Comparing Autoresponders – GetResponse raises prices
I’ve been using email to market for over 12 years now, and most of that time I have used my own mail server to do it. Recently I started exploring what it would cost, and how much different it would be to use one of the paid services: would my click-throughs, or deliverability change, or would I get a higher number of subscribers?
Well, the answers are still up-in-the-air right now, but I should have a definite answer in the next month or so.I’m exloring a few of the main autoresponders: Xmailpro, GetResponse, and I’m still using my own mail server. Things are going to change a lot, now that GetResponse updated their software to v6.0, unfortunately they raised their prices considerably – as I expected to come up to what Aweber is charging.
Keep in mind that I’m now paying $15.00/month (with 12 month prepay) for Xmailpro, which is a Aweber white-label, that does not offer some of the newer features of Aweber such as ‘email only to non-opens’, etc. Aweber, and now GetResponse have increased their pricing to ‘premium’ ranges as far as I’m concerned, and 80%-90% of internet marketers do not need the extra features.
Here’s what you really need to think about when you are considering autoresponder services:
- Do you really need to spend the extra dollars the high-end benefits of GetResponse (surveys, video marketing, split-testing)?
- How much are you paying now, and should you consider stepping down to a white-label alternative?
- What are your deliverability rates?
- What are your click-through rates?
- Can you do this on your own server?
So far, I’m finding that having your own server, if it is setup properly, is definitely the way to go. I currently run my own mail server with over 50,000 contacts, I can do pretty much anything that the ‘premium’ services (Aweber, and now GetResponse) are charging very high monthly prices (in my opinion) – for example, I can pull out lists of people that did, or did not click on a link, that’s not a problem.
There’s only one area I am lacking at this point: the ability to email someone a followup message within 1 hour of when they originally signed up. For example, if you come to my site and sign up at 2:00PM, there is no way I can send you a followup message (3 days later), at exactly 2:00 PM, Aweber, and the white label both claim that they can do that within an hour or so either way… So, it comes back to if that is worth the extra money, or if I should consider keeping the white-label (Xmailpro) just for that capability. Right now, I’m going to keep Xmailpro for a while longer and see how it goes.
I cannot say that I do any worse, or better as far as deliverability is concerned. I’ve used emailreach and found that my deliverability using my own mail server is excellent. So, there’s no need to worry about that. The main point here is that if you want to get the best deliverability, and not spend 100’s of dollars a month, you may want to consider running your own mail server – mine runs me about $40.00/month, much less than the premium services now offered by Aweber and GetResponse.
That’s my opinion for now, I should have a definitive answer in the next month or so, but I can’t see it changing much. I’m going to keep the white-label Aweber alternative: Xmailpro, and I’m also going to continue on using my own mail server to fill in. Basically even if I wanted to consider moving my entire list to Xmailpro, it would take a very long time, because Xmailpro requires that you do a ‘opt-in’ confirm when you import email addresses into a new list, and that my friends can slow you down more than you would ever think…
For more information on having your own Mailing List server setup, contact BGS Web Design.
Watch for an update to this post in the next month or so, until then… keep on promoting!
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