The problems with Autoresponders
I guess a lot of you are signed up for an autoresponder service like AWeber, GetResponse or Mailchimp because you think it's the best solution, but I'm not sure it is.
Because my main focus the last year or so have been email marketing, I've learned a thing or two about autoresponders.
An autoresponder service is expensive when your subscriber list exceeds 1000 people. I could live with that if the service was first class, but there is one big problem with autoresponders, not only the three I've mentioned, but all autoresponders where your mails are sent from shared servers, the problems is...
Poor delivery rate.
My first autoresponder service was GetResponse and it seemed to be okay, but suddenly my bounce rate was exploding, all my mails were sent to peoples spam folder... why? I've not got any spam complaints at all.
It's because you're getting penalized when other dodgy unethical marketers are spamming people.
When you send your emails from an autoresponder service, your mails are sent from a server you share with thousands of other marketers, and you can be 100% sure there will be some unethical types among those that will spam every email address they can get their hands on.
Gmail and other email providers will notice that and the sending reputation for emais sent from this server will be hurt, sometimes until they shut it down and send every email to the spamfolder. It's not a question about if it will happen, but when and how often.
The autoresponder services will shut down the spammers accounts, but the scenario will repeat itself again and again and therefore the sending reputation will never be top notch. Even when your mails are delivered, they're are delivered in the promotional tab.
So now i have my own autoresponder. I can send broadcasts, i can schedule my emails weeks ahead, i can create opt-in forms, i can do the same as i could do with GetResponse, but without paying a monthly fee and best of all, now i have a 100% delivery rate to peoples inbox.
The reason for this high delivery rate is because I'm sending from my own domain. I connect the software to my own domain, so it's only me who is sending emails from this address, and because I'm an ethical marketer i have a 100% sending reputation. I've never had a spam complaint.
I'm also promoting my website this way instead of promoting a third party service.
So instead of Stefan via GetResponse,com, it now look like this
Stefan <mydomain.com> a bit more sexy for my taste
Is there no drawbacks?... yes and no
If you have a giant subscriber list and the domain you're sending from is hosted on a shared server the sending speed is only 500 emails per hour.
If it's hosted on a dedicated server the speed is 10.000 emails per hour.( more than enough for most people )
I hope you got some useful information regarding autoresponders.
All the best
Stefan
Recent Comments
14
I'm really curious about what is involved with setting up your own autoresponder. I haven't heard much about that and would love to earn more about it. I'd even consider hiring someone to set it up for me if it wasn't too expensive just to avoid the spamming issues.
Thanks for sharing!
Erica
Hi
If you've published a Wordpress website you'll not have any problems setting up your own autoresponder, and it's not expensive.
Didn't you say your autoresponder was free, Stefan?
".....i can do the same as i could do with GetResponse, but without paying a monthly fee and best of all, now i have a 100% delivery rate to peoples inbox."
No it's not free, you pay a one time fee of $97 and that's it, then you can send unlimited emails to unlimited subscribers
I didn't pay for access because i was one of the beta testers of the software.
It's a cloudbased software but in its early stages it was just a Wordpress plugin. You can still get the plugin, but with the plugin you can only send emails to your subscribers, there's no autoresponder feature.
I have a lead capture page where i give away this plugin, so opt-in to my list then you can get it (just joking)
If you're just getting your feet wet with email marketing I think the plugin is enough, but when you reach the stage where you use sales funnels, then you need an autoresponder.
Maybe I can post the training videos from the software, then you can see how to use it and set it up (it's extremely easy)
what happens if you are tagged as spam from your recipients?
i have heard that you can get blacklisted , but the autoresponders have a way of dealing with this.
can you get around the spam problem by asking people to whitelist you after taking up your offer and hitting reply, oes this enable you to get around the spam filter problem?
good luck Stefan
Phil
interested as i have signed up for an unlimited one time payment offer with mailingboss- probably not the most brilliant but can cope with unlimited lists and unlimited subscribers for the one price.
Hi
If I'm tagged as spam ( I hope it never happens ) they're automatically removed from the list. Yes you can ask them to whitelist you, but they never will. Ask them a question so that they'll reply to your email, then you're whitelisted.
Mailingboss, then you're a member of Builderall, you know what? So am I
All the best
Stefan
Stephan,
Thank I sure did learn something here. I am not ready for
the email marketing end yet but when I get there I would
prefer my email not end up in a spam folder :)
Thanks,
Susan
Hi
If you have a website, you should not wait to long to add an opt-in form to your site.
Stefan
Stefan,
I have that on there and will keep track just figure it is going to take another 6 months or so before I have a real list :)
Susan
See more comments
Great article Stefan, and points about how unethical marketers can hurt your deliverability rate I have not heard of.
It certainly makes me question whether I should ditch all email marketing services altogether for sending from my own domain.
Any other drawbacks to this approach?
What service to I need to use to get this done?
Thanks:)
Great article, can you do a training on how to setup your own personal autoresponder using Mymailit?
OR at least give a few tips on how to set it up?
Many thanks
Hi John, I'll just post the instruction videos from the software, then you can see how to use it and set it up (it's very easy)