Once upon a time, I also asked:
What’s the best autoresponder for my online business?
As I started learning the online marketing ropes, I realized …
Well, it boils down to where you’re at in your online business and the features you need.
Different online marketing courses point you to a single email service provider (aka email autoresponder).
In this article, I’m here to make you aware of your options.
Hopefully, saving you time and money by not going with an email autoresponder that some guru told you is the holy grail of email marketing.
I’m going to discuss why these made it to the top 5 list of best autoresponders as of 2017.
I’ll start this list with the most basic of autoresponders, and we’ll slowly progress to the ones that have more bells and whistles.
By the way, each of these autoresponders integrates well with most 3rd party applications, including landing page builders, membership sites, and shopping carts.
Sound good?
Great.
Let’s go!
Table of Contents
The 5 Best Autoresponders of 2017
#1 AWeber
AWeber is one of the first autoresponders that got popular quick. It was great in the beginning and still is if you like linear email autoresponders.
What I mean by linear is that you don’t get much room for automation. Yes, you can make rules in AWeber, but there’s much room for improvement (even with the latest updates).
These days more advanced autoresponders have taken the lead in autoresponder innovation, specifically when it comes to action-based and targeted email marketing.
I personally used AWeber to grow my email list for Freedom Bound Business when starting out.
AWeber can handle your autoresponder sequences and broadcasts. AWeber also has good statistics and reporting tools.
When your autoresponder is live, and autoresponder emails are being sent out (called a Legacy Follow Up Series in AWeber), you’ll get live reports on how each email is performing.
For example, what was your open rate? What was your click rate?
The same goes for one-off emails, broadcasts.
AWeber is powerful if you’re not looking for too many bells and whistles.
#2 GetResponse
GetResponse has also been around for a while. However, unlike AWeber, they innovate far more often.
In other words, they constantly keep up with the times.
These guys can do everything that AWeber can do, but they also give you an option to step into visual automation workflows instead of linear autoresponder sequences of emails.
An example would be if I pitch a product in my fourth autoresponder sequence email (there’s a link to a sales page in this email), I can follow up with the subscriber if he/she didn’t click on the link.
GetResponse lets you set up workflows like these in their workflow automation editor.
Here’s what it looks like:
Continuing with the prior example, in the workflow editor, I set up an “If link clicked” block after sending email two out. If, after one day, the subscriber doesn’t click, I can send them a follow-up email.
If the subscriber happens not to click, I have options on what I can do with the subscriber.
Options like:
- Remove them as a subscriber
- Move them to a different list (behind the scenes)
- Try and re-engage them again with another follow-up email
That’s a small taste of GetResponse. I currently use them in my self-publishing business.
#3 ConvertKit
ConvertKit has gotten a lot of buzz over the recent years. This is because it was an autoresponder made for bloggers by a blogger.
If AWeber and GetResponse had a baby … ConvertKit would be it.
ConvertKit brings the crisp feel and simplicity of AWeber and combines it with the power of GetResponse.
Just like GetResponse, ConvertKit also offers a workflow editor for automation.
Although GetResponse and AWeber can do tagging and list segmentation just fine … that’s the problem. It’s just fine.
Read our full ConvertKit review here.
#4 Drip
Drip is an email autoresponder service that is fresh on the scene. It’s a company of LeadPages, a landing page builder.
Although I don’t like LeadPages (it’s good, but there are better options IMO), their autoresponder, DRIP, is gorgeous and can do a little more than Convert Kit can do.
First off, if you have your own products, then you might enjoy their features.
Why?
Because right off the bat, when you sign up for your account, they’ll prompt you to put in a javascript snippet code onto your website to see how your users interact with your email opt-ins.
And a fair note, all these autoresponders can create an opt-in form for you. But, which one tracks your site’s behavior like this?
Next question, have you wondered how much a subscriber is worth to you in the long run? In other words, how much return on investment are you getting per lead/subscriber?
Drip gives you dollar amounts.
This is a next-level autoresponder.
Liking the list so far?
The next autoresponder takes it up … another level…
#5 Market Hero
Alright, so Drip was pretty impressive. Where it falls short when compared to Market Hero is that it doesn’t allow you to track conversions of affiliate products.
I was bummed when I heard this from a Drip support person.
Alex Becker has created a great autoresponder. Market Hero can handle tagging, automation, tracking conversions, and reports the lifetime value of the customer in dollars ($).
In other words, you know exactly how much a customer/subscriber is worth to you, even if you sell affiliate products.
Market Hero does this by giving you your own pixels that you place on your success (thank you) pages of your products and affiliate products.
This is how you know if someone’s purchased from an email set up in the Market Hero. And how this email service provider tracks the value of each subscriber.
Here’s a quick video with Alex explaining the power of tracking your subscriber lifetime value as a product creator and/or affiliate marketer.
Note: He’s using JVZoo (think Clickbank but for online marketing niche).
Unlike other most email service provider software, Market Hero was created by Alex, a true digital entrepreneur who used email marketing to build several multi-million dollar businesses.
As a result, Alex also sweetened the pot by offering his 8x Hero Academy plus Market Hero Package. (He actually teaches in the videos).
The 8x Hero Academy is his email marketing video course that he’s bundled with a free 6 month subscription of Market Hero. I personally took this route and learned a lot from him.
If you feel like email marketing is the missing piece of the puzzle for online marketing, then I highly recommend The 8x Hero Academy + Market Hero package.
Note: You get more than just a video course …
=> Click here to check out The 8x Hero Academy + Market Hero
On the other hand, if you have experience with email marketing already and want to give Market Hero a test drive, then you start your free 14-day trial here.
The Best Autoresponder?
So, what’s the best autoresponder, or email service provider, for you?
It depends…
If you’re a beginner or have a small business, I would recommend GetResponse or Convert Kit.
AWeber is simple and recommended for beginners also. It makes it on the top 5 because of its simplicity and linear email marketing, which is still popular to some.
In my honest opinion, having used AWeber to start off, you’ll get a more bang for your buck if you bypass AWeber.
GetResponse has stepped their game up, and Convert Kit is killing it right now.
Although you probably won’t need it right away (as a beginner), you can’t beat visual workflow automation. GetResonse and Convert Kit offer better and easy-to-use automation workflows that are visual, unlike AWeber.
Comparing GetResponse and Convert Kit quickly, I would say Convert Kit has an edge with its workflow automation. I’ll go into more detail about this in a future post.
If you’re a bit more intermediate and want to know your numbers (ROI & conversions) when it comes to email marketing, then I recommend:
- Drip (if you have your own products)
- Market Hero (if you have your own products & you promote affiliate products)
These 5 autoresponders make the list for the best email service providers of 2017.
If you have any questions about these email service providers, please leave a comment below, and I’ll answer them asap.
I know I get analysis paralysis sometimes, but this article should make it easier to decide which autoresponder is the best fit for you and your business.
Dive in and let me know how it goes!