For those who own a website or have been in the Internet marketing business for a while now, hopefully you have hundreds, if not thousands, of visitors checking your site on a regular basis. When you take the time and/or expense to get visitors to your site, you want to be able to make the most of that effort and be able to contact them again. To do this you need to ethically collect their email address.
An email autoresponder service can help a you collect and manage this information, helping you get more from you investment. Before I get to the tips, let me tell you briefly about the three main types of email management autoresponder systems available.
The three main types are: self-hosted, desktop autoresponder program, and hosted autoresponder service.
A Self-hosted email system requires that you install the software on your own dedicated server and that you manage everything yourself. Most individuals and small businesses starting just don’t have the resources to do this.
Most people choose not to go this route starting out.
Desktop autoresponders are installed on your desktop (surprise!). You need to be aware of what operating system they run on as some only run on Windows, some on Mac while others can run on both. One advantage to this type of service is that you have the control over how things are handled.
The main disadvantage of desktop based autoresponder software (and this is potentially huge) is that it will use your ISP’s resources to send emails AND your computer will have to be connected to the internet 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Maybe this is not something you want.
Hosted (or cloud hosted) autoresponder services abound and have several advantages for new IM marketers and small businesses. While the exact details vary with the service, the goods one all provide you with a fee-based, reliable service that is able to deliver your emails when you want. They have customer support to help you over any rough spots and most have easy integration with your website so you can have an email campaign up in no time at all.
Using a hosted autoresponder service for email marketing (such as Aweber or GetRespones) is really the best option for small businesses and online marketers that need a hassle-free way to maintain their customer contacts. With that in mind, the following tips will help you choose the best hosted service for your needs.
Tip #1: Determine the Features of Each Service
Each autoresponder service has a different set of feature. These features differ from each other, that’s why it’s always advisable to do some research first, to find the one that meets your needs.
While everyone’s needs will be a bit different, here are some features to look for:
- Templates – does the service have templates that you can use to create your opt-in forms?
- Scheduling -can you schedule emails to be sent at specific dates and times?
- List importing – can you import a list of email addresses you already own?
- Multiple Lists – can you maintain multiple lists with this service?
- Segmenting – can you easily identify your buyers and move them to a buyers list?
- Optin Requirements – double or single optin required?
- Customer Support – what type of support do they offer (phone, email, chat, videos for example) and is there an extra charge?
Tip #2: Easy Setup
There is nothing worse than having to futz around trying to get your autoresponder set up. Most of the larger services offer either do-it-yourself methods or the sort of ‘guided tour’ method to setting up your list and your emails campaigns.
Even though I have been doing this for quite some time, I still use the guided method as it is fast and very easy and I don’t forget parts along the way (or if I do, it tells me so!).
Some services also have images for use in your emails and templates for your landing pages as well as for your emails themselves, making great looking emails easy to do.
Tip #3: Cost is NOT everything
Yes, budget is important and you do need to look at the monthly costs. Most services have a ‘starter’ monthly cost and as you add more subscribers, your costs rise. These stages vary greatly between the services so make sure you check this out carefully. The services assume that as you grow your list you are making more money so a higher fee will not put you off.
Having said that, you will usually find that a higher cost provides more or better services. Check out everything offered and decide what you need right now and what you hope to need as your business and list grows. Find out what their delivery rate is – no point in getting a cheap service that cannot deliver your emails.
In summary, you can see there is a lot to consider when choosing an autoresponder service. Give it some careful thought and then signup and start building your list!
Barb
PS. I have used Aweber for years and find it suits my needs very well.
