Thinking about using phplist? Keep reading.
The “open source dream” could quickly turn into a nightmare for your email marketing strategy AND your deliverability as you’ll see in just a moment.
Here are the top five weaknesses of phplist that you might not know...
1) Complexity. Phplist can do a LOT (if you can imagine it, some geek can code it right?) - but that’s not always a good thing.
While it’s true that after the initial install of phplist, most of the “tech nightmares” are behind you, you might still end up in a sticky situation if anything goes wrong along the way.
Relying on a self hosted solution like phplist means giving up the ability to simply call a support desk and have them handle the problems for you.
2) Support. Say for instance you try to send out from phplist and nothing happens, no emails get delivered.
Well, you’re at the whims of phplist’s FAQ’s, user forums, and manuals - which means a lot of troubleshooting, research, trial and error stand between you and your vital email blasts getting sent out. Working with a paid, hosted solution means having a team of knowledgeable people at your beck and call. Not so with phplist.
3) Deliverability. Phplist has a lot of strengths - it’s capable of sending out email blasts to over 100,000 subscribers, it can store complex geo-targeting information, user preferences, and “tags” to help you with list segmentation, but where it falls down flat on it’s face is with email deliverability.
Why?
Well, phplist runs off YOUR server, which means that IP reputation, blacklisting, and SPAM complaints suddenly become new issues for you to stress over. (Forget your overall email marketing strategy - if you’re fighting with phplist just to deliver your mail, you’re spinning your wheels).
4) Responsibility. When you host your own email blast program like phplist, you’re ultimately 100% responsible for how you use it.
SPAM laws, email best practices, and deliverability are all squarely on your shoulders. If you don’t know exactly what you need to include in a promotional email blast to protect yourself and your subscribers, then you could be in for a rude awakening.
5) Integration. If you want to integrate phplist with an outside service, then get ready for API headaches, complicated other programming feats, and a whole lot of trial and error.
On the other hand, hosted autoresponders often have built in integration with CRM’s like Sales Force, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, and shopping carts like 1shoppingcart.com, Clickbank.com, and Paypal.
A little research into phplist alternatives could mean months of time saved, and Millions in profits earned. But your autoresponder is really the least of your worries. Even if you choose to make phplist work, the overall email marketing strategy that you use will ultimately determine your level of success.
From lead generation to your subject line to your receipt page, there are a whole host of opportunities to make more, work less, and ultimately profit big from email marketing.
If your email marketing strategy hasn’t been vetted and proven to be profitable then this video will walk you through a highly effective system for producing astonishing results (without phplist).
