5 Top Free and Well-Priced Autoresponders for the New Entrepreneur Setting Up an Online Business
"Love What You Do and Do What You Love."
Ray Bradbury (American author and screenwriter)
What is an Autoresponder?
An autoresponder is the name given to a type of software tool used in email marketing to send out prewritten automated emails to specified groups of people simultaneously.
The software holds the email addresses of people who may have subscribed to a given newsletter, made a purchase from a given online shop, or signed up online for any other purpose with a given business / club / or other organisation that has an online presence.
There are two types of automated emails 'follow-up' emails or 'broadcast' emails.
When required, on pre-set dates, the autoresponder will automatically send out pre-set 'follow-up' emails triggered by specifications, like dates, or subscriber status, set by the business owner. Or emails can be sent out on specific occasions, depending on the 'triggers' set by the business owner.
For 'follow-up' emails, the triggers can include various parameters such as "new subscriber", "purchase", or "abandoned cart". While for 'broadcast' emails, bulletins can be used for making announcements like special offers, discount vouchers, and so on.
Why Use an Autoresponder?
Maintaining contact with customers and clients is essential in today's online market. Autoresponders are therefore an invaluable tool in order to maximise productivity and sales, and improve customer service.
Autoresponders can be used for generating leads by offering something of value, like a free promotional offer, e-books or reports, in exchange for an email address. This allows people to build a list of potential customers or subscribers.
The autoresponder can then send out a welcome message to the new customer or subscriber. The email address can be stored for sending out further messages or follow-up emails at future dates to increase sales.
The automated follow-up messages can be timed to coincide with key points such as after a trial period, or on occasions such as Black Friday and so on.
Autoresponders can also be used to send out quick messages in response to customer queries, as an acknowledgment of the customer's message, until someone is able to respond personally.
Perhaps most importantly, autoresponders help business owners to scale their campaigns by providing vital marketing data on the demographics, preferences, and buying practices of their customers / subscribers.
All in all, autoresponders are an invaluable tool for streamlining communication and improving productivity. They save a huge amount of time, provide consistent messaging, improve customer service, generate leads, and help increase sales.
Which Autoresponder Should You Choose?
In today's highly competitive online market, it is almost impossible to do without a good autoresponder. So, choosing the right one is absolutely critical for success.
There are many autoresponders, which serve better for specific types of online business, such as e-commerce, consultancy, or affiliate marketing. In this post, however, I have listed five, highly popular, affordable, top, all-rounder autoresponders that are versatile enough to serve well for any business model.
AWeber
Brevo (SendinBlue)
EngageBay
HubSpot
Sendpulse
AWeber
Pros 👍
- Very affordable plans, including an unlimited Free plan for up to 500 subscribers for one email list; Lite plan: $12.50 p/m for unlimited subscribers; Plus plan: $20 p/m for unlimited subscribers and number of lists; and Unlimited plan offering an extensive package without any subscriber fees for large businesses.
- Good drag-and-drop editor.
- List segmentation.
- Good list / database importing facilities.
- Good e-commerce facility with 3rd party integration with Stripe.
- Advanced, dynamic AMP (accelerated mobile pages)* email marking system..
- Good RSS (Really Simple Syndication)**/ blogging feature.
- Good inbuilt analytics with split testing.
- Automated newsletters.
- Over 600 (variations of ~170 basic versions), responsive, fully customisable templates with preview mode, for landing pages, thank you pages, forms, and letters.
- Good number of fonts including ‘web-safe’ fonts available.
- Over 6000 free stock images to use with the templates.
- Option for adding unlimited users to an account.
- Outstanding 24-hour live support through telephone, email, and live chat available to all users including Free plan customers.
Cons 👎
- Rather slow interface.
- No inbuilt spelling and grammar check as yet.
- Not all templates work as expected.
- Only one task possible at a time.
- Somewhat inaccurate reporting.
- Complicated installation process.
- Rather steep learning curve.
* (AMP email technology allows pages to load faster regardless of device, and also allows recipients simple functions like booking appointments, using RSVP facilities, or even placing items in a basket / cart.)
** (RSS Feed: Applications that constantly monitor given sites for new content, removing the need for the user to manually check them. Used by content creators who publish frequently, e.g. news channels, bloggers, and vloggers.)
Conclusion:
AWeber was one of the first autoresponder systems to be launched in the 1990’s, and is rated as middle-of-road in terms of popularity. It is however, one of the most affordable systems out there, with several very well-priced plans for new and established businesses.
One of the most attractive features of AWeber is the excellent round-the-clock live support, which is available for users on any plan, and any issues including setting up the system can be resolved by contacting Support.
All in all, AWeber is a good autoresponder. The drawbacks are minor in comparison to the value people get from it. Hopefully, the company will remedy the few glitches customers can sometimes experience with aspects of the layout and editing functions.
Brevo
Pros: 👍
- Four plans – Free plan (300 emails daily); Starter plan ($16.00p/m; 20,000 emails daily);
Business plan ($40.00p/m; 20,000 emails and telephone support); and Brevo Plus (custom pricing depending on needs and extensive features). - Very good user-friendly drag-and-drop editor.
- Good built-in free CRM feature.
- A/B split testing feature.
- List segmentation.
- Unlimited contact and list facilities on all plans.
- Good analytics feature.
- Good templates for landing pages, emails, SMS, social media and WhatsApp.
- Extensive third-party integrations.
- Good inbuilt e-commerce features including ready-made email workflows, abandoned cart feature, follow-up emails, and special offers.
- Good spam filters to ensure safe delivery of emails.
- Free AI chatbot tools for websites (paid version available for social media).
- Real-time reporting for higher-tier plans.
- Good integration with other marketing platforms (e.g. Active Campaign, GetResponse, and MailChimp) easy importing of contact information.
- AMP templates.
- CRM* and CMS** (content management system) facilities.
- Very good resource library, including training videos, available for users.
- Help available in six languages.
* (CRM system is a database software that allows business owners to manage customer interactions more efficiently and improve productivity by having all customer data stored on one CRM database.)
** (CMS is a system that allows multiple users to manipulate content and store it onto a database, usually for use on an internet-based element like a website or blog.)
Cons: 👎
- Slow, and unreliable customer support depending on plan – (Free plan and Starter plan: resource library and support ticket only; Business plan and Enterprise plans: resource library, support ticket, and telephone available Mon - Fri only).
- Limited CRM function (available for email only).
- Difficult as yet to access customer email contact list, thus difficult to identify customers from customer queries.
- Somewhat difficult to navigate menus.
- Limited email template designs, with some being rather slow-to-load.
- Not all templates fully compatible with all browsers.
- Not all fonts compatible with all mail readers.
- Unreliable customer refunding record.
Conclusion:
Brevo is one the most highly rated autoresponder packages currently available, offering pretty much everything needed for an emerging business.
It’s an affordable, and easy-to-use platform, and in most instances allows businesses to create, send, and track sales data efficiently and reliably.
However, its CRM system is not as comprehensive as that of some of its competitors.
The main disadvantage however I would say is its limited level of customer support, especially for lower-tier plans, and its poor refunding process.
EngageBay
Pros: 👍
- Very affordable price plans – Free plan; Basic plan: $12.74p/m; Growth plan: $42.49 p/m; Pro plan: $84.89p/m.
- Very good range of features with all plans.
- Easy to use interface.
- Good landing pages and email templates.
- List segmentation with Basic plan upwards.
- Multi-channel marketing.
- List segmentation.
- Very good built-in CRM (customer relations management system) with lots of features that can be purchased separately, or as an all-in-one package.
- Good third-party integrations for automated workflow set-up.
- Very good 24-hour customer support with email, live chat, and telephone.
Cons: 👎
- Rather limited range of design features.
- Emails can take some time to appear on social media.
- Weak campaign management system as yet.
- Cloud-based, so can lose uptime.
Conclusion:
Overall, EngageBay provides business owners with an all-in-one solution that helps improve customer acquisition, retention, and overall business efficiency throughout the entire sales cycle.
Third-party integration with platforms like HubSpot and MailChimp allows business owners to maximise the leveraging powers of existing tools and systems.
Finally, EngageBay's excellent support through email, live chat, and telephone, helps business owners resolve their issues promptly and effectively.
HubSpot
Pros: 👍
- Four main pricing plans, two very affordable – free-forever Freemium plan, and Starter plan ($18 p/m); and two significantly costlier: Professional plan ($440 p/m), and Enterprise plan ($1,040 p/m).
- Free, user-friendly, CRM system available for all tiers, covering all three Hubspot’s core hub facilities: Marketing, Sales and Service.
- Each tier allows certain number of free contacts.
- All-in-one marketing platform with all necessary software and tools to launch a business including website building facility.
- Very user-friendly drag-and-drop interface.
- Good CMS (Content Management System) software for website building.
- Lead segmentation for higher-tier plans.
- Multiple team members allowed on one account, with each person having his / her own login and password.
- Easy importing of email contacts from plain text files or Excel onto HubSpot's CRM system.
- Easy importing of campaign data from Google Ads and social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.
- Integration with MailChimp and Constant Contact.
- Good e-commerce plan with Shopify and BigCommerce.
- Over 1,000 third-party customisable integrations.
- Real-time lead behaviour data.
- Customisable report builder to track leads / sales.
- User-friendly ticketing pipelines for managing inquiries.
- Feedback surveys software available to send to customers.
- Extensive free resource library for customers.
Cons: 👎
- Templates available for lower tier plans difficult to customise without coding knowledge.
- Limited free third-party integrations available for lower-tier plans.
- No split testing available for lower-tier plans.
- CRM system not fully customisable.
- Upgrade required for downloading certain third-party integrations.
- Complicated Marketing hub, requiring self-study of “HubSpot Marketing Software Certification” program.
- Level of customer support depends on type of plan – Professional and Enterprise: community, email, live chat, and telephone support: (free plan: community help only; Starter plan: community, email, and chat).
Conclusion:
I would have rated HubSpot higher except for the poor level of customer support given by the platform on lower-tier plans. And that the Marketing hub is not particularly user-friendly.
Nevertheless, HubSpot remains one of the leading autoresponders on the market. And despite the poor support, it’s a good choice for smaller businesses with its free CRM system which provides all necessary customer service tools, and easy-to-use contact and data importing facilities.
Sendpulse
Pros: 👍
- Four affordable pricing plans, with subscription prices based on number of subscribers, starting with 0 - 500 subscribers – Free plan, Standard plan ($6.40 p/m or $57.60 p/a unlimited emails); Pro plan ($7.20 p/m, $69.12 p/a unlimited emails); and Enterprise ($10.08 p/m, $96.77p/a, extensive range of features.)
- Good range of features on all plans, including the free one.
- User-friendly streamlined adaptable (depending on needs) interface.
- Easy to use drag-and-drop editor.
- Good number of customisable templates for emails, landing pages etc.
- AMP templates for email.
- Very good email workflows.
- Good CRM and analytics features with real-time reporting.
- Easy importing of mailing lists from email providers like Outlook, and other platforms like Mailchimp.
- Multi-channel marketing including SMS, and push notifications.
- ChatGPT3 integration for creating chatbot customer service.
- API (Application Programming Interface)* for WhatsApp.
- Good e-commerce tools including abandoned cart, follow-up messaging, and notifications.
- Up-to-date training videos on YouTube.
- 24-hour live-chat customer support.
*An API is a type of messenger service that allows businesses to share data between different applications and devices.
Cons: 👎
- Interface can be a little slow at times.
- Rather basic editor.
- Advanced features cost extra.
- No resource library.
- Limited third-party integration.
- External API needed for downloading marketing data.
- Rather off-putting and confusing pricing system.
Conclusion:
Sendpulse is a very effective all-in-one autoresponder that provides all the necessary tools and functions for running a successful online business.
Unfortunately as yet at least, it provides no live telephone customer support. Nevertheless, the 24-hour live-chat feature is good, the agents are knowledgeable and usually quick to respond.
The pricing structure is a little daunting, but on the whole, Sendpulse is a good, cost-effective option for most online businesses.
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Thank you for commenting. I appreciate you taking the time to write. Indeed the autoresponders you’ve mentioned are amongst the top most popular ones. I didn’t include them for a number of reasons in the post, nevertheless, your comment has added much value to the post. Thank you again.
D.K
Admin Solid post, must say!
Thank you for your comment. I very much appreciate your feedback.
D.K