Autoresponders are email tools that allow you to automatically send emails (or other types of messages) to subscribers regularly. They come in different flavors, designs, and prices, but all autoresponder software work similarly. You can manage your email marketing campaigns more effectively and efficiently by setting up autoresponder software. In this blog post, we’ll be discussing the different types of autoresponder software and their uses. We’ll also recommend the best autoresponder software based on our own experience.
An autoresponder allows you automatically to send emails and newsletters to your customers. The purpose of an autoresponder is to keep in touch with your customers regularly, using their email addresses as the communication channel. They can also help you track and optimize your marketing campaigns, which leads to better conversion rates. Aweber is one of the most popular autoresponder software platforms, and for a good reason. It offers a range of features, including advanced reporting and analytics, that make it great for businesses of all sizes. Aweber is the one we recommend. There are others, but Aweber is one of the oldest and most experienced.
How autoresponders work
You could keep every clients email in a spreadsheet. Then, when you want to contact any of them, you could copy that email address into your outgoing email box and send it. Doing so seems simple and not that much work.
What happens, however, when you have hundreds or thousands of clients you want to contact all at once? It’s possible to copy an entire column of client emails and place them all in the TO section of your outgoing email client. You’ll probably have to edit the list and put a comma between each email, but it’s possible, and it does work. The downside is that it’s a lot of work, and the worst part is that each client will see the email addresses of all the others. In other words, you’ve just sent your entire email list to everyone. Not ideal.
Some say just put everyone’s email address in the BCC or Blind Carbon Copy section. That will hide them all. Yes, it will; however, now the TO address needs to be yourself or some random client. You need to put each client’s email in the TO section. That affects deliverability. Each person will get an email not explicitly addressed to them, which will likely end up in the Spam section.
Personalization
Autorepsonders also can address each client by name. Example: Take a look at this faux list.
John Jones jj@bestaroundtheweb.com
Shirly Smith shirly@bestaroundtheweb.com
An email responder can address a message using each client’s first, last, or both names.
For example, when the email is sent to John Jones, it might look like this:
Dear John Jones,
John, we are contacting you about…
When the same email is sent to Shirly Smith, it will look like this:
Dear Shirly Smith
Shirly, we are contacting you about…
You don’t need to do any extra work to have customized personalized emails like this using almost every autoresponder made.
Automation
Today’s autoresponders are a comprehensive marketing automation platform. You can build what is called an autoresponder series or automation features. It’s a workflow where you enter a series of future emails for the client, and they get sent out on schedule without your input.
Imagine you own a golf course and have many people on your email list. You can set up in advance a series of emails that can be sent x number of days after a person signs up for the list. These emails could be monthly golf tips. You design the series; it doesn’t matter when someone signs up for the list. They will get tip #1 right after they sign up and tip #2 a month later. Others on the list might be on tip #11, but the new sign-up will start the series at the beginning.
The autoresponder will save a lot of effort and keep things flowing in order.
List Maintenance
A good autoresponder can maintain your list of customers as well. Customers may decide they don’t want to hear from you again. The person you are trying to reach may have decided that they do not wish to be contacted by you. The client needs to respond via the email link or send an unsubscribe response, and the software will remove them from getting further contact. Not only does this save you from an enormous amount of work, but it can keep you out of regulatory hot water. Once a customer has revoked your right to contact them, it is illegal in most jurisdictions to retain their data. If you get caught sending emails to customers that have unsubscribed from your list, you could face hefty fines and even jail time.
Text and HTML format
When an email goes out, you can send it only in text or HTML format. What is the difference? “Text” means you are sending words only. HTML format means you can include graphics and design the email in a fancier form. Sometimes you can send both.
Templates
Most autoresponders have a way to create and use email templates that make it easy to provide a consistent format, look, and feel to your outgoing email. Templates are also excellent for keeping in touch with your customers on special holidays. If the software has predefined templates that you can readily use, contacting thousands of clients with a Christmas greeting is a breeze and can be done In a matter of minutes.
Scheduling
After a certain period has passed, outgoing emails can be sent. You can schedule them, and the software will take over and send them as you wish. You can design a Thanksgiving email promotion in July, set it, forget it, and the software will dutifully send it out to your list on the day you have instructed it. You don’t have to remember at all. Once designed and set, the schedule will kick in and do it for you.
Split Testing
We cover analytics below, but split testing different email text can be part of those statistics. Many autoresponders will let you split test or send two versions of the same email to part of your list each. Testing tells you which text is more effective in getting people to open up and respond—a handy feature for those doing marketing.
Analytics
Over the years, autoresponders have evolved to give you more than just email delivery. They can also provide statistics on open rates, metrics, rates of sign-ups, and dropouts. They can tell you which emails are the most often opened, most productive, and produce the best results. Analytics are built-in and a convenient feature.
Segmentation
Not all customers are the same, and a good autoresponder can do segmentation. Segmentation is where you can separate different types of customers based on the criteria you set. Sending a broadcast message to people on your list who’ve bought your product versus people who haven’t bought it yet is one example. Another example would be keeping different lists based on customer preferences. Men vs. Women, and perhaps children if you have a clothing store. Luxury car buyers vs. low-end car buyers if you own a car dealership.
Segmentation assures that the person getting the email is interested in your offer. It reduces the chance that the customer will get tired of communications that have nothing to do with them and unsubscribe.
Landing Page Templates
Too many online entrepreneurs are buying software to create funnels and landing pages without taking advantage of today’s autoresponders’ built-in landing page templates. Often these landing pages are all that is needed, and the cost savings can be tremendous. In the beginning, autoresponders didn’t offer landing pages, but now, most do. You should take advantage of the landing page features because they integrate naturally with the autoresponder list.
Integrations
Some autoresponders like Aweber will integrate with other marketing sites and tools you use to attract customers. Integration means that someone has created a way for two pieces of software to work together without hiring a programmer to make that happen. Aweber, for example, integrates with Facebook, Paypal, WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce, and hundreds more. It’s a valuable feature that avoids figuring out how to make two or more things share data.
Hosted is Best
You can download, install, and run autoresponder software on your computer. Still, we do not recommend doing it that way. You must configure everything yourself, including all transport connections. That means all incoming and outgoing email services. You’ll probably have no trouble doing this if you are good at tech. However, there is more.
Deliverability of the emails is critical. In other words, will your email get to your customers? Providers of hosted autoresponders are motivated to make sure emails coming from their servers are delivered. Their entire business depends on it. They have team members doing nothing but tweeting and fixing any issues that might cause emails to get rejected. That includes ensuring each client follows specific rules so as not to give other clients a black eye. They monitor blackhat sites and ban lists and keep deliverability at its peak. You won’t get that with desktop software and need more time to focus on everything that could affect your outgoing email.
In other words, they’re targeted at people who’ve already visited your website, filled out a form, and entered their email addresses.
Autoresponders are an effective way to build up your email list because:
- They help you generate leads (people who visit your site and then buy something)
- They keep them engaged with you
- They make it easy for you to communicate with them
- You can spend less time creating content for them.
- There are no one-size-fits-all approaches to building an autoresponder.
AWeber – Best Autoresponder Software With Advanced Reporting And Analytics
Autoresponders are a great way to keep in touch with your customers and ensure they are always up to date on the latest developments in
Description: “Autoresponder” allows you to automatically send autoresponders and newsletters to your customers as you have read. For all-around email goodness, Aweber is best. It has a free trial offer, and if you don’t like it, you can download your email list and put it in different software.
With FREE trial you get:
Everything you need to start marketing:
Up to 500 email subscribers
1 Landing page
1 Email automation
Web push notifications
Drag and drop builder
Email templates
Sign up forms
Ecommerce
and more!
Conclusion
Did you know that autoresponders are one of the most popular email marketing tools? Autoresponders are email automation tools that help you regularly send automated emails to your email list. You can increase your email subscribers and keep them updated on your latest campaigns, content, and offers. In this blog post, we’ve outlined the best autoresponder software options and outlined their features.