How do you feel about Free Auto Responders?

13 years ago

Originally Posted by giversunite

Hey guys, I recently had some complications with my AR client - they lost all of my leads and is no longer functional so I am in search of a great AR client to use.

I would like to have unlimited campaigns with unlimited subscribers, link tracking, customizable forms, and thank you pages

Sounds simple enough but the sites I have checked out are very limited.

I would appreciate your suggestions

Ben

The autoresponder i use is aweber and have been using them for
years now and never had a problem.

The other very good autoresponders are icontact and getresponse.

Also if you are looking to build a real online business then leave the free
autoresponders alone. There not worth it.

Thanks
2 replies

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Michael Shook

13 years ago

I think that a service business like Aweber or GetResponse is in general more reliable than a self hosted client.

I have used both and I find I have way less problems overall with Aweber.

Thanks
1 reply

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Alexa Smith

Banned 13 years ago

Nobody actually "needs" a free autoresponder.

People only imagine that they do, and that there'll be some long-term benefit to starting that way, and that in some meaningful sense it'll be better than not having one at all.

Aweber charges $1 for the first month and $19 per month thereafter. If you're not covering $20 in two months, the reality is that you don't have a business at all, and that's not something that using a free autoresponder is somehow magically going to correct.

In my opinion, using a free autoresponder is one of the very most ill-advised and misguided things one can do, in internet marketing.

Few people are more keen on list-building than I am, but I think for most people it's better to start without an autoresponder, temporarily, than it is to use a free one. And (unlike the situation with regard to free hosting), with autoresponders it IS specifically the fact they're free that causes the potential disasters/risks, in my view.

The question you have to ask yourself is whether it can possibly be wise to entrust the safe-keeping and security of your business's greatest, most important and least replaceable asset (your list) to a company whose business model is that of being a free autoresponder. I think that it's generally right at the start of their internet marketing careers, when people understandably have the least judgement about such situations, and the least awareness of the facts and realities involved, that such mistakes tend to be made.

I suspect that people imagine something along the lines of "Well, I can always start with a free autoresponder until I've made some money, and then make the switch to a better one". Usually, one can't easily do that. Moving established lists from one autoresponder company to another is typically hugely difficult, and very commonly results in all one's subscribers needing - at best - to opt in all over again. Many Warriors have commented here that they've lost between two-thirds and three-quarters of their lists, this way!

Some people just shrug and say "Well, you can always back it up regularly, can't you?". Easily said. What are you going to do with it, after you've "backed it up"? How are you going to import it elsewhere? Who's going to allow you to import it elsewhere, and under what conditions? (People don't always think about these problems. But the experience of Warriors who have actually had to try to do this seems to me to point to its being something of a nightmare and a disaster).

In the case of Mailchimp, obviously enough, the situation's very clear to anyone willing to make the effort to read their Terms of Service. In the case of other "free autoresponders" (of which there are several), it's usually very much less clear, unfortunately. Typically, those recommending one, in my opinion, are only recent list-builders themselves and may not yet be aware of some of the longer-term pitfalls.

Some of these companies even attach to every email their customers send out to their lists a clickable link advertising their own free service!

:p It's literally the autoresponder equivalent of having a little website advising people about <whatever> sitting at Yola, with a big clickable link at the bottom of the page advertising "Get your free website here with Yola".

How professional does that look?!

Some of these companies also don't yet have a very well established business model. Who really knows if they're still going to be there 3 years later? But if they're not, that can be an absolute disaster to your business!

On previous occasions when I've made that point, someone with a financial interest in a "free autoresponder" business has replied, mentioning that I don't know that Aweber or GetResponse will still be there in 3 years' time, either. I honestly think this a pretty silly argument, because it should be clear to all of us that the odds are stacked in one's favour if one uses Aweber (for example) and against one if one uses a "free autoresponder".

If necessary, I'd make a sale or two without having a list, and then start with Aweber when one has $1 to spare.

The set-up costs even for internet marketing businesses which do everything professionally, right from the start, are absolutely minuscule ...

My perspective only - there are others who disagree, of course. One or two of them are owners of free autoresponder businesses.

And some others, I think, are pretty inexperienced and have maybe not yet encountered any problems - in contrast to others here whose warning-posts can readily be found with the search function, by those willing to look, including for the posts like this.

[ 16 ] Thanks
1 reply

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Gary_The_Ace

12 years ago

Since Alexa seems to keep referencing this post it in every thread where my List Wire service comes up, I figured it was about time I respond and set the record straight...

I'll let you make your own decision, based on the facts, and not the opinions of one single person who seems hell bent on chiming in every time our name comes up... even though she's never used our service herself. (DOH!)

And just to be clear, I'm ONLY talking about List Wire in this thread... I can't speak for anyone else, and wouldn't want anyone else to speak for me.