In this post I will review email system autoresponder software.

You’ve learned that you need an MLM mailing list and an “email system autoresponder”. Now, you’ve got to choose a specific email autoresponder.
There are three features I’m going to compare.

•    Cost

•    Deliverability

•    Ease of Use
Cost Comparison of Email System Autoresponder Software (as of the writing of this post)

•    AWeber – $1 for the first month;

$19 per month for 0-500 subscribers,

$29 per month for 501-2500 subscribers;

$49 per month for 2501-5000 subscribers; and up.

•    iContact – Free trial for the first 15 days;

save 10% if you pay for the entire year, otherwise;

$9.95 per month for 250 contacts;

$14 per month for 500;

$19 for 1000; $29 for 2500; $47 for 5000; and up.

Conclusion: So it seems that looking at cost alone,  perhaps your best bet is i Contact.

Also,  iContact gives you the option of having only up to 250 contacts and spending less money until you need the extra contact plan.

Comparison of Deliverability of Email System Autoresponder Software

AWeber - This email autoresponder doesn’t list deliverability rates, but this is what AWeber says on its website

At AWeber, we pride ourselves on getting your requested email delivered by:

•    Enforcing a zero tolerance anti-spam policy.

•    Authenticating all email campaigns using SPF and Domain Keys.

•    Establishing and nurturing relationships with major ISPs.

•    Automatically processing unsubscribes and undeliverable addresses.

•    Proactively seeking out and resolving potential delivery issues.

•    Providing content filter-checking tools to all users.

iContact states on its website that it has a 98-99% deliverability rate.

Conclusion: So in terms of deliverability, it’s hard to say-

but it would seem they are both pretty much in the same category (i.e. good!)

What about the Ease of Use of each Email System Autoresponder Software?

•    AWeber – This system has a series of tutorials, articles, and a live getting started video website.

If you are the type of person, who tries to put something together without reading the instructions, you’ll need to use their tutorials.

I used to use Aweber, but I didn’t find it intuitive to use. I needed detailed instructions to use it.

•    If you want to use both plain text and html, then you have to copy and paste your message into AWeber twice.

Once for html and once for plain text.

•    AWeber does let you know if your messages are spammy,but I haven’t figured out how to tell what they consider the problem to be.

•    In adding to its autoresponders, you have a setting that asks you to enter  how many days from the last message.

E.g enter “3 days” after last email. (In iContact, you have to enter how many days from original opt in, each time you add a new email to the autoresponder.

This can lead to mistakes as you have to check each time what the previous email’s “delivery day” was, and then add the additional days onto that.

E.g last email was sent out on day 17, next email sent out on day 20 etc.)

•    iContact – This email autoresponder has a very clean cut layout. On it’s home page after you log in it has a section called iContact Assist.

There they lead you in detail through the various features.

•    Another thing I really like about iContact is how easy it is to convert you html text to plain text. All you have to do is click the button “Copy Text”.

•    iContact also has a check spam feature. When you check it, it tells you want the problems with your message are.

•     iContact also allows you to import your previous mlm email lead list without making your subscriber re opt in.

This is especially helpful if you collect leads through an affiliate system such as Magnetic Sponsoring.

•    When you add to an iContact autoresponder, you choose how many days the new message is sent after your mlm email lead has opted in.

Conclusion: To me iContact appears to be easier to use. It seems more intuitive.

It helps you make sure your messages aren’t too spammy.

In iContact it is easy to have both html and plain text messages without a lot of extra work.

Which email system autoresponder software do I use?

I use iContact. It has all the features that I want and did not confuse me with the advanced stuff it can do, but wasn’t yet ready for, when I started.

It is user friendly, has an excellent deliverability rate, does not require a double opt-in, and it is used by none other than Mike Dillard and his company Magnetic Sponsoring.

I have to add though, that AWeber has MUCH more flexibility in terms of opt in forms (you can design your own submit buttons, customize the forms more and track opt ins better, as well as split test different variations of the forms from within AWeber.

AWeber  also allows pop ups, (forms that pop up on a website while you are reading, to entice you to opt in) and other features like this- that can raise your opt in rate considerably.

They also have a cool feature that allows you to hook your blog up to your autoresponder list and send out a “weekly digest” of your previous week’s blog entries- sort of in a newsletter format.

Your readers are automatically kept updated, yet they are not bombarded every time you add a post, because you can set it to a weekly interval.

Even though I started with I contact and it was so EASY to learn, I now regret that decision and would recommend everyone to get going with AWeber right from the start.

(Aweber also integrates with WordPress Wishlist Member Plugin- a cool tool if you’re needing software to manage your membership site. I- contact does not (at the time of this post).

Which of the two  is your favorite email autoresponder and why? Tell us in the comment section below.
Ready to purchase one of the email autoresponders reviewed in this blog? Click on the picture of the email autoresponder you want to use.
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MLM Opt in Lead: What to do with Your MLM Opt in Lead Once They Have Opted in

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How to use iContact Autoresponder

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