There are numerous autoresponder systems available, and some companies offer FREE trials or a minimal-fee trial to test out their systems.
Consider which autoresponder features are best for your business needs.
Always try to test an autoresponder service first, before making a final commitment to buy or use the service on a regular basis, because you'll be using it to perform critical marketing tasks for your business.
Use a Trial Version First
By using a trial version, you should still be able to test the system's main features and discover what the service can and won't do.
We've discovered that the actual functionality of some of autoresponder systems are not quite the same as the sales letter promises! So using an autoresponder service's free trial can reduce your chances of getting a system that does not have the automation capabilities and autoresponder features that you require, or simply does not meet with your own specific business requirements.
Use the free trials to check the autoresponder features we've provided below. This will help you to make a final decision, before paying for the service.
Autoresponder Service Review Tips
Check the following autoresponder features and usability suggestions, before you commit to using a specific autoresponder service for your marketing:
Frequency of payment required, i.e. annual, quarterly or monthly commitment.
Ownership - i.e. are you purchasing the service outright, or is it for a fixed period of time, requiring renewal?
Where is the autoresponder hosted - on their server or on yours? You may have to pay a separate fee to have it installed and hosted on your preferred server or system.
Are they on any major ISP blacklists? Hmm... if they are, your messages to subscribers using those ISP's won't get delivered...
HTML formatting capabilities for your messages, if required.
Ease of use to prepare, edit and transmit messages, and message sequences.
The number of messages you are allowed to send to your marketing lists. There may be a limit in place.
A feature to spam check your outgoing messages, prior to transmission, to identify words and phrases which may trigger spam filters, and result in your legitimate messages being filtered to your subscribers junk mail folders, or even worse, automatically deleted by spam filters.
Some considerations for new users and list maintenance, for example:
What are the services' opt-in requirements (single or double opt-in) for lists?
Does the service include an automatic unsubscribe link for your message recipients or do you have to manually configure this feature? All messages to U.S. e-mail addresses must now include an easy way for people on your list to opt-out from future mailings, if they want to, for compliance with the CANSPAM Act.
Specifications for importing other subscriber lists, .e.g. IP address, date of subscription etc. Make sure you have this information available to counter any spam complaints made against your business.
Ability to export your subscriber lists and full subscription details, when required - perhaps if you decide to change to a different autoresponder service instead? We had a problem with one service that didn't allow us to export the subscriber's subscription date and ISP details when we decided to move to another autoresponder service, and so we couldn't use those subscriber lists on other autoresponder services. We lost the subscriber list we had carefully built!
Tracking of messages and links - open rate, link click-throughs, etc.
Customer service - hours of business and access to technical support. Very important if you have technical issues when trying to use the system.
These are just some of the basic autoresponder features you should check out for normal usage, before making a decision on a specific service.
Site Build It! (SBI!) includes an autoresponder service, so there's no need to incur extra expenses for this excellent marketing tool. There are many other useful tools and resources included in the SBI! hosting and marketing package. It's an all-in-one service. Check out the details below!
