With all the different auto-responder services out there, it can be difficult to decide on which one will be best for optimising your business’ marketing. After all, with such a vast range of options, it can be difficult to compare them objectively to see which one fits your individual requirements. Luckily, we are here to help.
We have looked into the most popular auto-responder providers so that you don’t have to. With the legwork out the way, you can easily decide on which one to use based on our findings. Today we will be comparing AWeber, GetResponse and Sendlane.
AWeber
The email marketing and auto-responder tool AWeber is well established. The company’s CEO Tom Kulzer founded it all the way back in 1998, which means that they have had a lot of experience in the industry. AWeber is definitely one of the most popular email marketing assistants, with around 100,000+ businesses utilising it.
AWeber: Strengths
One reason AWeber is so popular is the smooth, easy-to-navigate interface. It isn’t over-complicated and doesn’t clutter itself with too many additional features.
It’s simple, easy to implement, and has a free trial period if you are considering purchasing it. Starting at $19 a month for the basic package, the pricing is fairly reasonable as well.
Some other benefits include:
- Good automation features
- Live support chat which responds quickly
- A range of stock photos available for use within emails
- Easy to implement broadcasts and follow-up emails
- Email marketing tracking to record the success of your campaigns
- Good deliverability rate
- Subscriber management features
AWeber: Weaknesses
Unfortunately, the price does increase dramatically if you exceed your subscriber plan. If you want to reach a very wide audience, AWeber may not be the most cost-effective means.
Secondly, the sign up forms offered by AWeber require modernising. Furthermore, the deliverability of emails could use some improvement, as it is not what it used to be. When managing your subscribers, people who have unsubscribed will still be tallied as part of your ‘total subscriber’ count. This means a distorted image of your audience can be projected.
There are some other elements, such as importing leads, that are not the most streamlined and require too much manual input. Based on this, AWeber is a decent auto-responder tool, but has its weaknesses and is slightly old-fashioned in a lot of ways. It was once the industry leader and the best on the market, but we have to consider the wider range of options available now.
GetResponse
This is one of the other major players in the field of auto-responder technology. GetResponse was also founded in 1998, by a man named Simon Grabowski. To this day, over 350,000 customers are happily using the software.
Along with AWeber, GetResponse is up there as one of the frontrunners of email marketing tools. A number of big-name companies endorse GetResponse, including AVON, Hilton and Citroën.
GetResponse: Advantages
Firstly, the biggest benefit to GetResponse as an email marketing tool is an inbuilt software called Hydra. This feature means that importing and uploading subscriber lists is simple, quick, easy and completely secure. This protects your email list from spammers, and means that you can have your email marketing automation set up much sooner, as GetResponse does not need to review your list import.
There are similarities between GetResponse and AWeber, but one thing that GetResponse does better is that it doesn’t tally unsubscribes towards your total subscriber count. This allows you to view a more realistic image of your audience reach.
Other things that the software does well:
- Live real-time support chat
- Fairly priced
- Hydra software makes importing email lists easy
- Lots of newsletter sending options
- Good list management features
- Unsubscribes don’t count towards total subscribers
- Good deliverability
- Free trial available
GetResponse: Disadvantages
Just like AWeber, if your subscriber plan exceeds their standard package, the price climbs quite steeply. Additionally, the deliverability of GetResponse is decent but doesn’t quite compare to AWeber.
Further to this, the newsletter management features are relatively basic and there is certainly room for improvement. In some ways, AWeber is a much faster software as sending emails does not require verification. Though this isn’t massively important, it is a minor inconvenience for the user.
GetResponse does not offer refunds, so if you do choose to subscribe after enjoying the free trial, you must be committed. Some users have reported glitches on the website when signing up. The management of your subscribers is also quite limited, as you cannot view individual profiles.
Sendlane
While the other two auto-responder companies have been around for a long time, Sendlane is, by contrast, a relatively new company. They were founded in 2013 by CEO Jimmy Kim, but have been growing rapidly since. Sendlane cannot compare to AWeber and GetResponse in terms of size, but the service offered is very similar.
However, there is a notable difference worth mentioning, which is the more affordable price of Sendlane’s software.
Sendlane vs. Other Auto-Responders
Sendlane offers a similar range of features for its users in terms of optimising email marketing automation. You can use it to send an unlimited number of campaigns and newsletters to your list, set up an unlimited amount of auto-responders and create unlimited pages (for landing, opt-in and squeeze).
You can import your existing email list with ease. When registering for Sendlane, you will need to pass a compliance check, but this is part of the company safeguarding their deliverability which could be negatively impacted by spammers making regular use of their software.
Sendlane now serves about 20,000 customers. The amount of users is nowhere near the other auto-responders we have reviewed, however considering how long they have been up and running (they only got their first customer in 2015) they have grown very large, very quickly.
To summarise some of the good points and features of Sendlane:
- Personalised features and behaviour based email marketing
- Real time and event tracking
- API integration
- Built in landing page creator
- Unlimited campaigns and newsletters
- Unlimited auto-responders
- Strong live chat support team
- Upgrade, change and cancel your plan anytime
Sendlane is a strong contender against its competitors. Packages start at only $9 per month, and before committing you can test their 14-day free trial. Indeed, it is certainly worth checking out, and if you aren’t satisfied you can opt-out whenever you want.
According to their website, Sendlane manages well over 1.5 million subscribers. Their team are fully committed to helping your business maximise its emailing capabilities. Being able to instantly get in touch with someone across the live chat service is a very useful feature, and means you can receive help and support much more quickly than the traditional back-and-forth exchange of emails.
Conclusion
Every company has a different budget and different requirements for what they need in an auto-responder tool. Email marketing automation can help to engage your customers, encourage them to make purchases and grow your business. AWeber, GetResponse and Sendlane are all reliable in their own ways, but in terms of value for money, Sendlane is the software that stands out.
If you are not taking full advantage of the tools available to businesses on the internet, then you are limiting yourself.
To learn more about online techniques that can help your business, the following blogs may interest you: 7 Simple Steps to Choose the Right Hosting Service for Your Business,
How to Start Blogging in 30 Minutes for Free with WordPress and SHARED or DEDICATED Hosting: What is Best for You?.
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