Our Favorite Email Tools
It’s no secret that the money is in the list…or maybe it is, because there are way too many business owners still leaving the building of their list as an afterthought. #stopthat
It’s evident in most big brands that you visit…they all want your information.
May I have your email address?
Can I get your phone number?
Would you like to receive our specials sent to you by mail?
You constantly witness it but somehow in your own business…you put it to the bottom of your priority list.
Why?
Well today…no more!
Building lists is critically essential to the growth of your business.
Every advertising dollar or minute you spend is used to reach an individual in hopes that they will interact with you in some fashion. Only a certain percentage of those people will actually become customers based on their immediate need for what you do or sell…but…
They all have some level of interest…
And you’ve paid for them all with your time or money…
Therefore…you must try to capture some part of their information so that you can continue to position your content and offers in front of them from now until forever.
Make sense?
We go into this in detail through our one on one business consultations as well as throughout various trainings…
This article is not designed to teach you how to build your list and how to turn them into customers and raving fans…
This article is simply to share with you some of our favorite auto-responders, which are automated systems used to capture prospect data, deliver content, and communicate with them on an ongoing basis.
#1 Aweber
PROS: Aweber was one of the first autoresponders I used and it was pretty user friendly to set up as a newbie. I was also able to test it out for just $1 for the first month, the $19/ month for the following month and until you hit their lead threshold for the next payment bump, so that was helpful for my beginning budget allocation.
Aweber allows you to set up multiple lists, automatically delivers content on a scheduled basis and allows you to send out broadcast messages to one or all of your lists simultaneously.
It easily integrates with most other popular programs and also includes a variety of integration options.
CONS: Once my list began to grow, so did my monthly fee. Obviously that’s just a cost of doing business and our expenses grow just as our revenue does…but…I still was not a fan since there are several other providers that charge less for more lead space. However, those also came with higher start-up costs so weigh your options wisely…
Overall…Aweber is a good autoresponder and great to get started with. If you decide to give them a try, be sure to use the links provided here, as they’ll throw a few pennies our way and allow me the extra time needed to provide you free content. 😉
#2 GETRESPONSE
Getresponse is another great autoresponder.
GetResponse includes interesting ways to grab attention — a shake form that … well, it shakes (very gently) to catch the reader’s eye. There’s an exit pop-up form you can set to appear when the reader is leaving (to reduce bounces). And an image pop-up form that allows you to add a colorful photo or image.
One of my strategies (regardless of auto-responder used) is to offer a sign-up incentive. I use a download form that releases the e-document and adds the new subscriber to my marketing list
You can customize these forms. In fact, there’s a Color Magic tool that matches the form colors to the colors on your website or blog automatically. And any form can be coded to add the new subscriber to the campaign of your choice.
Difficult? Nope. After I finish choosing the settings, I copy a snippet of code and paste it into the website HTML — and there it is, looking great.
What else? Oh yes, you can add custom fields to the form. The extra data is useful for segmenting my list, personalizing messages, and providing dynamic content.
As you may know, I first started by using social media to build my list. (If you’re not, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.)
GetResponse has free tools that integrate sign-up forms with everyday business tools like Facebook, WordPress, PrestaShop, Joomla, WooCommerce, and many more.
Once you select a provider and get forms in place, they keep working night and day, week after week. And if a particular form seems to be under-producing, I can run an A/B test and then tweak it to find out what works best.
Click this link to try GetResponse free for 30 days.
To get help setting up your email campaigns, or to learn more about how to leverage digital platforms across the web to grow your business, click here to schedule a one on one consultation.