Online marketing can be overwhelming.
It can even be a complete nightmare.
But it doesn’t have to be this way!
There is a way to effectively market products and services online that is easy and stress-free. This method of marketing has made me millions of dollars over the years. And it can help anyone succeed in online business.
And the best part? It’s something everyone already uses every single day… Email!
Most people don’t know just how much power and influence email has.
The Power of Email
Email is NOT dead!
There are so many people out there who think email has had its day. That email has given way to the social media craze.
But this just isn’t true!
The Radicati Group reports that as of 2014, there were more than 4.1 billion email accounts worldwide. They estimate that will reach 5.2 billion by 2018. That’s A LOT of growth for a method of communication many people think is dead.
Mailigen reports that 54% of marketers say email is the most effective digital marketing tool they use. And 89% of marketers say email marketing is their primary method of lead generation.
Not only that, Custora reports that the leading marketing channel for Black Friday 2015 was email.
Who can argue with those statistics?
And it gets better…
Email offers incredible benefits, such as:
- Direct communication with the consumer
- Full control over how and when marketing happens to the list
- Full ownership of that list
- The ability to build relationships with the consumer—and remember that relationships drive decision-making
Email truly is the foundation of any online business. I know this because I started my online business with email marketing.
When I first began my affiliate marketing business more than 10 years ago, I took the time to really analyze the very best internet marketing minds out there. I studied the top systems and I chose the highest-converting email marketing strategies to implement in my own business.
The result? I created a system that has allowed me to build an email marketing business that has generated an amazing income. Through email marketing, I net $500,000 to $1 million a MONTH!
Nothing compares with the ease and potential of email marketing. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at what email marketing offers to anyone running an online business.
Email Marketing: The Champion Of Online Business
I truly believe that email marketing is the best way to make money on the internet.
And it’s the easiest way to start an online business. I believe this because I have experienced it.
And the type of online business doesn’t matter. It applies to everything. Whether it is affiliate marketing, eCommerce, digital publishing, or something else, email marketing has the same function.
To generate leads!
Let me explain. Using ANY traffic-driving strategy, the ultimate goal is to get the consumer to opt-in. Drive them to a page where they will have the choice of providing their email address in exchange for a FREE gift.
This free gift can be anything.
A physical product or a digital product. Having said that, creating a digital product, such as a report, and offering it as a free gift is my preferred route. And creating a digital product is easy.
We show you how in our free digital boot camp.
The key here is that once the visitor has opted into the email list, they can be marketed to again and again and again. As long as they stay subscribed, there is no limit to what can be achieved.
But email marketing has another function. Aside from generating leads, email also supplements all aspects of a business. Email allows a business owner to:
- Follow up with customers
- Provide an introduction to themselves, the business, or a new product
- Build relationships with customers
- Get people into the sales funnel and guide them through it
Now, I know email marketing sounds amazing—and it is. But how does it work? Let’s dig deeper…
What Makes Email Marketing Work
There are a lot of different aspects of email marketing that a marketer needs to manage. They have to:
- Build and maintain an email list
- Compose emails
- Send that email to each subscriber—they have to do this individually if they want the emails to be personalized
- Segment their email list and send the right emails to the right segments
- Be sure to send emails on time, based on their predetermined email schedule
And this would all have to be done manually!
This takes A LOT of time and effort. It’s a real headache. Fortunately, there is another way…
Email autoresponders!
An email autoresponder service will collect all email addresses and organize them in a database. With this database of email addresses, they can send out:
- Personalized emails to the entire list
- Individual emails
- Automated emails according to a predetermined schedule
- Segmented emails to specific people in the list
This can all be automated to operate without the need for the marketer to do anything other than write the email.
It’s so EASY!
The Awesome Benefits of Autoresponders
With the ability to fully automate the email marketing process, marketers can enjoy the following benefits:
- The ability to send broadcast emails to the entire list or select members of the list
- More time to focus on other areas of their business
- Simplified, yet incredibly effective email marketing
- Increased followers on social media pages and blogs by leading subscribers to these pages
- The ability to generate repeat sales with ease
- Easily follow up with customers
- Build long-term relationships with subscribers
- No need to hire people to help with email marketing
- The ability to measure the results
Honestly, there is no reason NOT to rely on the power of an email autoresponder
But in order to enjoy these benefits, it is important to use a good and reputable autoresponder.
Keys to a Good Autoresponder
There are a lot of autoresponder companies out there. It can be difficult to choose one that will deliver the features and benefits needed to run a successful online business.
But there are certain features that every good autoresponder should have.
First and foremost, choose an autoresponder with a good reputation. Get online. Check out the reviews, the top-10 lists, the forums. See what others have to say about the autoresponders out there.
But reputation is only the beginning…
There are a lot of other things to look for in a good autoresponder service. Just keep in mind that the most reputable autoresponders will offer all of them. Things to look for include the following:
Integration: It is important that the autoresponder be able to integrate with a variety of other services and other platforms. This includes things like:
- Third-party solutions, such as lead generation and sales funnel service providers
- Website buttons
- WordPress integration
- Web forms
- Shopping carts
Usability: The autoresponder MUST be user-friendly. If a marketer can’t figure out how to use it, it won’t be much good.
The whole point of using an autoresponder is to save time, not waste it trying to figure out how something works. Drag and drop features go a long way to improving usability.
Deliverability: The last thing any email marketer wants is their emails ending up in the spam folder. Or worse, having emails declared undeliverable.
The autoresponder must have enough credibility and the required technology to keep emails out of the spam folder and ensure they are delivered. Make sure the autoresponder service guarantees at least a 99% deliverability rate. It helps if the autoresponder makes it possible to offer subscribers a double opt-in.
Scalability: Every email marketer hopes their business will grow. That’s the point, right?
And the autoresponder needs to be able to scale along with the growth of that business. The best autoresponders have scaling plans that allow upgrades according to list size.
List size: Speaking of growth and scalability, not all autoresponders are good for all list sizes.
Some are better for bigger lists and some are better for smaller lists. Choose the one that works best.
Additional tools: These are the bells and whistles that make an autoresponder indispensable. A lot of autoresponders have additional tools that help with email marketing.
Examples of these tools include lead pages, opt-in forms and unique metrics.
Of course, when choosing the best autoresponder, the key isn’t always to seek out the good. It’s also important to avoid the bad.
(NOTE: If you're new to email marketing, you need to know exactly how this business model works. Join us in our FREE Digital Bootcamp to learn more about email marketing. You can sign up here.)
What to Avoid With Autoresponders
The flip side of the autoresponder coin is knowing what to avoid when choosing one. First and foremost, if they have bad deliverability ratings, run the other way.
Aside from that, it is important to avoid autoresponders that don’t offer features, integration, and scaling that suits a marketer’s individual needs.
The key is to use an autoresponder that provides precisely what is needed for that particular business. First, it has to integrate with all the third-party solutions. If a marketer is using a landing page builder and the autoresponder can’t integrate with it, then there isn’t any point in using it. And it MUST integrate with the marketer’s website.
Thankfully, most autoresponders integrate with many platforms. But always double-check.
A good autoresponder should also have features that suit the needs of the marketer’s business. For example, there is no need for eCommerce features if the business doesn’t have an eCommerce site.
And no matter what, don’t overpay.
Most marketers don’t need the biggest plan when they are starting out. Start small, take it slow, and scale up only when necessary. Just be sure to choose an autoresponder that allows for scaling as a business grows.
So here are the cliff notes on what to avoid when it comes to email autoresponders:
- Bad deliverability ratings
- Sub-par integration
- Overpaying for unnecessary features and services
Now let’s get into the actual email autoresponders…
10 Amazing Email Autoresponders That Make Building A List Easy
There are so many autoresponders out there and not all are equal.
Just wading through them to find the best and most suitable ones can take time. And the trial and error of signing up to find out it won’t work is frustrating.
With that in mind, here is a list of the very best and most reputable autoresponders. Some are ideal for small businesses, some for larger businesses. Some are better for shopping cart integration.
Read through and select the best one based on the features and benefits offered.
SendLane is ideal for any size of email marketing business. With plans starting at $9 for up to 500 subscribers, it can scale to more than 100,000.
And with these plans comes unlimited lists and campaigns. They also offer full API integration, great marketing automation and a landing page builder.
Aweber is ideal for anyone whose primary goal is to collect leads. It is the classic autoresponder.
It is designed to scale up to accommodate thousands of email subscribers. Plus, it offers the best deliverability of any autoresponder out there.
This is an autoresponder that is ideal for small businesses that have subscribers into the tens-of-thousands. They have a solid reputation and are well-known for their wide range of features.
This is a great autoresponder for beginners. They offer a plan that is always free as long as the list stays below 500 subscribers.
This autoresponder is designed for large-scale email marketing.
Infusionsoft is designed for companies that have more than 50,000 subscribers and bring in a lot of revenue. This autoresponder integrates email marketing with the shopping cart to get better targeting and segmentation.
This is a good solution for businesses that want to integrate their email autoresponder with their shopping cart, but aren’t ready to go big with Infusionsoft.
1ShoppingCart has a good reputation among shopping cart services. However, they don’t have as high deliverability rates as a dedicated autoresponder service.
ActiveCampaign is ideal for small businesses and they are very affordable. Overall, it has a good user interface and a reasonable pricing scale. However, it requires the tool Zapier for third-party integrations.
Constant Contact is geared toward marketers that have thousands of subscribers. It is also a good option for anyone who’s looking for easy-to-use features.
This autoresponder is great for small- and medium-sized marketers. One of the best features of iContact is how easy it is to drag and drop everything.
Benchmark is a great, scalable autoresponder. It has a wealth of features and it’s free up to 1,000 subscribers.
Email marketing is the lifeline of any online business.
The ability to generate leads is critical to the success of an online business. This is generally done by giving the consumer the choice to opt into the email list in exchange for a FREE gift, such as a free report.
But email marketing can be time-consuming —unless an autoresponder is used to streamline and automate the process. Using an autoresponder makes it possible to:
- Build and manage an email list
- Send out automated emails
- Send out segmented emails
- Personalize emails
- Schedule the delivery of emails
And with an email autoresponder, the marketer has complete control over the entire process. Complete control over the campaign. And complete ownership of the list.
Autoresponders are a great tool. But it is critical to have the right system and strategy behind it. The best autoresponders:
- Provide easy integration
- Are scalable to meet the needs of a growing business
- Have excellent and reliable deliverability
- Offer competitive pricing
- Offer a wide range of useful features
- Is user-friendly
But signing up with a good autoresponder is just the beginning. Next comes an email marketing strategy that will ensure any email marketer will find incredible success.
(NOTE: If you're new to email marketing, you need to know exactly how this business model works. Join us in our FREE Digital Bootcamp to learn more about email marketing. You can sign up here.)
