Autoresponder Reviews

Are you capturing a person's email address on your website? If not, WHY NOT?

Have you heard of the 7 visitor rule? Essentially, statistics show that a person will usually visit 7 websites prior to ever making any purchase. So if you are the first through sixth website visited, your visitor may come and go forever...EXCEPT if you are able to get them to sign up for your list. Now the value of the visit and that customer become EXPONENTIALLY HIGHER! In fact, many and most successful online marketers rely on this opt-in. In my opinion, anyone with a website should have an opt-in no matter what.

But the big problem is:

• How do you do it?
• How do I put that form on my website?
• How am I going to email my visitors in a time effective way?
• How do I send out regular emails?
• How am I going to store these emails (and what if I lose them)?

Luckily, there are programs designed to perform these exact tasks. The term "Autoresponder" refers to an email management system that is smart enough to send out pre-written messages on a pre-defined day interval. For example, you can set your auto-responder to send a pre-written email immediately after the user signs up, then a second email on day 3 and a third email on day 8. Setting this up is as easy as writing any old email, too. You just define the day when it is delivered to the client.

Integration is also provided for you. You specify the fields which you want to gather (which is usually, by default, name and email address, but you can also gather other fields like phone, address or even custom questions). Then they will provide you the code to simply copy and paste into your website, blog, etc.

Now you have two main choices on how this is managed (and how you pay for it!).

1) Hosted Services

These autoreponders are hosted and managed on the vendor's website. Basically, you will go to the website, log into your account and everything is set up and stored for you. All of user information is stored on their servers and the emails are sent out on their email servers.

PROS:

• No Technical Set-up Issues
• Potentially Higher Email Delivery Rates
• All Browser Based

CONS:

• Monthly fees apply
• Some custom, advanced features may not be available
• External to your website (with some brandability limitations)

2) Local Services

There are some services where you can buy the code which can be integrated directly into your current website. Most of the management is still done online through a browser, but the entire system is hosted on your own server, under your own domain name.

PROS -

• One-time payment fee
• Integration results in high brandability
• More flexibility in customization

CONS -

• May require some technical integration knowledge (i.e., FTP, cron jobs and host management)
• All data is managed on your servers (hard disk space)
• All email is sent through your email server (takes up server resources)

3)  PC/Mac Application

A third option exists for the "in-between" user looking for a powerful, one-time payment solutions without the technical expertise.  The autoresponder is loaded on your home computer and managed much like a you would use mail software like Microsoft Outlook.  The program communicates over you internet connection, but no server or host is required.

PROS -

• Easy to install (like any other PC or Mac Program)
• One-Time Fee
• Usually very powerful with many features and customizations

CONS -

• Must have an active internet connection to work
• All data and information is stored locally on your computer (Back-up a MUST!)
• Does not integrate with your website

As a beginner online, it is recommended to use a hosted autoresponder. They are fairly inexpensive (usually less than $20/month) and for most of you, you will never need much more than this (EVER...even as your list grows). Others who are a bit more advanced, technically savvy, looking for a tighter integration into their website, or are trying to save money in the long-run should consider a locally hosted product.

Below we review some of the popular and most respected autoresponder companies in the business.