With its ease of use, low learning curve and wealth of templates, many people wonder if the popular email marketing and autoresponder service AWeber is also a CRM – a Customer Relationship Management tool.
Using AWeber as a CRM
AWeber lets you manage your email marketing by allowing you to import email subscriber lists, or, if you’re starting from scratch, build a mailing list. With its collection of responsive HTML email newsletters, RSS/blog-to-email functionality and the simplicity of sending email campaigns, it’s easy to see how AWeber can double as a type of CRM.
But at its core, it’s meant to be used as an email marketing tool, not one that’s specific to customer relationship management.
AWeber CRM Features
AWeber does contain some marketing automation functionality, including the ability to segment your email lists according to certain subscriber actions. Segmenting your email list can be done quickly and easily, even if you’re new to email marketing. Through its AWeber campaigns feature, you can create user segments based on the specific things that an entire group of subscribers has in common, such as:
Did they open the email?
Did they click through on a link?
Did they visit certain pages on your website?
Did they place an order?
In this respect, AWeber is a bit behind the times, since other alternatives, like GetResponse, offer a more thorough type of segmentation and automation, along the “If this happens, then do that” customer journey: So if you’re looking for more detailed email segmentation and automation options based on specific triggers, it may be worth looking at GetResponse or another AWeber alternative.
AWeber and CRM Integrations
With that being said, AWeber does integrate with a number of well-known CRM tools, including:
Much of these integrations are made possible through a platform called Zapier, which helps connect various tools to each other and enable the sending and sharing of information between them. This way, if you want to go beyond the default capabilities of AWeber and:
Add new AWeber subscribers as new (or potential) clients to your CRM
Subscribe users of your CRM to an AWeber mailing list when they buy a product
Update AWeber when a new contact is added to your CRM
You can likely do it through Zapier. Not all CRM integrations allow for this kind of flexibility, so you’ll need to check the integrations page for your CRM to see what’s possible.
Getting Started with Customer-Focused Email Marketing
Overall, although AWeber itself isn’t a CRM, it nevertheless can help add a layer of interactivity and responsiveness to your customer engagement strategies. You can get started with AWeber free for 30 days and see for yourself how it works with your preferred customer relationship management software.
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As one of the best email marketing tools, AWeber is consistently rated highly for those just starting out with their online business, as well as those who are looking to grow their email marketing efforts. As part of an AWeber review, many people understandably want to know the big question:
How Much is AWeber?
AWeber is designed to allow startups and beginning online marketers to launch their email marketing campaigns quickly and affordably. It comes with a free 30 day trial that you can take advantage of in order to setup your first campaign, import your subscriber list or otherwise build a list from the ground up and leverage basic automation tools.
AWeber Pricing
After the 30 day trial, you’ll pay $19/month for up to 500 subscribers. You can send unlimited emails to your list as well as take advantage of third-party integrations with other popular marketing and website tools including:
WordPress
Shopify
Facebook
And many more
Does AWeber Charge More to “Unlock” Certain Additional Features?
This is a common “gotcha’ in the world of email marketing tools. You sign up for a lower price and then pay more to unlock certain additional features like landing pages or webinar integration. AWeber does not do this. You have access to all of their features in full and are limited only by your subscriber numbers.
If you’re importing a large number of subscribers and switching to AWeber from another mailing list service like GetResponse or ActiveCampaign, you can go ahead and choose the plan that fits your needs.
Is There an AWeber Coupon Code for New Users?
According to AWeber CEO Tom Kulzer, AWeber doesn’t do coupon codes because he believes the service has enough inherent value to justify the price, and they don’t want to “cheapen” the brand by throwing out a bunch of coupons across the web.
You can, however, take advantage of the 30 day free trial of AWeber by clicking the link below:
This gives you access to the entire suite of features so you can see for yourself over the course of a month or so, if AWeber is the best email marketing service for your needs. If, during that time, you feel like you need something a bit more robust, be sure to check out GetResponse, a strong alternative to AWeber.
GetResponse offers a no-fuss approach that involves less hand-holding than AWeber but still gives you access to a powerful suite of tools including a sales funnel builder and landing pages.
Is $19/month Worth it to Start and Grow Your Online Business?
As one of the lowest cost email marketing tools, AWeber is a great place to “get your feet wet” when it comes to online marketing and startup growth. For the price and the selection of features, it’s perfect for beginners. Plus, you can start for free and see how each of its marketing features work in full before you decide.
Start your 30 day free trial now and pay just $19/month for up to 500 subscribers.
What is an autoresponder? Among online marketing tools, an autoresponder is a great way to deliver compelling, engaging and interesting content to your target audience, automatically.
Simply put, an autoresponder allows you to send email messages automatically to people who have elected to receive them (your subscribers). For example, if you’ve created a free report, a template, a guide or other helpful piece of content, you can let your website visitors access it in exchange for their email address.
Chances are, they’re interested enough in your topic to want to stay updated in addition to getting the content you’re giving away. An autoresponder provides a great opportunity for you to follow up with these users automatically.
Now that you know the answer to “What is an autoresponder?” The next question is how to go about using it correctly.
How to Get Started with Email Marketing Using an Autoresponder
Now that you better understand what an autoresponder is, how can you use it to market to your customers or visitors via email?
Well, the important thing to remember is that people don’t like being sold to. They do, however, appreciate informative, interesting and helpful content. The very first thing that you can do in order to understand how an autoresponder works, is to use one to set up not just the delivery of your guide or updates but to thank your user for subscribing to your mailing list.
Here’s what you do.
First, create the piece of content you’d like to give away. It can be a free guide, a template, or anything that you believe your website visitors would find useful. Don’t get too hung up on this step — you can always go back and change it or improve it later.
The important thing at this step is to create something that users will find valuable enough to want to give you their email address for. It doesn’t have to be long or detailed, but the more valuable it is, the more likely they’ll be to stay subscribed after receiving it.
Next, you’ll need to sign up for an autoresponder service. There are several email marketing companies that offer an autoresponder capability, including Aweber,GetResponse and many more. Many of them have free or low-cost trials.
Once you’re signed up for your preferred email marketing service, it’s time to use the autoresponder. All of the email marketing services we’ve reviewed will walk you through this process (as it differs for each service), but the overall process is the same.
The Double Opt-In
In essence, what you’re doing is welcoming your users to your mailing list. Most, if not all email marketing service providers will require you to do what’s called a double opt-in. This helps protect you from being mistakenly labeled as a spammer and ensures that only the people who want to subscribe to your mailing list are subscribed.
The way this works is that the very first email that your users will receive, the “Welcome Email” is just a short note welcoming them to your list as well as (and this is the important part) making sure they do indeed want to sign up and that you have their permission to email them.
The reason why this extra step is required is because anyone can enter anyone else’s email address into a form to get something, and you don’t want to email people who haven’t expressly given you their “digital consent” to do just that. Not only would it sour your reputation, but emailing someone who didn’t give you permission and isn’t interested in what you have to share is about as useful as nailing Jell-O to a tree.
The Welcome Email
Now, as soon as the user subscribes, this “Welcome Email” goes out. If they elect not to confirm, no harm done — they won’t become subscribers. If they do confirm that you have their permission to email them (for them, the process is as easy as clicking on a link in their email) then comes the actual autoresponder part.
The Autoresponder
From this point on, you can set up emails to go out at certain time frames after they’ve become a subscriber. This is great for content that doesn’t change often So, for example, you could send them tips on how to organize their schedule more effectively, or recipes for easy, healthy meals that kids and teens can make at home, or 10 basic greetings in Japanese. Whatever it is, this first email begins the process.
One day after subscribing, an email goes out introducing them to what they can expect and how it will help them.
One day after receiving email 1, email 2 goes out introducing them to the process, the first recipe, the basic words, and so on.
Subsequent emails can be sent out at different time frames for as long as you’d like. And keep in mind, because this is an autoresponder, it all happens automatically – without you having to do anything else. All you do is set it up the first time, and schedule the time frames that you want the messages to go out (once every day, twice a week, or whatever you choose).
And that’s all there is to it!
Creating Multiple Lists
Once you’ve created your first autoresponder, you’ll likely start to think of all kinds of ways that these versatile email marketing tools can be used. Entire courses can be delivered this way and there are many paid mailing lists where the users pay a fee every month to get exclusive things that regular subscribers don’t get.
All email marketing services allow you to create multiple lists, and the autoresponder process is identical for all of them. You may decide to stay with just one list, and that’s perfectly fine as well. But it’s very likely that once you create your first autoresponder and its supporting content, that you’ll think of ways to improve and tweak the process.
The great thing about email marketing is that you can always go back and make changes and revise along the way — your autoresponder content is not “set in stone”!
And, as new subscribers come on board, they’ll get the content that you created, according to the time frame that you set. So you may have created something a year ago. If someone subscribed yesterday, they’re getting Day 1 content today, and you don’t have to lift a finger to do anything.
As you can see, this can create a mailing list that’s very engaged and interested in what you have to share. But choosing the right email marketing provider is one decision you won’t want to make lightly. It’s a good idea to choose one that you can grow with (and that grows with you).
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What Is an Autoresponder? What Isn’t an Autoresponder!
Nearly any type of content can be scheduled to be delivered over time — an online course with links to instructional videos, a how-to guide, a welcome package, a set of setup tutorials and much more. When you consider “What is an autoresponder?” the real question should be, “What isn’t an autoresponder!” That will understandably lead you to look for the best autoresponders, which we’ve reviewed and compared right here! Check out our AWeber review, GetResponse review and more!
