When it comes to having an autoresponder, all businesses, whether large or small, online or offline, should have one in place. It’s the perfect way to easily build relationships with clients, as well as ensuring you’re always at the front of your clients mind. It’s also a great way to increase your sales AND build your expertise!
What an autoresponder does
Most small businesses know they need to build a mailing list but don’t have the time to do anything with it – and this is where an autoresponder comes in. An autoresponder is a program that allows you to create an opt-in form for your mailing list and also automatically sends out emails to that list. Those emails can be prewritten and loaded in advance and sent out a set intervals, as dictated by you and the settings in your email mailing list.
The benefits of having an autoresponder
The biggest benefits of an autoresponder program are:
- You only have to set it up once and it runs automatically
- It keeps you in contact with your mailing list
- It builds your expertise and shares your knowledge with those interested in what you have to offer
- It can be used for emails and newsletters
- You can have as many different mailing lists on it as you like
The biggest downsides to autoresponder programs are really only knowing which one to get and how to set it up!
Which autoresponders I recommend
When it comes to choosing an autoresponder, I’d personally recommend a choice of two – MailChimp & AWeber. They’re both easy to use and affordable for small businesses.
MailChimp – MailChimp has both free and paid-for options, although if you want to automate your emails to send on future dates, you’ll need a paid option. MailChimp allows you to have pretty much anything you’ll need, including A/B testing, design templates, premade templates, delivery by time zone and as many lists as you need.
Pricing for MailChimp varies, depending on the size of your list – up to 500 subscribers is $10 a month, up to 1,000 subscribers is $15 a month, and up to 1,500 subscribers is $20 a month. You can check out the pricing options here.
AWeber – Again, AWeber gives you everything you need, including templates and analytics – it’s also easier to send to multiple mailing lists on AWeber. Pricing for AWeber is simple. They offer a 30 day trial and then its $19 a month for up to 500 subscribers and the basic price of $19 + $10 (so $29 a month) for lists between 501 – 2,500 subscribers.
How to link to WordPress
Both MailChimp and AWeber are easy to integrate with WordPress:
- Create your opt-in form and mailing list in either AWeber or MailChimp.
- Install and activate the MailChimp or AWeber plugin on your WordPress site.
- In the plugin settings, click ‘get your authorisation code’ or ‘connect’ (as this will request a link between your plugin and your MailChimp or AWeber account).
- For AWeber, click the ‘Authorise’ button and copy the long string of code it gives you. You can then paste this into your settings. (For MailChimp – simply sign in to your MailChimp account).
- For AWeber, head over to your WordPress widgets and drag the autoresponder widget to the widget area you’d like your form to appear. You can then select which form you’d like to show, along with the list you’d like the names to be added to.
- For MailChimp, you need to select the form and list you’d like in the plugin settings, before you can go to WordPress widgets and drag the widget over to the widget area you’d like the form to appear.
How do you feel about creating a mailing list for your business? Do you already have one, but haven’t yet started using an autoresponder sequence? What was your biggest learning from this blog post? Why not share your experiences and advice in the comments section below!
Image courtesy of aihumnoi – Dollar Photo Club