There’s absolutely no denying the fact that if you wish to be highly profitable online, you MUST build an email list. 

Selling to warm leads and existing customers is far easier than trying to convert cold visitors (prospects).

This is why you see marketers constantly parroting the quote, “The money is in the list!”

That’s definitely true. However, let’s not forget a crucial component in all of this. The money may be in the list – but where you keep the list matters greatly too.

The best way to build your list will be to use a reputable autoresponder. Since this is a very profitable online business model, there are many large companies offering email marketing services.

So which will email marketing software will you choose?

Avoid using self-hosted autoresponders! They’re usually created by ‘smaller’ marketers and lack the features and automation that the managed services provide.

Very often, the self-hosted autoresponders only have one thing going for them – a low one-time fee. But you always get what you pay for. If you have deliverability issues, etc. you’ll have to sort them out yourself.

Not to mention, most self-hosted autoresponders do not have as many integration and customization features as the ‘big guns’. So it’s best to pick a managed solution even if it means forking out a monthly or yearly fee.

Mention autoresponders and you’ll always see a few big names being mentioned.

Today we'll break down the top 3 email marketing software systems for home business owners.

Aweber has been around for over 20 years and is considered an industry standard when it comes to email marketing software.

It has over 100,000+ active subscribers with more added every day.

If autoresponders were animals, Aweber would be a dinosaur. It’s probably the oldest autoresponder of the lot and was around when online marketing began.

That probably attests to the fact as to why it’s still popular even though it’s nowhere as sleek or user-friendly as the latest email marketing software such as ConvertKit or Active Campaign.

Nevertheless, Aweber is still a Goliath in this email marketing scene and is a solid, proven and trusted autoresponder.

Marketers on a tighter budget will be able to afford AWeber which costs less than $20 a month, unlike other more expensive solutions.

You have a lot of flexibility when it comes to creating forms and emails with AWeber. There are more than 700 email templates to choose with the usual customization options.

 You can sign up for AWeber for free and test it out up to a limit of 500 subscribers. That’s an excellent way for you to get a feel for the software. 

You may wish to try out the free trials at other email marketing software companies too.

This will allow you to get a better idea of which one is suitable for you.

For quite a long time, AWeber was lagging behind in some of the more recent features that its competitors were offering such as tagging, etc.

However, AWeber seem to have caught up and are they’re trying to be competitive now rather than relying on old customer habits to stay with them.

Automations, tagging, segmenting, split testing, etc. are all available in AWeber now.

The AWeber interface is clean and relatively uncomplicated. 

While it does seem clunkier than GetResponse and ConvertKit, once you’re familiar with the layout, you’ll be able to use AWeber easily. 

It’s a lot less complicated than Infusionsoft or Mailchimp.

This is one area where Aweber truly shines as an email marketing software.

They even have an app that you can download to analyze your stats. 

Wow!  

I'm not going into the specific tracking features. 

Just know that it’s detailed enough to track sales, subscriber actions, and so on.

Since it has been in the business for so long, Aweber integrates with hundreds of third party solutions ranging from PayPal to Zapier.

It also integrates with other lead capture page software such as ClickFunnels, Lead Pages, and Optimize Press.

You can see the list on the official website.

Generally, if you have a tool that doesn’t integrate with other autoresponders, you’ll want to check if it works with Aweber. In most cases, it just might.

This is something interesting that we didn’t see with the other email marketing software. 

You can actually use Canva within your Aweber interface to create images and so on. 

This is brilliant. 

This allows you to create some slick email designs.

Just like all the popular autoresponder companies, Aweber has great 24/7 prompt customer support too.

You can contact them anytime and they do provide quick and prompt service.

Just like all the popular autoresponder companies, Aweber has great 24/7 prompt customer support too.

You can contact them anytime and they do provide quick and prompt service.

If you've never used email marketing software before, breathe!

Aweber has tons of articles and video tutorials to guide you. 

You’ll have no problem figuring out this platform.

One of the most important requirements for any email marketing software is it's deliverability rate.

A deliverability rate is the success rate an email marketer has in getting an email delivered to a person’s email address. 

Despite being on the scene for so long, Aweber still manages to get its members’ emails into the subscribers’ inboxes without fail (for the most part).

Despite the fact that Aweber has done a lot to catch up with the newer autoresponders, its interface still needs a better look.

It also charges users for subscribers who are on the subscribed and unsubscribed lists. 

Your autoresponder hosts your email subscribers. The more email subscribers you have the more you have to pay.

Just because someone unsubscribed from your email list, it didn't permanently delete them from Aweber. 

That means you need to manually remove your unsubscribers.

It's pretty easy to manually remove people who unsubscribe from your list from Aweber.

Here's a video where I show you how to do it.

Get Response is another email marketing software that many home business owners love to use.

They serve more than 350,000 paying customers in 182 countries worldwide.

In terms of popularity, one could say that Get Response comes in a close second after Aweber. 

Usually, both autoresponders are mentioned in the same breath by online marketers when asked to name reliable autoresponders.

Get Response has been around for years and it does the job well enough.

If you’re looking for a low cost autoresponder that’s reputable, you’re looking for Get Response. 

It’s one of the more affordable autoresponder brands and beginner marketers on a tight budget will be able to afford the $12.30 a month for 1000 subscribers.

Get Response is just as efficient as other popular autoresponders and has features such as tagging, abandoned cart emails, automation flows, visitor tracking and more. 

Despite the lower price, Get Response still packs a punch.

The Get Response interface is clean and seems less clunky than Aweber. 

While not as sleek as ConvertKit’s set up, Get Response is definitely still easy to navigate and use.

Beginners to email marketing software will have no issues using it. 

Tutorials are provided to guide you. 

Just click on the ‘Resources’ link.

One of Get Response’s biggest selling points is that there is constant improvement and innovation going on. 

This probably explains why unlike Aweber which ended up lagging behind, Get Response was able to keep up with the newer and leaner autoresponder software hitting the market.

You can rest assured that Get Response will keep getting better over time because of their never-ending approach to innovation.

Get Response uses a block editor for its emails. 

Initially, it may seem weird, because unlike ConvertKit (where you type text directly in the editor), with GetResponse, you’ll be dragging text blocks, image blocks, etc.

However, with Get Response’s editor, your emails can be better customized.

 With ConvertKit, your emails will be mostly text-based and there’s not much option for customization.

So Get Response wins hands down in this regard.

You can split test your emails with Get Response. 

While there’s not much depth to the split testing, you still can do basic A/B testing of your subject lines and so on. 

That will help you send better emails which get higher open rates.

Get Response integrates with many 3^rd party providers. 

Because it has been on the scene for so long, it has more integrations than many of the other newer autoresponders.

Here are some of the integrations that GetResponse has: Samcart, Woocommerce, Magento, Stripe, Click Funnels, Lead Pages, PayPal, Facebook, Gmail and more. 

They have 10 pages of integrations! 

You can see them all here: https://www.getresponse.com/integrations

You can easily build simple landing pages with Get Response. 

So if you don’t wish to fork out money for a page builder, you can still create rudimentary landing pages with GetResponse – and it’ll still get the job done and help you build your list.

Get Response offers reporting on email analytics such as click throughs, open rates, Google Analytics and so on. 

In fact, it’s better than several other email marketing software tools in this aspect.

There are just too many features in this powerful autoresponder tool to mention here. 

You’ll be better informed visiting the official site here.

Get Response has a subscriber blacklist. 

This list is probably comprised of people who opt in to get emails and then mark the emails as SPAM instead of clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the emails.

Whatever the case may be, some of the people on the blacklist may buy your products but not be added to your email list in GetResponse via API – because they’re blacklisted.

As a result, you’ll not have these customers on your list and you can’t market to them. 

This is a definite disadvantage of using Get Response.

Another downside is that Get Response doesn’t have the best deliverability rates. 

It’s fair by industry standards, but it could be better.

Nevertheless, it’s still a reliable autoresponder to consider.

The third most used email marketing software is Mail Chimp.

Mail Chimp has been around since 2001.

Here are some interesting facts about Mail Chimp

One of Mail Chimp’s best features is its free account that allows you up to 2000 subscribers. 

This is a very generous freemium that many marketers will benefit from, especially if they’re on a tight budget.

The truth is that Mail Chimp is NOT as easy to use as other email marketing software tools such as Aweber, ConvertKit or Get Response. 

There’s a learning curve with Mail Chimp.

However, if you go through the extensive tutorials, you’ll be able to use it proficiently in no time at all.

The email templates in Mail Chimp are truly beautiful and very visually appealing. 

This is a far cry from ConvertKit’s almost dull text-based emails.

If appearances are important to you (especially if you’re into e-commerce), Mail Chimp is the autoresponder you need.

Not only are the email templates attractive, but there’s a large selection of them for you to choose from. 

With more than 100+ templates, you’ll find the right one that speaks to your audience.

Mail Chimp provides excellent data and thorough reports.

It beats many of the other email marketing software. 

So if you’re looking for an email marketing tool that has detailed analytics, Mail Chimp is the answer.

 You can do split testing of your emails, subject lines, etc. 

However, Mail Chimp doesn’t have Infusionsoft’s level of sophistication. 

The A/B testing is basic, but still good enough for most beginner/intermediate marketers.

 Mail Chimp integrates with several 3^rd party tools/apps so that you can take your email marketing to the next level. 

Some of the most popular integrations it has are: Shopify, Zapier, Magento, Google Analytics, Canva, Stripe, Square, EventBrite, PayPal, Facebook, Twitter and much more!

Besides the ones listed above, Mail Chimp has many of the usual features the other autoresponder tools have such as list segmentation, automation, scheduling and so on.

It’s just as competitive as any popular email marketing tool on the marketplace. Their support desk is excellent too.

The biggest negative when it comes to Mail Chimp is that the pricing is quite steep once you get past the free plan. 

The amount you pay will depend on your list size and the features you want.

But it’s definitely more expensive than other email marketing software like Aweber and Get Response.

Besides that, another huge downside is that MailChimp does not allow affiliate marketing. 

If you’re promoting affiliate products, you’ll be better off with another email marketing tool.

Out of the 3 email marketing software tools I mentioned today I suggest Aweber.

I've been an Aweber subscriber since 2011 and have never had a problem with their customer service.

Aweber also integrates with all major 3rd Party website applications such as Click Funnels, Lead Pages, Optimize Press, etc. 

My Lead System Pro - Learn More Here
My Lead System Pro (MLSP) gives you a tools suite to build your business - lead capture pages, Customer Relationship Manager (CRM), and custom made lead magnets to give away to build your list.

They also teach marketing specifically on lead generation strategies. Their community and support is top notch. 

You can get a 30 day Test Drive of the community for $1.

Aweber - Learn More Here

One of the MUST HAVE tools every online marketer needs is an autoresponder. An autoresponder allows you to collect email addresses and to email them regularly. It is a huge time saver. 

Aweber is the industry standard and integrates with most funnel software programs including My Lead System Pro (MLSP), ClickFunnels, and Lead Pages. I've used Aweber since 2010 because the software is easy to use and customer support is top notch, including 24 hour online chat. 

Twist Your List - Learn More Here

This is one of the best email marketing courses for home business owners created by a single stay-at-home-mom of 2. In this course you'll learn different ways to write emails to your list that will get them to WANT to buy your product, service, or join your opportunity.

Social media networks change their platforms constantly, and you need to have an insurance policy to communicate with your audience and leads outside of social media. 

As a matter of fact, this course will teach you that you don't need a big list to make money. The creator of this course was able to generate over $1,000.000 in affiliate commissions with a list of less than 4,500 subscribers.

Did this help you? If so, please leave a comment and share on Facebook.

Email: drlisa@drlisamthompson.com

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