If you've looked at the prices of autoresponders that are available online, and they do vary, you may have decided to search for and use a free autoresponder for your marketing needs. Why pay for a service, when you can get it for free, right?
Using free autoresponders is acceptable in certain situations, and in the world of Network and Affiliate marketing, any autoresponder is better than not using an autoresponder at all!
But, you'll find out that FREE, also means you have limits. That's the catch, you are very limited as to what you can do with your autorepsonder account, unless you upgrade, that's right, you end up paying anyways.
* Note: some free autoresponder services require you to post an ad on your site to receive the free service, thus making you look unprofessional.
Your first option for a free autoresponder should be the one that comes with your web hosting account - if you have a web hosting 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 web hosting 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.
In my opinion the free autoresponder services are not worth the hassle. You spend time setting up accounts, and later find out these limits that they set are impeding your marketing flexibility. I have tried 2 free services and became totally frustrated with the training offered, and the results I received.
To receive full value for your marketing dollar, I recommend and use this popular, full service autoresponder.
Gary Canie > Helping Others Succeed!
