For some of my recent ventures I’ve been undertaking, I’ve been working with a different autoresponder. 
Yes…again.
I almost feel like I am Christopher Columbus, circling the globe of autoresponder email marketing. But I truly feel like I have found a dock to park my Pinta. That dock, at least for the time being, is GetResponse.
Aweber is Great! (why did I leave in the first place)
Aweber has 2 glaring deficiencies in my eyes. Their confirmed opt-in policies, and their refusal to allow remote API single-optin access.
I love their webforms, and their ease of use. However, the API thing is big. What does that mean? If you sell a product while using certain merchant providers, you can have your autoresponders automatically notified. If they allow single optin API’s, then the customers buy a product, and are automatically placed on an email list. Perhaps you can use this to provide updates, email marketing, address glitches, etc. It just isn’t possible with Aweber.
Rounding 2nd….Icontact
So, based on some recommendations I received, I have been rolling with Icontact for awhile. For any membership type sites I have, I contact has worked great. Reason being, I can use the sign up forms provided by Nanacast. The lack of “webforms” from Icontact is huge. They have like….NONE.
The good part…they allowed single optins. So, if I have a list of people, and want to add them, or move them…it can be done easily.
The lack of webforms though was a kicker. There also were not a lot of bells and whistles.
Rounding 3rd…GetResponse
Hopefully this is the baby that will get me home. It has the best of both worlds from what I can tell. It also has surveys, for free, to boot.
It provides some good, basic webforms, and popups for your use. I allows for the choice between single and double optin for manual additions, email subscribe, or webform subscribe. You can set each to your own liking. Best part, they have the capabilities to allow single opt in for API calls. That is HUGE. Huge. HuGE. Aweber doesn’t. You just have to contact Getresponse, tell them which campaign you need set to single, and they will do it for you. Aweber….nope, not happening.
A couple other differences if you are in the autoresponder shopping business right now:
- Getresponse is FREE up to 100 clients.
- Icontact limited how many broadcasts you could sent per month. Getresponse and Aweber do not.
- Icontact does not allow for “automation rules”, or moving from one list to another, auto removal from lists, etc. Getresponse and Aweber do.
So, if you have never tried Getresponse….sign up for a free account. What is the worst that can happen?
PS…I understand the metrics of having double optin. I believe most experts stats show that people who double optin, are more likely to open your emails, etc. That’s cool. However, I want the abilities to have single optin for 2 reasons:
1) If I have a list of people I know are on a mailing list (perhaps a personal email list, or a list I know that have previously opted in, etc) and I want to place them manually onto the list. Or how about this…suppose I hold a seminar and 20 people are there. I can have them sign a paper stating they agree to be added to my list, and when I get home, I can add them manually to my email list.
2) The automatic API issue. How would you like to sell a product, and think you can add the person automatically to an email list. Yes, you can use 1SC, and it will do the job fine, but then you have to deal with their horrible Affiliate program. I’m telling you..the only solution to that is something other than mailchimp and aweber. At least at the time of this writing.
Again, I’m trying my best to represent this issues as true as possible. If any of you have any insights, I’m all ears.
We can even start a single versus double optin “dialogue” here too.
And, I know some soul is going to come along and tell me..it’s not double optin, it’s “confirmed optin”…whatever.
What are your thoughts?
Brandon
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PS…why have I not tried the highly touted mailchimp? The double optin issue…they are in the same boat as Aweber, so that marks them OUT of my books.
Hey Brandon,
Nice Post.
When i first started i was thinking of aweber but they didn’t accept paypal for payments.
I’m currently using a software for list building, but now i’m thinking to change my autoresponder service.
It seems getresponse is the best option for me. Is GetResponse accepts Paypal?
Thanks.
~Dev
Dev | Technshare´s last [type] ..Does Your Website Need a Root Canal
Hey Dev,
Thanks regarding the post. I did a little hunting and found this for you and the others who were wondering about Paypal.
It sounds like you would be Good to Go!
http://blog.getresponse.com/paypal-integration.html
Basically, you add an email to paypal, and then set an “email auto subscribe” up for the campaign in Getresponse. Once someone buys, an email signup is completed. Just make sure you unclick confirmed optin on your Getresponse campaign and you should be set!
Brandon
Timely post for me. I just moved my digital delivery strategy over to DL Guard which has seemless integration with Aweber and Getresponse.
I also use Aweber and was disappointed to see that you can ONLY bypass “confirmed optin” if you use a webform. Any API add will force the user to confirm.
I see both sides and I kind of wish Aweber allowed auto-add like GetResponse does. At that same time, I have had enormous success with opt in rate using the following:
1. Customer purchases product thru paypal
2. After purchase complete, have an opt in box below the digital download link. If you are offering something free that is related to what they just purchased, the opt in ratio is extremely high and it is a high quality opt in.
Having said that… I’m still torn and I’m on the fence if I will stick with aweber or follow you and go to Getresponse.
Justin Popovic´s last [type] ..Creating a Sense of Urgency to Drive Results
Hey Justin,
I’m hearing you..definitely. It just seems if someone is really only doing email marketing…aweber works fine. But as soon as you need to add that component where you want to add somebody for buying something to an autoresponder…they drop the ball.
Cool part with Getresponse is they are free to a certain number of subscribers…so you can try it for as long as you’d like without having to commit. I messed with it for about 6 hours a couple weekends ago, and am so glad I put the homework into finding it. Really does a good job.
I also agree..you can probably get most to optin at that point of your sales funnel (on the download page), but doesn’t that leave a glaring weakness?? Ahhh…if only those local Pennsylvanian’s would come to their senses on like 2 key hangups…they’d be awesome in my book.
Take care,
B
Justin,
Also check out my response to Dev in his comment…provided a link showing how simple this integration can be with Paypal/Getresponse. Worth a test drive anyway.
Brandon
I really do not have too much to add to this conversation. I am a longtime user of AWEBER and find it great for handling some pretty massive lists.
I agree some of their policies make it a little difficult. But they are so good at what they do it overcomes some minor inconveniences.
Steve´s last [type] ..17 Tips for Making Friends While Traveling Solo
I agree they are good at what they do…matter of fact…I suggested to getresponse last night that they add some more webforms similar to Aweber and they’d be golden.
Dude, you shouldn’t have told me when you’ll be back. I may never get that package out to you.
Nahhh…just kidding. You earned it!
Brandon
Ironically, Awebers confirmed opt-in policies, and their refusal to allow remote API single-optin access is considered their 2 best features by the larger percentage of their customers.
#1 reason – full compliance with the can-spam act, the others are riding the line, to put it nicely. That fits in nicely with the fact that there is NO CHANCE of being held the slightest bit liable in a spam complaint.
Single opt-ins will have some ‘splaining to do, at least.:)
As for the product issue, I’ve never heard anyone say anything other then easy-peasy to move one from a prospect list to a customer list after purchase.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last [type] ..Twitter Weekend part1 – Now Would be a Good Time to Follow Me
Hey Dennis,
That is so funny that it is one of Aweber’s best selling features. it’s just not as simple though as moving them, even through their automated system from list to the other. Once the purchase call is made, they just won’t allow them to be added to another list automatically, without having to RECONFIRM their email. i could even see requiring the first time to have it confirmed, but they don’t trust the API calls, so they require the folks to reconfirm to the new list, even if it’s just a list that shows they have actually purchased something. It’s crazy, I know….and it’s a discussion which will probably last a long time.
Thanks for the insights Dennis!
Brandon
Not entirely true. If you simply click the “add” like to add people to your list, then yes, they nee to reconfirm.
However, (and I’ll have to double-check to see if this is still viable), you can “merge” lists, so to speak.
There was an option that allowed you to (move-merge-add) A to B or vice-verse after an action was taken, like purchasing for example, without their direct knowledge….something like that, I don’t fully recall.
As you can probably surmise, I was not fond of, and never used, this feature.
1. It means duplicate emails for the recipient if you sent the same email to both lists.
2. I always figured they be pissed if they ever found out.
I’d call Aweber on this, I did but don’t remember what was said, it was longtime ago.
Willie Crawford talked all the time about his prospect to customer lists.
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last [type] ..Twitter Weekend 1- Now Would be a Good Time to Follow Me
Brandon, thanks to you and Dennis and the others for examining this topic. I’ll be launching my new website in September (the successor to SellingInformationProducts.net and two others), and shortly thereafter I’ll start building a list.
John Soares´s last [type] ..My Trinity Alps Backpacking Trip — Caribou Lake- Sawtooth Ridge- Emerald Lake- Morris Meadows
hey John,
Hope it helps.
HUGE UPDATE NEWS:
I mentioned that last week I completed a survey for getresponse and informed them that my biggest complaint is that while they do have some webforms for creating nice looking optins, and popups, etc, that they lag far behind Aweber in this department.
Well, this morning I found out…THEY NO LONGER LAG BEHIND. They now offer a huge assortment of optin webforms very similar to Aweber.
This is absolutely awesome news. Awesome.
Talk soon.
Brandon
PS…looking forward to your new site launch and to see what you have up your sleeve.
I left Aweber almost 2 years ago for SendPepper/OfficeAutoPilot. SendPepper is more than just email with landing pages and other options. It’s for marketing, not just email and allows the option of double or single opt-in.
What I like more is the option to ‘tag’ subscribers as opposed to having separate lists for each subscriber. So, if they sign up at one spot and again at another spot they can be tagged for both automatically and marketed to differently for each ‘tag.’ It’s a great way to segment your list and better target market to them.
If you don’t mind, here’s my affiliate link:
http://persuasiontheory.com/sendpepper
Matt Fox´s last [type] ..Testing Your Marketing- When Is As Important As What
I Just signed up for get response.I have jumped from one to the other too
Get Response told me they don’t offer Html support. I wanted to link my flex Squeeze opt-in form to my Get Response list. They gave me a broken down code but when I pasted the code in 2 webforms were there….I probably will make a tutorial when I figure it out
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