Favorite Autoresponder: AWeber
This is the third post in my short series about favorite software programs that help me do my work more effectively and efficiently. The two previous articles in this series were Favorite Email Add-In: GTD and Favorite Feed Reader: Onfolio [onfolio post since deleted; onfolio no longer available].
What Is an Autoresponder?
Autoresponders are software programs that send pre-written replies to people who send a message to a particular email address. Any of you who have signed up to receive my articles via email (see “Get Articles by Email” link in the right-hand navigation bar) received a reply from me via an autoresponder.
Autoresponders are useful for building business in a number of key ways, including:
- Helping you build a honed mailing list of people interested in what you have to offer.
- Automating the delivery of information to your clients and prospects, including vacation notices, documents, e-courses and the like.
- Allowing you to send out information on a specific date or in a specific sequence without having to be at your computer to do so.
- Staying in compliance with spam laws, something that’s a bit trickier to manage effectively to do if you’re sending out emails via distribution list.
I’ll be writing more about autoresponders in the future. In the meantime, I recommend Yaro Starak’s great little article, Email Autoresponders.
Favorite AutoResponder: Aweber
After experimenting with several autoresponse programs, I settled on Aweber and couldn’t be happier with their service (in the interest of honest disclosure, if you subscribe to their service after referral from me, I get a commission–and that tells you how pleased I am with their service). There are, of course, lots of autoresponse options out there and I recommend you experiment a bit to find the one that’s right for your needs and budget (just Google the term autoresponder to find a bunch of them easily); many of them have free 30-day trial offers. The reasons I chose Aweber are:
- They have a five-year track record of excellent service to companies large and small.
- Everything about their site says “professional,” something not true of some of the other programs out there.
- The interface is pretty straight forward and masterable without a great deal of technical know-how.
- They have super customer service and support and make it clear that they’re available to help whenever needed.
- They offer a ton of easy customization features.
- I can use their software not just for autoresponse emails but also to broadcast the feed from MediatorTech, making it available by email to those of you who don’t have or want a feed reader.
My account costs about $20 per month and the value to me, in terms of time-saving and relationship-building, easily covers this cost.
Next up in this series: Favorite call management service and software.
Making Mediation Your Day Job by Tammy Lenski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at MediatorTech.com.
Making Mediation Your Day Job: How to Market Your ADR Business Using Mediation Principles You Already Know
