Aweber Review
Friday, February 29th, 2008
WEBSITE DETAILS
TOPIC: A professional email autoresponder service which allows you to build unlimited double optin email list, create followup messages and broadcast messages, create optin forms and much, much more.
ABOUT AWEBER
Aweber is a professional, 3rd party, email autoresponder service. You pay a monthly subscription in exchange for their services which include;
- Unlimited Lists!!
- Unlimited Followup Messages!!
- Unlimited Broadcast Messages!!
- Optin Webform Creation Tool!!
- Training Guides and Videos!!
- Unlimited Customer Support!!
In this review I am going to go through all of the features of Aweber and then state my opinion on each of them.
1) UNLIMITED LISTS:- This is a feature I did not use initially. I just had one major list for The Ebook Cavern Newsletter and my thinking was “I only have one newsletter so why would I need extra lists?”. However, I soon learned the benefits of this feature. Although, I was running one newsletter people were joining this newsletter for a number of reasons. Some people were joining to get the leaked chapter of “How to set up a Successful, Automated Ebook Business on eBay”, some people were joining to get the latest updates on The Ebook Cavern Reviews and some people were joining to get eBay tips.
By using multiple lists I could create a leaked chapter list, an ebook reviews list, an eBay list and a main list. Everyone who joined would be added to the main list and also the relevant list e.g. if they joined from The Ebook Cavern Reviews Blog they would be added to the ebook reviews list and the main list. I would then send the monthly Ebook Cavern Newsletter to the main list (so everyone would receive this), updates on The Ebook Cavern Reviews to the ebook reviews list, updates on “How to set up a Successful, Automated Ebook Business on eBay” to the leaked chapter list and eBay tips and ebooks to the eBay list. By using multiple lists in this way I could provide the various subscribers to The Ebook Cavern Newsletter with more relevant content.
Overall, although this is a slightly advanced feature it is one that has allowed me to really improve the quality of my email marketing campaigns. Plus, once you start trying multiple lists out they really aren’t that hard to implement. I think it is a really good feature and since the lists are unlimited I will never run out, allowing me to expand my email marketing campaigns without contraint.
2) UNLIMITED FOLLOWUP MESSAGES:- Followup messages are pre-written messages that you send to subscribers at pre-determined intervals. For example, if you sign up for a ‘7 Day eBay Tips’ email course it is likely that these are sent to you via a followup system. As soon as you subscribe the eBay tips (which have already been written and loaded into the autoresponder) will be sent to you automatically each day.
Again, this is another feature I did not initially use to great lengths. I set up one followup message for each list which went out automatically after readers confirmed their subscription. This followup message simply thanked subscribers for their subscription and provided them with a link to their free ebooks. Whilst there was nothing wrong with this approach I quickly learnt that I was not using followup messages to their full potential.
Followup messages are useful for a number of reasons but I’ve found them particularly useful for distributing my resellable ebooks. When I complete a new ebook with resell rights and I want my subscribers to know about it, I send an email out to them all. However, people who subscribe to my list after this email was sent will miss out on the free ebook. If I create a followup message containing the download links all new subscribers will get the message about this new ebook whether they subscribe 1 day or 1 year after it was created. Followup messages are also a great way to keep subscribers aware of your newsletter. If you send out a monthly newsletter, they may have forgotten who you are by the time it arrives, but with followup messages you can keep in regular contact with them automatically.
3) UNLIMITED BROADCAST MESSAGES:- Broadcast messages are messages that you send to one or more of your lists when there is something you want them to know about. For example, if your latest newsletter was ready to read, you could send a broadcast to your list(s) letting them know.
Broadcast messages are one of the features I used right from the start to send out The Ebook Cavern Newsletter. Once I had the newsletter uploaded to my website I would type up a short message with a link to the current newsletter, then broadcast it to my entire list. Today, I pretty much use broadcast messages for the same purpose to send out my newsletter and make other announcements of importance.
Overall, this is a standard feature which you expect to get with most autoresponder services. However, I feel Aweber do perform well because they offer a number of additional options. First, they allow you to broadcast your message in plain text or HTML (allowing you to customise the look of the email, add pictures etc). Secondly, they allow you to schedule the time when your broadcast will be sent which I find really useful. For example, if your newsletter is due to go out on Sunday but you know you will be away for the weekend, you simply write your newsletter and schedule the broadcast for Sunday.
4) OPTIN WEBFORM CREATION TOOL:- This is another feature I used right from the start. As the name suggests, this feature allows you to create webforms which you place on webpages. Subscribers then enter their details to join your email list. Overall, this feature does the job but I found it rather basic. The webform creator is easy enough to use and you get to customise your webform but not in great detail.
5) TRAINING GUIDES AND VIDEOS:- If you have been reading the review so far and don’t have a clue about email marketing then this section will be just what you are looking for. There’s plenty of information, guides and videos on how to get started, how to set up lists, how to create followup messages and much more. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t actually used this section much. I’m one of those people who usually teaches myself. However, I have looked over the training area and the guides in particular look top notch with detailed screenshots and step by step instructions.
6) UNLIMITED CUSTOMER SUPPORT:- I’ve only used Aweber’s customer support once and I have to say it was absolutely top notch. I used their live support tool and was connected with one of a support assistant via an instant message screen. The problem I was having was to do with one of my lists. I explained the problem to the support assistant and they told me why it was happening and then sorted it out for me there and then. Overall, I found their customer support very quick and very helpful. I couldn’t really ask for anything more.
As you can probably tell I really like Aweber and could not operate without them. If you are looking to get into email marketing it contains all the features you should ever need. Most importantly, there are no limits so you will never find that you can’t send another broadcast message or that you can’t create another list. The automation is another key feature for me. You can pretty much set up lists, followup messages and then just leave them to do their work which I find really helpful.
My only minor criticism of Aweber is the webform creator being limited. It does the job but it would have been nice if there was a quick and easy tool which allows you to create flashy webforms. However, you can simply place the webform code in a HTML editor and then do some design work so this is not a major issue at all.
In conclusion, I would recommend Aweber to those new to email marketing and to those who are little more experienced. I am relatively experienced now and I still highly rate the service. However, when I started I did not have a clue about email marketing. I simply paid my subscription, read a few ebooks on the topic and got stuck in. As I have become more comfortable with email marketing I have been able to incorporate more advanced features such as multiple lists and followup messages without any hassle. Quite honestly, Aweber is one of the best investments I ever made when starting out in Internet Marketing.
GOOD POINTS
- Unlimited lists, followups and broadcast messages mean that your email marketing is completely unrestricted.
- You can automate a lot of things with Aweber meaning once you have set up your lists, followup messages etc, you save a lot of time.
- Excellent customer support.
BAD POINTS
- The webform creator is rather limited.
- The price is higher than some of the other email autoresponder services.
HOW I HAVE GAINED FROM AWEBER
Before Aweber I had my eBay store and a reviews website. Now I have multiple email lists that are growing by the day. This provides me with a highly targetted source of traffic for my newsletters, products and websites - a truly unique asset.
*****
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