There is a comment above you, Nick, from …

by Ana | Traffic Generation on March 8, 2011 · 54 comments

Comment posted on Best Aweber Autoresponder Review? You bet! by Ana

There is a comment above you, Nick, from George - he says that MailChimp closed his account without notice.

Make sure you take a look at it; I would hate for you to be affected by something like that.

Ana

Ana also commented

Something definitely to consider, Benny.
Welcome to my blog, by the way.
Ana
Really don’t like it when I don’t have a first name to answer to.
Aweber allows you to turn off double opt-in.
That’s what I did for a long time, but turned out (I just found out today) that I ended up with a list where half of my subscribers haven’t opened an email from me for months.
Lesson learned: I was a responsive list, not a big list.
Something to think about.
Ana
Definitely, Shiva.
And if you read some comments below, you’ll see people had huge problems with MailChimp shutting down their lists; so I wouldn’t go anywhere near that service.
Do you have a list, Staci?
@George - thanks for getting back to, James - I can tell you feel strongly about MailChimp!
@James - as George mentioned, you can have ALL the features MailChimp offers and more with Aweber.

Article by Ana Hoffman

Ana is the founder of Traffic Generation Cafe and wants you to know that Thesis + Scribe = SEO Made Simple.

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{ 52 comments }

TheInfoPreneur March 15, 2011 at 5:10 am

Hey Anna,
How are ya?!

Just saw this post and wanted to chime in with a couple insights. Aweber is an awesome A/R used by many, but it has some huge drawbacks. It’s great if you only rely on confirmed optin.
I’ve used/tried Mailchimp,Icontact, Aweber, and Getresponse. I’d definitely say Aweber has the most users. but Icontact and Getresponse have a lot also.
Here is a quick summary for you for Icontact/GR.

Icontact - Pluses/Minuses
- The API is AWESOME.
- Single optin allowed, both through webforms and API.
- Can manually enter users if you’d like (great if you do seminars, offline stuff, etc)
- their webforms for capturing emails suck
- They also cap you on “how many” Broadcasts you can send per month, before you have to pay more. You can send unlimited autoresponder emails, but have caps on max numbers.
- Also a very bad no-no….NO automation rules. You can manually move them, but who wants to do that?

Getresponse Pluses/Minuses - This is what I settled on
- Allows API single optins. You simply request for the campaign to be set to unconformed optin for that. (aweber doesn’t do that)
- great looking webforms
- automation
- this A/R has many of the tools of Aweber, but is much more “user friendly”.
- deliverability is GREAT
- no cap on broadcasts/autoresponders
- allows for manually adding/copying/moving lists around without reconfirming (aweber doesn’t do that)

What is so important about API’s? Well, if you ever go to sell a product/service…EVERYTHING. If you sell a product, it is so much easier to use a system which automatically adds the people to an email list, without them having to re-enter their name/email to be able to proceed. You usually see this with a “Step 2 of completing Your Order” page and it has an optin form.
I learned this the hard way. 1SC is nice with their integrated email package, but their deliverability stinks and their affiliate program is horrible. Nobody likes not being able to split out their affiliate campaigns and promotions easily.

So, basically…whooo! Aweber is good. Great deliverability. VERY easy to use interface. I’d use them if I they’d be more flexible with the optin stuff.
Yeah, I could probably pay a coder to write an app that allows their API to be single optin, etc, but why? I’d still want to have the ability to add people manually and have them automatically sign into my list. For example, I’m going to start doing some seminars locally. I want to be able to come home and add the 25 people to my email list…easily.
Anyway, product selling is important to have the API. You want the people to be able to get updates/new releases on your product. If they don’t click the confirm email with Aweber…then they aren’t “in” the group, so to speak.

Anyway, just some other insights…
I’ll have to pop back more often.

B
TheInfoPreneur´s last blog ..The Day I Jumped From the Fan Factory – And Knew Where My Destiny Wasn’t

Don@Internet Marketing Tools March 14, 2011 at 10:03 am

I’ve enjoyed the ease of aWeber as well, like you I had no idea what I was doing before and have over a dozen lists a lot of them redundant now. Though the step by step guide to setup your mailing lists are invaluable in my opinion. Definitely gets my vote.
Don@Internet Marketing Tools´s last blog ..Exact Match Domains – Do they still work

Benny March 12, 2011 at 8:51 am

I was going to start using Mailchimp on my blog when I felt like I had something to offer for signing up to my list, but now seeing that going from MC to Aweber is a pain in the butt and will likely lose people, I’m not so sure now. Glad I found this post.

Ana | Traffic Generation March 13, 2011 at 9:32 pm: Something definitely to consider, Benny.
Welcome to my blog, by the way.
Ana
Ana | Traffic Generation´s last blog ..Email List Building Secrets Your Thank You Page is Keeping from You
Reply
Codrut @ Squeeze Page Examples March 14, 2011 at 1:51 am: You could use both though, I know bloggers who do. Personally I find Mailchimp compared with AWeber pretty hard to use when it comes to setup your confirmation emails. Used it last year and said I won’t come back again.
AWeber it’s so easy to navigate through, even easier than GetResponse.
*** Ana, do you use Analytics features?
Codrut @ Squeeze Page Examples´s last blog ..13 of the Best Squeeze Page Examples on the Internet
Reply

MakeMoneyNow.com March 11, 2011 at 7:32 am

I’m torn between iContact and Aweber. I know that Aweber has a great reputation, but I want the ability to add people to the list without having them RE-opt-in. iContact allows this, Aweber does not.

If anyone has used BOTH services, could you give a mini-comparison and share your thoughts?

Thanks!

Ana | Traffic Generation March 11, 2011 at 2:33 pm: Really don’t like it when I don’t have a first name to answer to.
Aweber allows you to turn off double opt-in.
That’s what I did for a long time, but turned out (I just found out today) that I ended up with a list where half of my subscribers haven’t opened an email from me for months.
Lesson learned: I was a responsive list, not a big list.
Something to think about.
Ana
Ana | Traffic Generation´s last blog ..Dofollow Nofollow Links- Is There a Happy Medium
Reply

Shiva @ Money Making Ideas March 11, 2011 at 3:53 am

Nice review of Aweber Ana,
I have been thinking of building a list soon, previously I had been thinking of using Mailchimp cos it was free till 2000 subscribers but now after reading your review, I will be using Aweber.

Thanks for sharing

Shiva
Shiva @ Money Making Ideas´s last blog ..FBMaxed Review – Switch Your FB Fan Page Easily From FBML to iFrame

Ana | Traffic Generation March 11, 2011 at 2:30 pm: Definitely, Shiva.
And if you read some comments below, you’ll see people had huge problems with MailChimp shutting down their lists; so I wouldn’t go anywhere near that service.
Ana | Traffic Generation´s last blog ..How to Build a List See Beyond The List To Make The Real Money
Reply

staci gauny March 10, 2011 at 9:30 pm

nice! i really need review:)
staci gauny´s last blog ..WordPress Blogging Blueprint- Installing Social Media Icons Onto Your Blog

Ana | Traffic Generation March 11, 2011 at 2:28 pm: Do you have a list, Staci?
Ana | Traffic Generation´s last blog ..How to Build a List- Rich Man- Poor Man List Building
Reply

James M March 10, 2011 at 1:12 pm

I’ve been exploring my options when it comes to publishing a newsletter. I went with MailChimp mainly because I didn’t want to spend money on something I wasn’t 100% positive I would get enough subscribers to make it worthwhile. I would rather build up to 2,000 subscribers for free and then switch over to Aweber.

I don’t think I saw this mentioned, but with MailChimp, you can have individual newsletters sent out, or you can build up a series of posts that are released in order to new subscribers (ie a 7 day course would be released in seven consecutive days, regardless of when you signed up). Does Aweber have a similar feature?

Can you manage multiple lists within Aweber?

George Fourie March 10, 2011 at 10:11 pm

@James

Only problem you’ll have with Aweber is your readers will have to double opt in again. I had to do this which shaved off 70% of my list… ouch!

People simply don’t confirm their new subscription.

It’s worth the money spent 10 fold and depending on your niche, it can literally make or break your business.

With multiple lists, Aweber has the most powerful feature for segmenting.

You can auto subscribe / unsubscribe people from lists. So let’s say someone purchases a product from you, they subscribe to a new list (your buyers list) and they auto unsubscribe from the previous one.
George Fourie´s last blog ..The ONE Thing You Must Have To Be Taken Seriously Online

Ana | Traffic Generation March 11, 2011 at 2:27 pm: @George - thanks for getting back to, James - I can tell you feel strongly about MailChimp!
@James - as George mentioned, you can have ALL the features MailChimp offers and more with Aweber.
Ana | Traffic Generation´s last blog ..Email List Building Secrets Your Thank You Page is Keeping from You
Reply

Kimi March 10, 2011 at 12:42 am

Hi Ana,

I was in a dillema between aweber and mailchimp, but the ability to import emails addresses from my feedburner to aweber was impressing me.

So I have tried mailchimp. it was quite nice, but I will use aweber since it can import my email databases from feedburner

Thanks.
Kimi´s last blog ..Shareasale Review – Is it Good When Does Shareasale pay

Ana March 10, 2011 at 11:49 am: Good choice, Kimi.
Aweber does allow an import of 2000 leads per day, but if you have some inconsistent entries, it is manually reviewed by Aweber staff before importing.
Ana
PS Affiliate sale is appreciated!
Ana´s last blog ..How to Build a List- Rich Man- Poor Man List Building
Reply

Sire March 9, 2011 at 10:15 pm

The reason I didn’t use Aweber is because of the expense. I’ve only got a small list and it’s only growing at a small rate which means that if I was to use Aweber I would be losing money.

I therefore went for MailChimp. It’s a great autoresponder, easy to use and also has a fair few templates that you can use. I’ve always had a 100% success rate and I’ve noticed that my subscribers have actually chosen to go with them which tells me they liked what they were getting.

Once I go over the 2000 mark I could always switch to Aweber but I doubt I will do that because I’m happy with the service I’m getting from MailChimp.
Sire´s last blog ..Do You Know Who Is Really Commenting On Your Blog

Ana March 10, 2011 at 11:56 am: Sure, different blogs, different needs, Sire.
I started with Aweber back when I had zero subscribers, but I am always thinking ahead and don’t mind the expense of proper (for me) foundation for my business.
Glad you found what works for you and some of my readers might go that way as well.
Pleasure to have you on my blog, as always!
Ana´s last blog ..Think Outside the Blog- External Ways to Explode Your List
Reply

Dennis Edell@ Direct Sales Marketing March 9, 2011 at 11:25 am

Excellent review for an excellent service, I’ve used them for years.

Check your links ASAP Ana, their broken.
Dennis Edell@ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Poll- Is it Spam Ignorance Language Barrier What Would YOU Do…

Ana March 10, 2011 at 11:57 am

Which links, Dennis?

Dennis Edell@ Direct Sales Marketing March 15, 2011 at 6:32 am: Scan the article from a reader point of view, you’ll notice a few with a line through them…dead links.
Dennis Edell@ Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..What Are YOUR Top 5 Social Sharing Networks
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Alexandru Petru March 9, 2011 at 10:36 am

Hello Ana,

What I loved from all the reviews I read for aweber is that it can deliver all your emails to the inbox folder instead of ending in spam.

Also, I would like to know if you can import your own list of emails in aweber? For example if I want to take my list from an other service and migrate it to aweber is this possible?
Alexandru Petru´s last blog ..Gateste cu Mickey

George Fourie March 9, 2011 at 6:45 am

Excellent Review Ana!

For those that have checked out Mailchimp and you’re either an affiliate or network marketer, stay away!

They closed my account stating that they do not support network and affiliate marketers.

It’s been painful to get my list back.

I imported them all into Aweber, but they had to re confirm their subscription (Only downside) and lost about 70% of my list.

The remainder I imported into Icontact and being used to Aweber, I am ready to sacrifice those that I lost and close my account with Icontact.

Aweber simply rocks.
George Fourie´s last blog ..7 Things You Can Do To Increase Your Video Marketing Productivity

Ana March 10, 2011 at 12:01 pm

First of all, glad I finally got you on my blog, George - about time.

I had no idea MailChimp has such rules since I’ve never used them, but I will add this info to the post to make sure my readers are aware of it.

I would take Aweber over IContact any day… And I did, actually.

Thanks, George!
Ana´s last blog ..How to Build a List See Beyond The List To Make The Real Money

George Fourie March 10, 2011 at 10:05 pm: Hey Ana, yes it is about time, I’ve been missing out!
As mentioned to Sheila, great service if you are in any industry not related to affiliate marketing and network marketing.
Great to be hear!
George Fourie´s last blog ..The ONE Thing You Must Have To Be Taken Seriously Online
Reply

Sam @ Weekend Getaways March 9, 2011 at 5:02 am

Aweber is best tool available for email marketing and it’s affordable too. I didn’t tried it personally but few of my friends have told me that it’s very easy to use it.
Sam @ Weekend Getaways´s last blog ..Cheap Holiday Packages

Ana March 10, 2011 at 12:04 pm: Yes, you’re right, Sam.
For me, Aweber is easy to use and they also offer great trainings and add new features on a regular basis.
Ana´s last blog ..Blog Comment Traffic Research- Signed- Sealed- and Delivered
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Nick @ Splitsvilla March 9, 2011 at 2:59 am

I have used mail chimp it seems little bit more complicated then aweber also singup forms and popups are not available

Ana March 10, 2011 at 12:06 pm: There is a comment above you, Nick, from George - he says that MailChimp closed his account without notice.
Make sure you take a look at it; I would hate for you to be affected by something like that.
Ana
Ana´s last blog ..Blog Comment Traffic Research- Signed- Sealed- and Delivered
Reply

Basam@silpada March 8, 2011 at 11:07 pm

I have not used Aweber but I have studied a lot about it. You have presented attractive features of Aweber.

Ana March 9, 2011 at 5:56 am: Basam, it’s the best option out there; no question about it.
Ana´s last blog ..List Building- When I Want Your Opinion- I’ll Ask for It… Asking Now
Reply

Jane@Blogging Tips March 8, 2011 at 11:03 pm

I am with Mailchimp right now and I am happy but I know I couldn’t there for longer. I have certain other things to set up before I can go for AWeber.

Your review helped me a lot Ana.

Out of topic: I love your new design. Did you hire a designer? Your main nav menu is not fully viewable for me, a bit cut off at the top. The display of posts as separate boxes in the homepage is perfect. I like many other things - will tell you later, not for now anyway.

Jane.
Jane@Blogging Tips´s last blog ..Overcoming Procrastination To Achieve Your Goals

Ana March 9, 2011 at 5:55 am: At least you know you are growing out of MailChimp, Jane.
Thanks for your compliments on my new design. Yes, there are may kinks to yet work out, but we are getting there.
I would love any feedback on any design issues at any time.
When you are ready to work on yours, let me know.
Ana
Ana´s last blog ..Blog Comment Traffic Research- Signed- Sealed- and Delivered
Reply

Ryan Biddulph March 8, 2011 at 4:45 pm

Agreed on many levels Ana. I’ve used aWeber for about 5 months now and am happy with the program.

So many features I have no clue about, need to delve a little deeper.

As for deliveribility and unlimited lists, top notch stuff. It’s really a no-brainer if you want to develop a serious list and campaign.

Thanks for sharing!

RB
Ryan Biddulph´s last blog ..A Quick Uber Creative Way to Generate Facebook Leads

Ana March 8, 2011 at 10:45 pm

Only 5 months, Ryan? Were you using something else before or are you such a quick learner?

You always manage to impress me, no matter what you do.
Ana´s last blog ..Appetite For Traffic The Secret Is in the Source

Ryan Biddulph March 9, 2011 at 12:28 pm

Hi Ana,

Thanks My gifting club capture page has an auto-responder built in, so I was able to capture leads through that site but never built one through my blog until recently. Late to the party

RB
Ryan Biddulph´s last blog ..A Quick Uber Creative Way to Generate Facebook Leads

Ana March 10, 2011 at 12:07 pm: Better late than never!
Reply

Steve@how to go green March 8, 2011 at 1:09 pm

AWeber is the only autoresponder I have used, and I like the fact that it is easy yo set up and and e-mails can be pre-programmed to go out on pretty much any schedule you want.

Ana March 8, 2011 at 10:43 pm: I know, I love it - so easy. Hope people who don’t have lists will listen.
Ana´s last blog ..Dofollow Nofollow Links- Is There a Happy Medium
Reply

Curious Little Person March 8, 2011 at 12:35 pm

not into list building currently, but yeah all top notch internet marketers and bloggers are into aweber.. I’ve heard great reviews about them and they sure look to be good.

Thanks for this valuable peice of information..
Curious Little Person´s last blog ..Visible PageRank Vs Real PageRank

Ana March 8, 2011 at 10:42 pm

Definitely need to be!

Plus, I’d love for you to use your real name along with your keywords when you comment on my blog.
Ana´s last blog ..Blog Comment Traffic Research- Signed- Sealed- and Delivered

Sandeep@CuriousLittlePerson March 9, 2011 at 10:58 am

done…

sandeep
Sandeep@CuriousLittlePerson´s last blog ..Visible PageRank Vs Real PageRank

Ana March 9, 2011 at 11:37 am: Well, hello, Sandeep - pleasure to meet you!
Reply

Vivek Parmar March 8, 2011 at 12:27 pm

Exceptionally great review. Reviewing a product is necessary and if your blog has quite huge traffic then it indirectly increases your sales.
Vivek Parmar´s last blog ..Dreamhost 97 Discount Coupon For March 2011- DISCOUNTCOUPON97

Ana March 8, 2011 at 10:39 pm: Much appreciated, Vivek.
Was busy fixing my theme today; sorry, couldn’t connect on Skype.
Ana´s last blog ..Blog Post Promotion- Increase Your Blog Popularity Like the Pros Do
Reply

Sheila Atwood@landing pages best practices March 8, 2011 at 11:27 am

Thanks for the review Ana,

I am a big aWeber fan too. There really is a lot that aWeber can do that I have not even tried out yet. The site really is easy to navigate and the new optin templates are very nice. They give excellent service and their tutorials make it easy for anyone to become an aWeber Fan.

I have just set up Mail Chimp for a client. There inner face is really simple too. It is a perfect fit for him. He will not have a large list and will be emailing only once a week. One thing that some people miss with Mail Chimp is that they really are for individual companies. You can not do any affiliate marketing through them.

I have used iContact. The delivery is good and the price is cheaper, but I found their inner face a little hard to navigate. I was already with aWeber and happy so I did not take extra time to learn. They do have great videos for learning their program.
Sheila Atwood@landing pages best practices´s last blog ..Your Blog Scares The Hell Out of Me!

Ana March 8, 2011 at 10:36 pm: Thanks for the feedback , Sheila.
Good point about MailChimp being a good option for small businesses.
IContact? I agree. Not nearly as intuitive as Aweber is.
Love the title of your ComLuv post - got to check it out.
Ana´s last blog ..List Building- When I Want Your Opinion- I’ll Ask for It… Asking Now
Reply
George Fourie March 10, 2011 at 9:57 pm: Hey Sheila,
Yes that sums it up. I loved Mailchimp, just not suited for my target market unfortunately.
If I had the choice I would choose them over Icontact any day.
So for small businesses it would be great, but for marketing with bells and whistles Aweber for sure.
George Fourie´s last blog ..The ONE Thing You Must Have To Be Taken Seriously Online
Reply

Jack Foley March 8, 2011 at 8:43 am

Great Review anna,

Yea its hard to beat Aweber as their deliverability seems to be A1
Jack Foley´s last blog ..Have Faith and Move Forward

Ana March 8, 2011 at 10:32 pm: We want to be the best, we should be the best, right, Jack?
Ana´s last blog ..How to Build a List See Beyond The List To Make The Real Money
Reply

Mavis Nong @ Online Business Tools March 8, 2011 at 7:48 am

Fantastic review, Ana. I LOVE Aweber too - really easy to use and their support is excellent.

Another one is Trafficwave. I’ve only heard of MailChip quite recently.

Thanks for sharing.

Mavis
Mavis Nong @ Online Business Tools´s last blog ..Big Announcement- The Traffic Generation Blogging Contest Has Begun – Are You In

Ana March 8, 2011 at 8:40 am: Thanks, Mavis - Aweber rocks.
Never heard of Trafficwave. My tendency is to stay with better known names with a great track record when it comes down to things like autoresponder, hosting, etc.
Ana´s last blog ..How to Build a List See Beyond The List To Make The Real Money
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