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Autoresponder vs. SMTP

by dietmtndew
5 replies
Hello, I'm new to email marketing. I've been reading some threads, I see some people recommending purchasing a 3rd party SMTP server and then others say 'no use an auto-responder' .. but it sounds like they're saying that they do the same thing so I have to ask what is the difference?

Also, I'm seeing people say that you should clean your list before you start blasting it.. how do you clean it and what is a spamtrap? I'm guessing 'fake' email addresses specifically created and sold to capture spammers email to add to blacklists?

Can someone walk me through this getting started? I have a list. I want to clean it, then email it 1-2x per month. I got it from InfoFree.com "Businesses with Email" and is a select type of professionals I want to send a newsletter to as they are often in a position to refer me business.

I was reading and thinking I would use Sendblaster Pro and mail merge through Outlook with a SendGrid dedicated IP. Am I on the right track?
#autoresponder #smtp
  • Profile picture of the author Brendan Mace
    Depends how much you're mailing...

    Most people abandon services like Aweber and GetResponse in order to cut costs.

    What they don't realize is you can actually spend A LOT with SMTP servers if you're bulk mailing to a large list.

    Amazon SES is by far the cheapest and best option. But they are known to ban email marketers. So that is in your best interests, but be prepared to jump ship if Amazon deactivates your account.
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  • Profile picture of the author DIABL0
    SMTP's charge per email and they charge a premium to send promotional messages VS transnational. Make sure you know how much promotional messages cost.

    Autoresponder's are going to charge a flat-rate for how many contacts are in your list, but you can send unlimited number of messages to the list.

    Obviously everyone knows how big their list is, but you need to know how many times per month you plan to send a message. Once you calculate how many messages per month you plan to send, then you can figure out which is cheaper, smtp or autoresponder.

    An autoresponder is always going to be cheaper once you get above a certain number of messages per month.

    Another option would be to use something like Arpreach (about $195) and host it on a VPS. This would be cheaper than both of the above. I have no personal experience with arpreach, but I do know someone that uses it to run their solo ad business. I also know nothing about sendblaster. I'm just not up on mail programs, as I use autoresponders in addition to having my own servers / custom mail platform that I use.

    As far as cleaning goes, I would say that most would consider these to be the best.

    http://impressionwise.com
    http://ehygienics.com
    http://siftlogic.com
    http://thebridgecorp.com
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    • Profile picture of the author waterfall
      You can search for an online email verifier service and get your list cleaned with it. When done, you can choose an email marketing system. It depends on your list size and the number of emails you plan to send per month.

      If you have a small list and do not plan to email very often, you can look at an email service provider like MailChimp, SendGrid, GetResponse etc. Some of them have a free plan that could suit you.

      But if you have a large list and/or send frequently, ESP can be expensive. So, in this case, a hybrid email software like EasyMail7 can suit you well. It installs onto your computer or server and allows you to keep your email lists and messages in-house. At the same time, it allows you to use any delivery service or SMTP server to send your emails. Amazon SES is a very cost effective service for large lists.
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  • Profile picture of the author henryw1981
    The smtp servers can get pretty expensive. I personally use an autoresponder and it has worked very well for me. You may also want to do A/B split testing to compare results.
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  • Profile picture of the author DonteEvans
    Well...

    I have both actually as I am testing SMTP currently. If you are starting out, I would suggest working with aweber or GetResponse. I actually still have my aweber and getresponse accounts since I'm just starting out with the SMTP which I do like as well. To keep things simple though I would suggest going with Aweber or GetResponse.

    I know some mention the cost but for me the cost of SMTP is similar than what I would be paying for Aweber monthly (monthly cost + awprotools) however with my smtp I do have a dedicated IP and also I'm not charged per subscriber.

    Feel free to pm me if any questions pop up, I'm not an expert with it however learning more and more every day which sometimes makes it more enjoyable, lol.

    Hope that helps.
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