your subscribers are not double opted-in, or did not send them newsletter too often, but once in a blue moon.

    3. You need a reliable script, cuz some free script just suck. I have long given up to self-hosting my mailing list, and I use GetResponse now and nothing to complain at all. Aweber is good too. If you have tons of email to import, try iContact.

    The only advantage for self-hosting is cheap. If your list is making you money, why not use third party service providers...
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    • Profile picture of the author Syamsul Alam
      Originally Posted by Daniel Deegan View Post

      Personally I'm not big on the idea of self hosting. But recently I heard some good things about one particular option.

      That option is using a service like AUTHSMPTP in combination with a self hosted autoresponder. In this scenario your mail is sent through their servers so delivery, spam or other possible issues are not directly related to you or your web server.
      Thank you very much about this. I'm checking its price right now.

      Originally Posted by JMichaelZ View Post

      Self-hosted A/R have a lot of drawbacks to using them.

      Your host may not be happy if you are trying to use their service as an A/R and may stop your server from sending.

      With a self-hosted A/R, you do not have the advantage of having the 3rd party A/R companies already having deals with the ISP's for getting the emails delivered.

      I think GetResponse has a free option, maybe that will work for you.
      I think getresponse don't offer free account again now. At the moment, I use mailchimp. It have 1000 subscriber and 6000 quota mails limit.

      That is actually enough for me because I only got 300 blog subscriber (local blog, in Indonesian language only) and less than 100 'foreigner' who opt in from my review sites.

      But I hate mailchimp because their features is too much, too perfect, too complex, making me hard to send simple plain text mail to my list.

      Originally Posted by Jake Gray View Post

      Self hosted?

      Nah.

      Just go with something that is completely free such as GetResponse or Perhaps Aweber($1 Trial First Month, Then goes to $19 monthly - Recommended)
      Actually self hosted autoresponder is not as bad as you think. I know several warrior who use self hosted to gain more control over his/her list and they're doing good.

      I'm not really fan of aweber because I think it have no single opt in its features list (if I remember it correctly)

      Originally Posted by Sphinx View Post

      Self-hosted autoresponder or mailing list, you need to take into consideration of several disadvantages:

      1. On Shared hosting, you have email sending limit set by your hosting company, and your script must be able to send out email (if you blast) with throttling features. Phplist is able to do so, but does not have autoresponder feature.

      2. If you use VPS or Dedicated server, you risk your mail server IP address has been blacklisted, if your subscribers are not double opted-in, or did not send them newsletter too often, but once in a blue moon.

      3. You need a reliable script, cuz some free script just suck. I have long given up to self-hosting my mailing list, and I use GetResponse now and nothing to complain at all. Aweber is good too. If you have tons of email to import, try iContact.

      The only advantage for self-hosting is cheap. If your list is making you money, why not use third party service providers...
      I already got myself several cheap (but high quality) autoresponder script that recommended by fellow warrior.

      Yes it is true what you are saying, but I only intent to use my self hosted autoresponder until I get bigger list. I don't think self hosted autoresponder with less than 100 subscribers list gonna hurt my server. (I only install wordpress and static sales letter on my server)

      I don't really have much cash now. I just pay my next year hosting fee.
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  • Profile picture of the author jhess56
    i found this looking for self hosted info, as its not about economy, id rather just stick with aweber. but i have multiple adult/sex sites that i need to start using email marketing on and aweber et al dont allow

    i dont want all the apparent headaches and risks that seem to be involved with self hosting though doh!
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  • Profile picture of the author auradev
    Self hosting is worse than your crappy ISP, upgrade to iContact, Awebber or Streamsend.
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  • Profile picture of the author AceOfShirts
    Take a look at Infinite Responder, it's a open source autoresponder.

    I just set it up on one of my websites to try it out. You need to set up a MySQL database and set up a cron job for it. They will do it for you for $30 if you don't know how.

    But, like other people have said, the professional sites are probably better. If I had a larger list or made more money from my list I would use GR/AW, but I don't.
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  • Profile picture of the author donhx
    The self-hosting thought crossed my mind a few years ago, but I abandoned it. Why take on the responsibility and hassle, possible IP blacklisting, compliance with the Can Spam Act and all that, when you can get such excellent service from someone like Aweber for a few dollars a month? After my hosting account, Aweber is the most valuable service I use. Worth every penny.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tim_Carter
    Make sure it has throttling.
    Make sure you use double opt in.

    Make sure it is on it's own domain - not shared with another one of your products.

    Make sure it is on a seperate hosting account then your other products.
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  • Profile picture of the author trishworks4u
    I used autoresponseplus for awhile. thought it worked great and can't really remember why I stopped using it. It's still installed somewhere around here.

    I think if you have a small list (which I do), self-hosted and/or free is the way to go starting out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
    lol, there is soo much bs in this thread from people who do not know what they are talking about one can only laugh.

    @ OP

    I think you will find the following thread most imformative as it contains responses from people who do actively manage their own AR; http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post2796914

    Make sure to read the thread the whole way through.

    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Mobley
    Originally Posted by alampintar View Post


    I'm going to start with small list, getting some revenue, and upgrade to good third party autoresponder.
    The process of upgrading to a third party AR service is not as easy as you might hope. Most will require ALL of your list members to opt-in again.

    That may or may not be an smooth process. You will also probably lose a percentage of your list members.


    Just a heads-up.

    Joe Mobley
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  • Profile picture of the author ray777
    A few years ago I set up a mailing list using phplist which was easy to do in cpanel. My list got to about 500. One day I went to sign in and got an error. Never did figure out how to get my list back.

    Hopefully that will never happen with the paid AR services that are available today.
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  • Profile picture of the author AndreVas
    New way that's better than 3rd Party yet still self-hosted (HYBRID SOLUTION)...

    1. Host your OWN autoresponder.

    2. Set it up to use SMTP.com's SMTP for email delivery.

    Why #1:

    Because self-hosted has amazing list segmenting features. You own your list. Credible having your own domain in "unsubscribe" and for tracking links.

    Why #2:

    Because using SMTP.com equals as high delivery rate of email as the best 3rd party autoresponders. Because they have an established IP reputation. And using 3rd Party SMTP service means mail doesn't go through your host, meaning you'll never get shut down due to probable complaints.

    After discovery of SMTP.com - there's now ZERO reason to use 3rd Party... because your email deliverability issues are now 100% guaranteed to be as high in 98%+ range.

    Also... this is OBJECTIVE advice.

    Because 3rd Party companies have an agenda to downplay self-hosted.

    While self-hosted company script sellers have an agenda to downplay 3rd Party.

    This is neither. Entirely based on objective, measurable observation.
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  • Profile picture of the author hendrata
    Hi Alam, why don't you try imnicamail?
    the owner is in warrior, it's $6.30 (free 1 month) for 5000 subscribers
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    • Profile picture of the author gjd6599
      The self hosting autoresponder to use in my opinion is listmailpro.com I have used it for years with no problems. The interface is great, you can have all the lists you want, and it is really easy to use. It has all the features you will need like double optin, single optin, switching subscribers from one list to another automatically, and a lot more. Also the couple of times I had a question, their support is very good.

      The software is a one time purchase, and host4profit is $24.95 a month for one domain, which will be the name that shows on the very bottom of all the emails you send, so you need to pick the right domain.

      I did find through trial and error, that host4profit.com is the best place to host it. I tried hostgator, and it didn't like it for some reason. I have been at host4profit for about 6 years, without a single problem.

      I think host4profit is owned by Allen Says, who owns this warrior forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author Viramara
    Hi Alampintar,

    I'm an Indonesian too. How about using local Indonesian autoresponders like Mulxim or ikutaku? Mulxim costs you IDR 75.000 for 3mo (500 subs) and their service is great. Ikutaku's owner is same with Mulxim, I think their service quality must be the same. But ikutaku is cheaper, IDR 90.000 for 3mo (1000 subs). Ikutaku has 90 day trial with 100subs. I plan to use Mulxim anyway
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