Using Free Autoresponders
If you've looked at the prices of autoresponders that are
available online, you may have decided to search for and use a
free autoresponder for your marketing needs. Using free
autoresponders is acceptable in certain situations, and in the
world of Internet marketing, any autoresponder is better than
not using an autoresponder at all!
Your first option for a free autoresponder should be the one
that comes with your webhosting account - if you have a
webhosting account. These autoresponders can easily be set up
through the control panel of your website, and they do not
contain advertisements from the autoresponder company or
webhosting service. If you do not have a hosting account, or
your hosting account does not include autoresponders, there are
other options that you can pursue.
There are many free autoresponder services to choose from. These
services are free, because the company makes their money by
placing a small advertisement in each message that your
autoresponder sends out. These advertisements may appear at the
top of your auto responses, or at the bottom, depending on which
company you use.
Many paid autoresponder services offer a free version as well.
These free versions may or may not include advertisements in the
outgoing messages. These lighter versions of the paid
autoresponders typically do not include many of the powerful
features of the paid versions. But if you don't need the more
advanced features, this is a great choice.
Most free autoresponders have a limit on the number of
subscribers you can have. Many people start out with the limited
free versions, and then upgrade to the paid versions once their
lists are large enough to exceed those limits. Many marketers
don't feel that the expense of the autoresponder is warranted
until the list that they are building is turning a profit. From
a business standpoint, this makes sense.
As the owner of a business, you are the only one who can decide
whether you need a paid autoresponder service, or if a free one
will do the job. If your list is small, a free autoresponder
should do everything that you need it to do, but as your list
grows, you should definitely consider upgrading. However, having
the small advertisements that the free services place in the
outgoing messages may present a problem if the ads compete with
what you are trying to sell. They may even pose a problem if
they do not directly compete with your product or business.
Again, this depends on what you are trying to accomplish with
your autoresponder.