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Autoresponseplus best practices

by Market1
13 replies
Hi everyone,

I bought and installed the autoresponse plus script. It's functional now but it's got way more bells and whistles than I can use right away. I'm going through their online training and videos.

I just wanted to hear from those wo already went through the learning curve: are there any best practices or gotchas that I should watch out for and implement when setting a private A/R like ARP?
Ways to monitor and improve email deliverability, avoid spam issues etc?

Thanks for your input.
#autoresponseplus #practices
  • Profile picture of the author TLTheLiberator
    Are people still using tools like ar plus to mange their lists etc.?

    Who are you sending emails through?

    Will they tolerate it if you have a huge list and use it often?

    TL
    Signature

    "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. -- Mark Twain

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    • Profile picture of the author Market1
      Originally Posted by TLTheLiberator View Post

      Are people still using tools like ar plus to mange their lists etc.?

      Who are you sending emails through?

      Will they tolerate it if you have a huge list and use it often?

      TL
      I'm trying it out. I have Awebber as well, cost wise it's cheaper to run the A/R and I have full control of the data and import functions.

      I'm going to be sending emails through my host, I haven't looked into the volume issue as I don't have that big of a list. But you're right I should probably look into it.

      Where one would go if they don't want to have restrictions on their email volume?
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      • Profile picture of the author TLTheLiberator
        Originally Posted by Market1 View Post

        I'm trying it out. I have Awebber as well, cost wise it's cheaper to run the A/R and I have full control of the data and import functions.

        I'm going to be sending emails through my host, I haven't looked into the volume issue as I don't have that big of a list. But you're right I should probably look into it.

        Where one would go if they don't want to have restrictions on their email volume?
        I'd look for one of those providers that allow the importation of address like, I think the name is #1 cart. Lots of big timers use it for their co-reg operations.

        I'm sure if you posted a thread, you'd get quite a few suggestions.

        TL
        Signature

        "It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled. -- Mark Twain

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      • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
        Originally Posted by Market1 View Post

        I'm trying it out. I have Awebber as well, cost wise it's cheaper to run the A/R and I have full control of the data and import functions.

        I'm going to be sending emails through my host, I haven't looked into the volume issue as I don't have that big of a list. But you're right I should probably look into it.

        Where one would go if they don't want to have restrictions on their email volume?
        A dedicated server that allows for bulk email (check the TOS) is the best solution. The second best is to use ARP's 'load balancing' feature and set it to less than half your hourly quota (check your host, and see what it is).
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  • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
    Watch your bounces real closely. Those will get you flagged as spam quicker than I can say spammer.

    If an email bounces because the addres is no longer there (you will need to check the reason to see why), remove it from your list.

    Always use confirmed opt in, and honor any removal requests asap (especially if for some reason, the unsubscribe link in your emails goes gumby on you).

    Those are a few off the top of my head, I'm sure there is way more, so do some research and implement those as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author Market1
      Originally Posted by Floyd Fisher View Post

      Watch your bounces real closely. Those will get you flagged as spam quicker than I can say spammer.

      If an email bounces because the addres is no longer there (you will need to check the reason to see why), remove it from your list.

      Always use confirmed opt in, and honor any removal requests asap (especially if for some reason, the unsubscribe link in your emails goes gumby on you).

      Those are a few off the top of my head, I'm sure there is way more, so do some research and implement those as well.
      Interesting, I did not think of the bounce back volume as I don't have a big list to begin with but if it was the case how would you mitigate that?

      I believe ARP is smart to handle bouncebbacks due to incorrect addresses and I believe there's feature where it will auto clean the list.

      Thanks for the tips
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      • Profile picture of the author Floyd Fisher
        Originally Posted by Market1 View Post

        Interesting, I did not think of the bounce back volume as I don't have a big list to begin with but if it was the case how would you mitigate that?

        I believe ARP is smart to handle bouncebbacks due to incorrect addresses and I believe there's feature where it will auto clean the list.

        Thanks for the tips
        When an email bounces back, it should goto some mail box in your website.

        You go there, and find all the emails that bounced back, and read the reason why. Find the ones that say 'this address doesn't exist' and make sure you manually remove those addresses from your list.

        ARP can check for bounces, and do an auto delete, but what if the guy simply went on vacation, and or forgot to empty his email inbox? Do you really want to delete that address?

        Also, check the load balancing function out, and set it to about less than half your email quota. This keeps the webhost happy, and you out of trouble.
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        • Profile picture of the author Market1
          Excellent advice, thanks Floyd!
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  • Profile picture of the author Market1
    TLTheLiberator and Floyd,

    Thanks, I found the load balancing option, they have it under a slightly different configuration:

    Message limit (1000 messages)
    Mail sleep interval (currently at 0 seconds)

    So I'll make sure I ask my host about that.

    Out of curiosity what AR do you guys use?
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    • Profile picture of the author xiaophil
      If you haven't already, you might want to get a dedicated IP address.

      That way you can keep your IP address clean and not worry about what potentially thousands of others are up to an the same address of a shared server.

      You can setup DNS to link the IP to your email domain.

      Many recipient email servers perform a reverse DNS lookup as a spam check (i.e to check your domain matches your IP and has not been spoofed).


      Phil
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  • Profile picture of the author Market1
    Hey Phil,

    I definitely have a deidcated IP but my IP reverse DNS points to the hosting company domain instead of my private AR domain. When I run a test on mxtoolbox.com it says that my reverse DNS is ok.

    Do you think that will be an issue?
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  • Profile picture of the author Kmarshall
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    • Profile picture of the author dawnbreaker
      Originally Posted by Kmarshall View Post

      Set up a blog with an auto responders and thats prettty much it!
      What do you mean... Market1 is asking for which is the best way... He already bought an autoresponder and market wish to find the best way to install a private A/R like ARP which will help him avoid spam.
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      • Profile picture of the author kavi
        I recommend getting a vps account when installing an ar script on your website. That way, your rdns will point to your ip and you won't be affected by the actions of other users on the shared server. You will also not have any mailing limits generally imposed by shared hosts.

        Kavi
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