There are a few free email autoresponders out there, and you may be considering signing up for one of them to use for your email marketing efforts. That's ok, but before you do you should consider a couple of dangers inherent in that decision, to see if a free email autoresponder is really for you.
Free Autoresponder Danger #1: Hidden Costs
Here's something to consider when thinking about a free autoresponder for your email marketing: what is the REAL cost of a free autoresponder? Even if the service you are looking at is really "free" of any hidden charges, the real cost may hit you when you try to actually send emails out with offers to your list, and run into problems that cost you sales in the end. And depending on the success you were expecting, this could cost a lot.
For example, if your free autoresponder has any of the reliability issues listed below, you could end up sending out to only a fraction of your list, or sending late. What if you send to only a quarter of your list? Is that a big enough deal to not have a free autoresponder?
Well, say you have a product to sell for $97. Given your list size and the rate your offers usually convert at, you expect to make 300 sales over the course of your mailing. That should give you sales of $29,100.00
But your free autoresponder suddenly decides to have "deliverability issues." And your emails only go out to a quarter (25%) of your list. That means that you now make just $7,275.00 for the same exact mailing. Ouch! Does it start to seem like that free autoresponder maybe isn't such a good deal?
Free Autoresponder Danger #2: Reliability Issues
Here are some of the reliability issues that free autoresponders can have.
Deliverability: Lots of things can affect your deliverability, but it has to do with essentially how many of your emails actually reach the inboxes of your potential customers. Deliverability with a free autoresponder can vary a lot, which means that your free autoresponder might actually send out to only 10%-50% of your entire list.
So, your audience just shrank to less than half. (I've actually experienced a 10% deliverability before. And that wasn't even with a free autoresponder! It's quite horrible and I hope you never have to experience it yourself).
Customer Support: I don't know about you, but in my experience things that are free on the internet, like free autoresponders, don't usually have top notch customer support. Again, this might not seem like a problem at first.
But, imagine that you are about to send out a mailing for a big promo, and you expect to pull in $40-$50K for the week. Suddenly, your free autoresponder is having a problem delivering your messages, and no one is answering your calls at he free autoresponder headquarters (wherever those are. India? Texas? Timbuktu?)...
That could easily be $50,000 down the drain for that week.
Hmmm. Does it start to seem worthwhile to invest a little each month in a non- free autoresponder with people who actually answer the phone?
Free Autoresponder Danger #3: Losing Your List
The number one nightmare I can think of with a free autoresponder service is actually NOT sending out random emails to your list with no subject or body, just an unsubscribe link (which, again, has happened to me. More than once).
The number one free autoresponder nightmare I can think of is the free autoresponder actually somehow "losing" your list. It hasn't happened to me, and I hope it never does. Here's why.
Your list is the number one asset you own (besides your brain) as an email marketer, and I've often said that if I had to lose everything - employees, contacts, house, car, everything - the one thing I wouldn't want to lose is my list. I don't really think I'd want to trust that to a free autoresponder, do you?
Nope. My list is my biggest asset, the asset that makes me upwards of 3 million a year, and I definitely think it's worth skipping the free autoresponder to make sure I have my list in safe hands.
Of course, you may still have good reasons to want to get a free autoresponder. And if you do, then don't let me stop you.
However, whether you opt for a paid or a free autoresponder, there is one thing I can definitely help you with, and that is how to get the most money possible out of your list - no matter where it's located.
Click the link below to watch a video on how to get the most money out of your list, no matter what type of autoresponder you have.
