BIG List. Autoresponder or dedicated hosting?

There's the possibility of using a self-hosted autoresponder
solution to manage the e-mail database and then using an
external SMTP server to actually deliver your e-mails and
manage your deliverability.

For example, you could use something like Interspire Email
Marketer to manage your database:

Email Marketing | Email Marketing Software | Interspire Email Marketer (no affil.)

Then use an external SMTP e-mail deliverability service such
as smtp.com, authsmtp.com, etc:

SMTP Service Provider | SMTP Email Relay Server | SMTP.com (no affil.)

Outgoing authenticated SMTP server and email relay service (solves most SMTP and email relay errors). (no affil.)

The neat thing with this route is that you're 100% in control
of your e-mail database.

And, you can change your external SMTP server at will if
you run into deliverability issues with a particular server.

In contrast, if you use someone like AWeber, GetResponse,
etc and their servers get blacklisted, your e-mail database
AND your deliverability can go down the tubes.

There's a lot of mis-information given on the subject of
self-hosted autoresponder solutions.

I use both self-hosted solutions and third-party autoresponder
providers to manage e-mail campaigns for myself and my clients.

Each option has strengths and weaknesses but self-hosted
with an external SMTP service gives you more control of
your e-mail database whilst retaining deliverability too.

Dedicated to mutual success,

Shaun

Daniel, have you used an SMTP service before? Check out SMTP.com. They manage the deliverlability for you. This is different form doing it yourself.

I'm coming to report my experience with SMTP relay emailing. Thou these services are a little cheaper than your regular ESPs, but the deliverability really sucks with these services.

I have tried few companies. Sendgrid, Socketlabs and Critsend. Here is a important point to note - These companies will put all new accounts on their worst ip cluster to prevent spaming through their network. They will also throttle your emails in the beginning.

In the beginning the open rates will suck and you will sit there starching your head what happened. Not knowing what the reason was for low open rates, I would switch one company to another and see the same results. My open rates are typically 10-12% lower. They claim open rate will improve but I doubt it. For example, sendgrid says after few weeks, if my email reputation is good, they will switch me to a better ip cluster but this is remain to be seen.

You will also need to buy an email marketing software to connect to smtp servers. I bought ActiveCampaign and installed it on a new VPS server. Over all, there is a bit of learning curve for emailing this way.

I wouldn't recommend this method if you have a big list and are satisfied with your current ESP.

I have not encountered any major deliverability issues using autoresponseplus on a dedicated server. Encourage subscribers to use their "best" email when opting in and to place you on their whitelist.