Why Use Multiple Autoresponders?

31 replies
Does anyone currently use more than one autoresponder
service at one time? Or, do you commit to one autoresponder
of your choice. If you do in fact use more than one please
tell us why. You don't have to reveal any "secrets" but state
what you believe to be are great benefits of doing keeping two.

Thanks to all.
#autoresponders #multiple
  • Profile picture of the author malcsimm
    Originally Posted by kevin timothy View Post

    Does anyone currently use more than one autoresponder
    service at one time? Or, do you commit to one autoresponder
    of your choice. If you do in fact use more than one please
    tell us why. You don't have to reveal any "secrets" but state
    what you believe to be are great benefits of doing keeping two.

    Thanks to all.
    Hi mate - why use two? Sounds like a complication to me.

    I used to use Aweber and GetResponse ) both, but now swapped to Office Autopilot. Very easy to manage emails, easy to segment lists by interest (crucial to maximising income).

    Two AR services has to be complicated, eh? .....

    Malc
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    • Profile picture of the author kevin timothy
      Originally Posted by malcsimm View Post

      Hi mate - why use two? Sounds like a complication to me.

      Two AR services has to be complicated, eh? .....

      Malc
      One would think so, but it's not so bad for me. The only complication is the additional monthly cost.
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      • Profile picture of the author malcsimm
        Originally Posted by kevin timothy View Post

        One would think so, but it's not so bad for me. The only complication is the additional monthly cost.
        It's "Whatever works for you", Kevin!

        If it's making you money, and if you can scale it (if you want to scale it) then that sounds like you have it sussed.

        What I don't like with AW and GR etc is having to have people in separate lists to do things with them - like send them a more targeted sequence. (In other words, using 'segmentation'.)

        Being more targeted in this way increases open rates and clickthroughs, and lowers unsubscribes and spam reports.

        That stuff - segmentation - is hard in AW and GR and you need programming skills and scripts etc. And you may have to go against the TOS of those companies - eg they don't seem to like you adding to multiple lists.

        And on top of all that - you'd have to remember what you set up - which could easily be forgotten by the time you'd set up 6 other projects. LOL

        But with Office Autopilot, for example, that stuff is dead easy to set up and track. Nice - you'd have to see it to appreciate it.

        But it does come at a price. (Though Send Pepper - "Office Autopilopt Lite" - is cheaper and still has the tagging and only one record per customer; it just doesn't have the if/then functionality which makes OA so powerful.)

        But it's horses for courses - and if your system with 2 x ARs is working, as I said, then that's cool.

        Anyway, it's interesting to read what others are doing on this thread.

        Cheers!

        Malc
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  • Profile picture of the author garyt
    I use only one and it is not Aweber or Getresponse and it is better and more affordable. Why waste money on 2 or more and then waste time logging into them?

    Stop at one and focus on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author theimexpert
    I must be an exception with 3 then? I've actually got accounts on Aweber, Get Response and TotalSend.

    TotalSend is a cheap AR I use for some of my lower quality lists that I need to filter and work out what's good and what's worth dumping for good.

    Get Response has some great features such as their Get Leads product that gives me just an extra funnel of list building.

    Aweber is my main AR though and well... Because it's Aweber. Possibly the best support possible. Easy to use. Great uptime (besides the odd flutter these past few months which is a rarity) and it does it what it's supposed to do perfectly.
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    • Profile picture of the author kevin timothy
      Originally Posted by theimexpert View Post


      Aweber is my main AR though and well... Because it's Aweber. Possibly the best support possible. Easy to use. Great uptime (besides the odd flutter these past few months which is a rarity) and it does it what it's supposed to do perfectly.
      Well stated. You're right about that support. Their level of service has always impressed me. And as far as downtime...an extreme rarity with them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob Whisonant
    I use several for the same reason I use several hosting companies, several domain registrars etc...

    I don't like being in a position if one company decided to stop doing business with me where I lose my entire income. I will never give a single company the power to destroy my business with a flip of a switch if all possible.

    I don't keep all my eggs in the same basket.

    That way if one gets dropped I still have an income from the other sources.

    Re's
    Rob Whisonant
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  • Profile picture of the author EasySt
    I use GVO (big mistake in my opinion...) and Aweber.

    Planning on starting to use Getresponse for the sole purpose of testing the co-reg service.

    GVO support is slow, and foreign, doesn't explain things very well, and when I added a follow up message, somehow all 50 of my AR follow ups were deleted, and didn't show up for 2 weeks. Also, lately it's been taking up to 24 hours to send a broadcast...

    That's the reason I joined aweber, and am very happy with them so far.

    We'll see how the leads from GR are.
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    • Profile picture of the author malcsimm
      Originally Posted by EasySt View Post

      I use GVO (big mistake in my opinion...)
      Haha! Well, GVO is basically an MLM scheme and in my experience (3 x failed MLMs lol) they are not to be recommended!

      Guys - "segmentation" is key for maximising open rates and click throughs.

      By which I mean find out what people's specific interests are then send them a bunch of emails about their interest and they will be happy.

      And DON'T send those emails to your general list: and THEY will be happy!

      And for segmentation your best bet is Office Autopilot (or it's baby brother SendPepper) or (if u r hardcore) Infusionsoft.

      OA is streets ahead of AW, GR when it comes to email management. It is so sweet - anyone in your database has one record only: and you manage them using tags - any tags you want.

      So you can do: send this email to everyone who has tag X but doesn't have tag Y.

      That is super-easy in OA.

      Try doing that easily in AW/GR. You can't. Not easily.



      Malc
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      • Profile picture of the author Alan Ashwood
        Originally Posted by malcsimm View Post

        OA is streets ahead of AW, GR when it comes to email management. It is so sweet - anyone in your database has one record only: and you manage them using tags - any tags you want.

        That is super-easy in OA.

        Try doing that easily in AW/GR. You can't. Not easily.



        Malc
        OA isn't exactly for beginners though, is it?

        At a time when they're still looking for their first sale, forking out nearly $300 per month is very risky.

        Yes - you read that right. $3600 per year!

        Blimey
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        Now where did I put that pencil?

        Time for a cuppa.
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        • Profile picture of the author malcsimm
          Originally Posted by Alan Ashwood View Post

          OA isn't exactly for beginners though, is it?

          At a time when they're still looking for their first sale, forking out nearly $300 per month is very risky.
          Alan - yes; Office Autopilot is not for beginners. I recommend starting with Aweber (or GetResponse - little to choose).

          Then apply a comprehensive email marketing plan until you get a monthly income enough to pay for OA. Then extend your email marketing plan, using OA's capabilities, whereupon you should expect to double that income over a few months.

          If done thoroughly, this is a no-brainer. It is helped by the fact that OA is 10x more user friendly managing email campaigns than AR or GR.

          EXAMPLE EMAIL MARKETING PLAN
          1. Signed up person gets 3 welcome emails- the first 3 mails from yr welcome sequence - to build trust - little/no selling
          2. Then they get 1 or 2 emails a week - continuing the sequence - with 90% great content, 10% aff links
          3. Write one new email a week, for existing list and add to the welcome sequence. (Over time build up this to be 6 months or more, maybe twice a week, evergreen content - ie NOT product launches, only quality content with a sprinkling of aff links.)
          [- Also why not repurpose your great email content you have spent good time writing - and post to a blog? I do!]

          EXAMPLE EMAIL MARKETING PLAN UTILISING OFFICE AUTOPILOT
          [Point 1. Above]Your welcome sequence - RESEND each one to "unopens" after 1-2 days, shooting up open rate by 50%.
          [Point 3. Above] say you send a new (quality) email to your list weekly. RESEND TWICE to your list, say at 2-day intervals, with two different subject lines - to grab attention from different list members. EASY to set up in OA and DOUBLES open rates.
          EXTRA POINT If you want, set up OA so you never send 2 emails on the same day, annoying your list; EASY to do in OA.

          So, to SUMMARISE
          Step 1. Use AW or GR and develop a thorough email marketing strategy as detailed above. Use top quality content and sprinkle with "evergreen" aff links.
          Step 2. Once you are earning $250+ a month, intensify your resends using OA and see your earnings jump.

          THIS IS A NO-BRAINER. Just don't get OA till u can justify it.

          PS Yes - you can do something like this if you use scripts with AW /GR. but why mess around? It's also a real pain to do. Plus u cannot do the resends on autopilot like OA does. When u r ready TRADE UP to a "grown up" autoresponder (that's how it feels to me).

          PPS A great mentor I paid $25k to, told me to move on from AW and GR, 18 months ago. He was right and I haven't looked back. (And now I share the same info with anyone who's listening for FREE! LOL)

          IS anyone listening btw - haha!
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          • Profile picture of the author Nightengale
            I use AWeber and 1 Shopping Cart.

            As I'm building a list, I'm VERY interested in building a "complete" list -- that is, a list of names (first AND last), e-mail addresses, snail mail addresses and phone numbers.

            However, I don't want to scare off the casual browser by asking for all of this up front. So my opt-in form asks for just their first name, last name and e-mail address (which goes directly to AWeber). Once the visitor has submitted their info, it re-directs them to a 1 Shopping Cart page, asking for ALL of their info to complete the request. Once they've submitted that, they're taken to their freebie.

            It may sound complicated, but it's actually a pretty seamless process. For those who are shy and not ready to give me their full info, I've at least captured their name and e-mail on the front end should they choose to duck out of the rest of the process.

            Amazingly, the vast majority give me ALL of their info -- and yes, it's valid info. I think I've heard some of the big names (can't remember who, but I think it was Frank Kern or someone else at Online Underground get togethers) recommending capturing ALL of the info on the front end like it was some big revelation. But Ive been doing it from the beginning.

            (In fairness, it's a "revelation" in online marketing simply because most online marketers don't do it. Capturing their offline info is great for doing offline marketing like inexpensive postcards to give your online marketing efforts that extra boost.)

            I do this for a couple of reasons:

            1. 1SC is, well, my shopping cart.

            2. I first started building my list in AWeber and didn't want the hassle of switching it all over to 1SC. I'm used to AW's interface and didn't want to have to learn a new one. (I HAVE used 1SC's and it's not bad -- just different. I prefer AWeber's, but that's just a personal preference due to familiarity.)

            3. In startup, when money's tight, if I ever had to let my 1SC go for a bit, I'd still be "in business" if I at least maintained my AWeber account. I like the redundancy.

            4. I think AWeber's autoresponder deliverability is better than 1SC's. At least, that's what I've heard. I haven't tested it.

            5. I started with AWeber way back when they were offering unlimited autoresponders for a flat $20 monthly. I'm grandfathered in, so I don't dare drop it now.

            For those of you maintaining multiple accounts for fear of one shutting down... You don't have to do that. Every decent service should let you download all of your contacts in a .CSV file, which you should do on a regular basis. I know both AWeber and 1 Shopping Cart allow you to do that.

            I don't think I'd maintain two different autoresponder accounts. One AR account and one shopping cart account, yes. But otherwise, I'd just maintain one AR account and download and back up all of my contacts on a regular basis, especially in startup when money is tight.

            Hope that helps!

            Michelle
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            • Profile picture of the author malcsimm
              Originally Posted by Nightengale View Post

              I use AWeber and 1 Shopping Cart.

              As I'm building a list, I'm VERY interested in building a "complete" list -- that is, a list of names (first AND last), e-mail addresses, snail mail addresses and phone numbers.

              Hope that helps!

              Michelle
              Hi Michelle - That is certainly a very thorough process you use their, and I particularly like the two-part signup process.

              Lead Pages goes one step further in one of their recommendations - simply asking for the email address on the first page, then the rest of the information on the next page. That would make for even higher signups I expect.

              But, being so sophisticated in the way you deal with emails - and I would guess that you are doing it better than probably 98% of marketers, including those earning good money monthly - I wonder why you don't use Office Autopilot.

              It's not hard to use and expensive to develop like Infusionsoft is, and OA will give you all the features you already have - that is, it can store all those details you talk about - and also it does a lot more.

              Two things that spring to mind with OA are:
              1. You can resend emails to "unopens" - on autopilot. That is, set it up at the start (not going back in after the first send, filtering out the unopens, and then completely doing a resend manually - boring and time-consuming).
              2. You can tag every contact you add to the database with any tags you like - for easy filtering later, for targeted campaigns.

              Just a thought!

              And congrats again on having such a thorough email marketing system in place.

              Malc
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              • Profile picture of the author tdanz
                Could you tell more about the below tagging you mentioned? what kinds of tags can you add?
                Originally Posted by malcsimm View Post

                2. You can tag every contact you add to the database with any tags you like - for easy filtering later, for targeted campaigns.
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                • Profile picture of the author malcsimm
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                  • Profile picture of the author MickK
                    Originally Posted by malcsimm View Post

                    These more sophisticated providers also give you "if/then" functionality. So you can say: "If anyone hasn't opened email XYZ which I sent two days ago, then resend it now." And this can be set up on autopilot - very sweet.

                    (You can do it manually in Aweber, for example, but it's a waste of the time because A. if your list is small the extra profit is not worth the time it takes, and B. if your list is large you shoudn't be using Aweber - get Office Autopilot and easily make back the extra monthly fees.

                    ...

                    The two email providers who do this are Office Autopilot (very easy to use and great email functionality) and Infusionsoft (very hard to use and the same functionality. It's also a lot more expensive.)
                    Good points Malc, but I'm not sure the last time you looked at GetResponse, we've been able to trigger autoresponders based on opens and clicks for a while now. It's standard in all of our accounts.

                    Cheers,

                    Mick
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                    • Profile picture of the author webbie
                      I've recently moved my list from aweber to getresponse with a great success.

                      The nice thing about GR is they don't require the list you import to be confirmed all over again BUT it depends on where you get your list to import because they will look at it closely to make sure it's not co-reg or not originally double-optin (but I'm not sure of their exact criteria).

                      But in my case I imported it directly after exporting my list from aweber.

                      With GR my open rates have risen and the ability to segment, tag and send to those who didn't open the first time has been very profitable.

                      I still have my aweber account but I only use it now for some transactional emails.

                      Dave
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                    • Profile picture of the author tdanz
                      Originally Posted by MickK View Post

                      Good points Malc, but I'm not sure the last time you looked at GetResponse, we've been able to trigger autoresponders based on opens and clicks for a while now. It's standard in all of our accounts.

                      Cheers,

                      Mick
                      Hi Mick,

                      Is it also possible to automatically target those subscribers who did not open an email for a few days with a follow up? It is possible to tag subscribers based on their landing page actions?
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                      • Profile picture of the author TommyJenkins
                        Banned
                        Originally Posted by tdanz View Post

                        Hi Mick,

                        Is it also possible to automatically target those subscribers who did not open an email for a few days with a follow up? It is possible to tag subscribers based on their landing page actions?
                        good points never thought of it this way before... thanks.
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                    • Profile picture of the author malcsimm
                      Originally Posted by MickK View Post

                      Good points Malc, but I'm not sure the last time you looked at GetResponse, we've been able to trigger autoresponders based on opens and clicks for a while now. It's standard in all of our accounts.

                      Cheers,

                      Mick
                      Hi Mick

                      First of all, I have nothing against GetResponse. In fact, it's my second recommended system for beginner-intermediate marketers after Aweber - simply because the support hours are not quite as long as Aweber's.

                      As to your point about resends, I am not talking about simply triggering an autoresponder based on opens and clicks. Office Autopilot will resend the same email a second or even a third time - on autopilot - to users who did not click or open. OA will even let you change the subject line in each of those resends. All of this double open rates for me.

                      I am pretty sure GetResponse can't do this on autopilot - set and forget: because it's a tall order. In fact, the only services I know can do it are Officeautopilot and Infusionsoft can do it. If anyone can let me know other solutions that can do this I'd be more than happy to be educated!

                      AW and GR are the two starter services I recommend. But once marketers are earning in excess of around $200 a month I have no idea why anyone would not trade up to Office Autopilot; which will almost instantly double earnings. Because of doubling of open rates for a tiny amount of extra work.

                      However, most marketers don't do the upgrade - they keep using Aweber. Or, a smaller number, GetResponse :|

                      Go figure as they say!

                      Best wishes, Malc
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    • Profile picture of the author kevin timothy
      Originally Posted by EasySt View Post

      I use GVO (big mistake in my opinion...) and Aweber.

      Planning on starting to use Getresponse for the sole purpose of testing the co-reg service.

      GVO support is slow, and foreign, doesn't explain things very well, and when I added a follow up message, somehow all 50 of my AR follow ups were deleted, and didn't show up for 2 weeks. Also, lately it's been taking up to 24 hours to send a broadcast...

      That's the reason I joined aweber, and am very happy with them so far.

      We'll see how the leads from GR are.
      What!!! I'm glad that you put this on the table.
      Several months ago I was considering GVO but
      now this comment will stay in the back of my mind.
      That's absurd...up to 24 hours???
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Luck
    In the past, I've used:
    Aweber
    Get Response
    Send Grid
    Office Auto Pilot
    iContact
    Constant Contact
    Infusion Soft

    Today, I use MailChimp. I just like their interface a bit better than all the others, very easy to manage, their support is the best I've witnessed and it's fun.

    I hear good things about the modern day office auto pilot though (I used it when it first came online, and didn't have all the bells and whistles it has now) - so I may give it a new shot soon.
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  • Profile picture of the author Justin Spencer
    Originally Posted by kevin timothy View Post

    Does anyone currently use more than one autoresponder
    service at one time? Or, do you commit to one autoresponder
    of your choice. If you do in fact use more than one please
    tell us why. You don't have to reveal any "secrets" but state
    what you believe to be are great benefits of doing keeping two.

    Thanks to all.
    Hey Kevin,

    I won't withhold the secrets.

    It's about protection. It's about delivery. It's about leverage.

    #1 - Protection: Your lists of leads and customers that are stored and hosted on AR service providers sites are as good AS your business.

    They represent your blood and tears shed to grow a stable and profitable income that will pay your bills and keep you living freely.

    If you have 1 auto-responder in you unintentionally get banned, or shut-down without backing up your stuff, and having it ready to go elsewhere, your business could go from X,XXX - XX,XXX per month to $0 overnight.

    It's happened. It's happens . . . protection is VERY key.

    #2 - Delivery: Mailing to your customers and leads from 2 separate providers ensures maximum delivery efficiency. Some mailing servers will not reach the inboxes of your people successfully and will result in YOU making less money.

    #3 - Leverage: Having multiple AR's allows you better understand which services work better and why. Get better deliverability and why. Get money in your bank account and why. Allow you to live a better life and WHY?

    Catch the trail I'm leaving?

    Hope that' gives you some clarity,

    Justin
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  • Profile picture of the author elijahdean24
    I use GVO but I am about to cancel because the service has been terrible with sending broadcast emails
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  • Profile picture of the author jfalxr
    Yeah, i don't think using 2 AR is a good idea..
    Just focus on one
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  • Profile picture of the author TheoMartin
    I work at a creative agency that has explored a lot of uses for Autoresponders if you guys would like to take a look.
    -http://creativeagencysecrets.com/your-guide-to-autoresponders/

    We're really interested in using autoresponders to develop stories and yeah we use quite a lot of them, but well spread out and for different purposes. For example we've got one welcoming signups to our newsletter and we've also created an autoresponder about autoresponders which teaches you a few tricks (this one is free).
    -http://creativeagencysecrets.com/autoresponder-sheds-light-on-autoresponders/

    Enjoy .

    Theo - Marketing Assistant at Creative Agency Secrets
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  • Profile picture of the author automationhero
    I'm assuming you're getting at trying to set up your business with marketing automation and having different sequences set up based on the customers behavior on site? Other than that don't know why you would have two
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  • Profile picture of the author sroot19
    Hey Kevin,

    I have 2 at the moment. Aweber & GVO. Was sorta testing them both out to see which I liked better, but GVO I notice a much much much lower open rate for the same messages! So gonna stick with Aweber at this point. Although I think it could also be a good idea to have at least 2 in case something happens with one of them, bc one of my mentors had his Aweber shut down and lost all his leads.

    Good question!
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  • Profile picture of the author Raydal
    Why have all your eggs in one basket? And each service provides
    different features and advantages. Of course if you are in just one
    market and your list is small it's no use complicating things by
    using different ESP.

    -Ray Edwards
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    The most powerful and concentrated copywriting training online today bar none! Autoresponder Writing Email SECRETS
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  • Profile picture of the author raypal
    Much obliged to you for all your answers. I'm extending my own particular system, and tolerating new business improvement clients,
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  • Profile picture of the author raypal
    Exceptionally important substance here.
    Thanks to all
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  • Profile picture of the author samkadya
    Originally Posted by kevin timothy View Post

    Does anyone currently use more than one autoresponder
    service at one time? Or, do you commit to one autoresponder
    of your choice. If you do in fact use more than one please
    tell us why. You don't have to reveal any "secrets" but state
    what you believe to be are great benefits of doing keeping two.

    Thanks to all.
    It is safe to have at least two autoresponders. I have heard of people who lost all their emails due to some technical problems with the autoresponders.
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