As a marketer or business owner, your email list and audience are your most significant assets. It's your foundation. The better you communicate with your audience using email marketing software and autoresponder emails, the more revenue you generate and the quicker you can scale your business.
Your list is your stability. That's why we need to know what the best autoresponder software is...
You can always communicate with your list – your buyers and your prospects. You can mail affiliate products. You can promote your product launches. You can do surveys. You can let people know about new offers and product updates. You can even launch new products.
Email is a compelling medium when you understand it and use it correctly, which is what Axis's Email Copy App was born to help you do by writing email copy for you.
Your Email List Is Your Foundation
Email marketing goes in waves. Now and then, we read reports and blog posts explaining that email marketing is dead and that building a solid email list is a waste of time. Yet, we continue to hear that email marketing is the most significant business revenue driver, generating more cash than any other form of advertising.
It doesn't matter what niche or business you're in; your email list is one of your most valuable assets. In some cases, it's your ONLY asset!
After talking to clients over the years, there is a lot of confusion over the best way to build a list, store a list, and market to a list. Today's post should help demystify a lot of that.
First, let's talk a little about what you need to have to start building a list so you have a sound system and infrastructure started.
NOTE: Having an 'email list' isn't the same as blasting out an email to 100 contacts in Gmail! That isn't good! There's a reason why email marketing choosing the best autoresponder software is so important! :0)
Picking The Best Autoresponder Software
Email marketing software and email autoresponder solutions are the glue that makes everything work regarding email marketing. The software itself is what stores your email list and gives you the ability to mail to them. In short, it's how you get into their inboxes!
If you're collecting names and email addresses for marketing, you must be CAN-SPAM compliant… Every email must have an unsubscribe link, the email addresses should be double opt-in, and many other things.
You CAN'T just collect their email addresses and mail them messages from Gmail!
I know a lot of business owners who think mass sending emails from their desktop mail app is the right thing to do, but it's not. And really, I don't know why you would! Email marketing software is super cheap, and it keeps you out of the doghouse in terms of being legal and compliant…
Plus, when you send an email, it gets to where it needs to go - the subscriber's email inbox!
There are LOTS of email marketing software providers out there. Choosing the best autoresponder software is essential since it's a subset of email marketing. Most of them are very good. Their job is pretty simple. They need to get your emails to where they need to go.
For email marketing and automation purposes, we want to make sure that:
- There is an autoresponder feature
- The software has the capability to grow with you
- Price-wise, it's reasonable based on the size of your business
So, here's a roundup of some of the best email marketing platforms out there… Arranged by 'business complexity.
Email Marketing Software Explained
Aweber
Aweber is one of my favorite tools for startups because it's reasonably cheap, has autoresponder functionality, and has excellent deliverability rates. It's fantastic if you're starting.
Besides doing broadcast emails, which are writing and sending one email, Aweber lets you set up a sequential series of emails that go out at a predetermined time.
So, if you want to build an automated sales funnel, email marketing will be at the heart of it all!
When someone signs up for your newsletter, free report, or download, they'll be put on an autoresponder that systematically sends out emails every day (or as often as you set them up…)
Deliverability is another factor. If you were to email your 200 clients out of Outlook or Gmail, your server might shut you down for a little while. They do that to avoid spam. If you email those same clients from Aweber, your emails are almost guaranteed to get there!
Click here to sign up for Aweber's $1 trial
OntraPort
If you have a list of 5,000 people or more, or you'll get into heavy media buying, Ontraport is the way to go. They're my favorite email list services; I consider them the best autoresponder software. It has many additional features and capabilities to grow your business.
Ontraport has been built from the ground up for serious Internet businesses. When we started using them, email marketing was why we switched over. We needed greater control over our data and more competitive email rates, and OAP gave that to us.
In addition, Ontraport has
- An awesome CRM functionality
- Shopping cart software (so you can sell stuff)
- A membership plugin for WordPress that integrates with said CRM system
- The ability to do direct mail, phone call followups, and task management
- Affiliate management software
- Plus, a ton of other stuff.
The most excellent piece of Ontraport – is the dashboard. They have one central dashboard that tells you about sales, signups, products, etc. It's cool looking.
Click here to check out Ontraport.
Keap (i.e., InfusionSoft) - The Best Autoresponder Software?
Infusionsoft is awesome... It's Keap now, but to us, it'll always be Infusionsoft. It works very well and is the standard for doing big business online...
Here's the thing, though. I love how Infusionsoft works, but it's hard to use when starting (for most people). You must touch six screens to do one thing: set up a product for sale that's delivered online through an email (like an eBook).
That said, the software's power is unparalleled when you know how to use it.
From a cost standpoint, starting up is pretty expensive as well. Not only do you have to pay the monthly charges, but you also have to pay a setup fee that varies from time to time. I've seen it as high as $5,000, then a free setup, and now a $ 1,500 design that's waved if you're working with an Infusionsoft-certified consultant.
It's not the most expensive system, but it's pretty pricey.
Everything you'll love about OntraPort can be found in Infusionsoft for half the price.
Depending on the plan you choose, Infusionsoft will be your:
- Customer Relationship Manager (CRM)
- Email marketing software
- Shopping cart provider with quite a few merchant integrations
- Affiliate management software
- Plus, a lot of other stuff...
I know that I, as well as a lot of my clients, prefer to use OntraPort...
Click here to check out Infusionsoft >>
Getting Started
Regarding email marketing software and choosing the best autoresponder software, it doesn't matter which one you use. When you're starting, they're almost all interchangeable. I tell our Done For You Marketing clients to use whichever they prefer. As long as it gets email to where it needs to go and is easy to use, it's a win.
Suppose you're processing payments for your products and services or need more advanced functionality like affiliate management, link tracking, or sales pipelines. In that case, using one of the more prominent software solutions will work for you. What's most important is choosing one and getting an email marketing strategy locked in so you can start to experience the growth that that brings...
And if email marketing is something you need to do but lack the time or experience - our team can take it on for you! Click here for more info...
