Benefit of Paying for Aweber vs. Just using GMail Autoresponder?

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cliqz

cliqz

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Jan 30, 2009
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I'm getting into building lists cause, as we all know, the money is in the lists! :D

Thing is, I look at different ways to build lists and get optins and it's all pretty much using a signup form or having people email your autoreponder directly.
My question is, for building lists, what's the benefit of paying for a service like Aweber when you can just use gmail and autoresponers?

As far as I know, with gmail you can

- Have great deliverablility just like Aweber.
- Build and even export your lists.
- Use autoresponders.
- Even use your own domain name using google apps.

What am I missing? I'm sure I'm missing something else people wouldn't be paying for Aweber if it were that easy. But I'm not seeing it.
 


You can't set up a series of autoresponders in gmail. ie Message 1 goes immediately, then message 2 one day later, etc.
 
At low email volumes, Gmail would be fine. However, you can't really bulk email out of Gmail.
Their FAQ said:
You can send a single message to a maximum of 500 recipients through the web interface, or up to 100 recipients when using POP access. Their email addresses can be distributed among the To, Cc, and Bcc fields.
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The only thing I don't like about aweber is that it is very restrictive when trying to build the email capture list into a flash site or into a flowing design.

You have to use the stupid bulky cheesy aweber email capture script and can't foward the info or prepop the fields.

So it really limits the way you can collect emails if you want that to be part of the flow.
 
darbsllim said:
The only thing I don't like about aweber is that it is very restrictive when trying to build the email capture list into a flash site or into a flowing design.

You have to use the stupid bulky cheesy aweber email capture script and can't foward the info or prepop the fields.

So it really limits the way you can collect emails if you want that to be part of the flow.
Click to expand...

That's only true if you use the lame javascript forms. If you get the html code, you can basically do whatever you want with it.
 
For credibility, if someone opts into your site to "qualify" for your offer, gmail does not have a delayed autoresponse. So if I applied for a grant, and then I received an email saying "You Qualified" 2 seconds after I hit the submit button, I would definintely think that there is absolutely no approval process whatsoever and that this is a spammy offer.

If you delay your response by a day or so, then it looks like it went through a manual review process, and thus more credible and believable.

Also with Gmail, do you want to manually put all your emails into a mass bcc list? Or do you want to send 1000 emails one by one so that their address shows in the "To" field? A mass bcc to me is instant spam, the more saavy internet users may pickup on that.
 
You get exactly what you pay for using google. There's a tiny difference between a COI loop autoresponder and a halfassed vacation autoresponder. On the other hand, I highly recommend google mail for all your advance-fee-fraud needs.
 
If you're worried about $20 a month for Aweber then I don't think the money is anywhere for you list or no list.
 
The benefits of Aweber over Gmail are substantial, IMO.

- Scheduled timing between followups
- The option to split-test messages, subject lines, etc. for optimal clickthrough and/or open rate
- Personalization of emails, with dynamic insertion of name, dates, etc. For example, you can have it say "Check out this offer I found on [TODAYS DATE -2 DAYS]" so it reads "Check out this offer I found on tuesday" if the email is received on a thursday.
- Better control of sending html AND text version of the email
- Pre-sendout spam check so you can see how likely your emails are to be blocked by spamfilters.
- much more...
 
If you go AWeber, make sure you're psyched about XHTML because they're taking features out of their advanced editor for regular HTML templates. Effects things like the "forward to a friend" feature.
 
I have to ask again if anyone knows if aweber forms can easily be integrated into a flash file?

I'm thinking no for actionscript 2.0 but possibly for actionscript 3.0?
 
kingfish said:
If you're worried about $20 a month for Aweber then I don't think the money is anywhere for you list or no list.
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I'd really like to accept your statement and move on but then... well... you have a link to ppc-coach in your sig, so I'll just chuckle to myself and move on.

In all seriousness, try reading that last sentence in my original post and see if you can figure out whether I'm concerned about $20, or if I'm just curious.
 
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