Whether you are new to affiliate marketing or have been working at this online business venture for some time now and you are looking for the best tools to enhance the performance of your affiliate marketing venture, you cannot do much without the best affiliate marketing autoresponders.
Affiliate marketing depends on email marketing to a very large extent, and this means that for you to boost your chances of success, you must invest in the best tools for email and affiliate marketing, and this is where the autoresponders come in.
As a backbone of affiliate marketing, autoresponders refer to the automated email messages set out to go to subscribers/ email list or even one person on your list of subscribers as a specific response to a trigger.
This software allows you to build email lists by collecting visitor email addresses when they visit your blog or website, and it also allows sending of automated and pre-written email copies to your subscriber list.
Often, all that is made possible by the use of an opt-in box with which your site visitors will submit their emails in exchange for a free offer (cheat sheet, report, or free video training) or any other lead magnet.
Generally, the most basic of autoresponder functions are found in email clients like Microsoft Outlook and Gmail, and these functions would range from the simple automated replies to specific groups or the common out-of-office messages.
Web hosting service providers also offer built-in autoresponders, and these allow for great functions for automation, personalization, and they generally perform more functions.
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But how exactly do autoresponders work?
As the foundation of email marketing, the email autoresponders are the core for the success of email marketing and affiliate marketing because it allows an automated sequence of pre-programmed Thank You or Welcome messages delivered to an audience, either at set intervals or following a specific action taken by a user.
Examples of autoresponders and their functions include the welcome series autoresponders, action-triggered autoresponders like customer birthdays, after a user makes a purchase, after signing up for a mini-course, clicking on a specific email link, change of preferences, or if they hadn’t opened their emails for a long time.
You could also use autoresponders as lead magnets for a mini-course or for blog RSS subscriptions. Thanks to these functions, the use of autoresponders offers a wide range of benefits in the affiliate marketing realm.
Benefits of Autoresponders in Affiliate Marketing
With email lists being fundamental elements of the email marketing funnel, every affiliate marketer needs to invest in the best of the autoresponder tools.
A subscriber list is essential for the long-term success of your affiliate marketing business, and it’s essential for driving traffic to your site. Working with the best autoresponder, here are some of the benefits that will come from the use of autoresponders:
- It builds trust and enhances positive relationships.
- Automation of email marketing campaigns will save a lot of time.
- Reduced risk of human errors and timely deliveries
- Personalization is possible with autoresponders.
- The autoresponders enhance your data analytics, and you will determine what works and what doesn’t with great ease. You can also use the collected analytics to fine-tune your campaigns and improve them for future use and better chances of success.
- Finally, autoresponders promise to boost the success and the number of your sales, especially if you invest in the best autoresponder tools and use them appropriately.
The best Autoresponders for Affiliate Marketing
Autoresponders wield a significant amount of power, but that power and the subsequent benefits from your investment decision will largely depend on what the autoresponder can do to improve the success of your affiliate marketing business.
And since the market is tearing at its seams with options, each sweet-talking you and asking to be picked, you have to be extra careful in your search for the best autoresponder.
It’s your responsibility to take into account features and functions like delivery rates, marketing automation functions, ease of use/ interface design/ level of experience needed for ease of use, as well as the pricing and the payment plans.
The other important considerations include the efficiency of services and the level of satisfaction from other users (or even you) – you don’t want your emails to end up in the spam box, deal with spam affiliate links, struggle with bad customer support, or not get full value for your money.
With these considerations in mind, here are some of the best autoresponders for affiliate marketing.
1. GetResponse
On top of our list of the best autoresponders for affiliate marketing is GetResponse. It is the top choice for most affiliate marketers, and the reasons (features) below will tell you why.
Essentially, GetResponse comes with everything you might need for the success of your email marketing campaigns. GetResponse comes with functions that allow for seamless importation of emails, the automation of messages, the building landing and sales pages, hosting webinars, running A/B split tests, and you might also like it because it comes with a fully-loaded CRM feature.
It also sports some of the most comprehensive functionalities for email and affiliate marketing. Some of the features that you might enjoy while working with GetResponse include sending or action or time-based emails to your subscribers.
These emails would be automatically sent out to subscribers, for example, when they click a specific email link, open an email, change their preferences, complete specific goals, or when they subscribe to specific lists.
GetResponse is also curated to allow for advanced functions such as the creating automation rules with the use of its drag-and-drop builder, especially for sending out targeted messages to your lists.
The other reason why GetResponse is regarded as the best autoresponder for affiliate marketing is that it’s an elegant digital marketing tool that’s also categorized as one of the top-rated landing pages builders.
Besides being a landing page builder, you could also use it to host webinars as a CRM tool, and also as part of your sales funnel.
And the icing on the cake is GetResponse’s impressive deliverability rate, which though regarded as an element tied to many other factors such as the content/ email copy, GetResponse still boasts a very high delivery rate that stands at 99%; according to the guys at GetResponse.
So, how much do you need to part with monthly to enjoy this top-tier service? Well, you will be happy to know that even with all the top-tier functions and features, GetResponse is one of the most affordable autoresponders for small, medium-sized, and large affiliate businesses.
The pricing is tiered, and the plans start from $15/month/1000 subscribers for the basic plan – this is an ideal package for beginners. The other plans are Essential plan for $49/month for 5,000 subscribers, the Pro Plan going for $99/month for 10,000 subscribers, and the Enterprise plan whose prices start from $1,199/month, and ideal for marketers with at least 100,000 subscribers.
All these plans come with a 30-day free trial period.
2. ConvertKit
Also regarded as one of the best and the most powerful email marketing/ autoresponder services for affiliate marketers, ConvertKit boasts a super-sleek user interface, and besides bloggers and affiliate marketers, it’s also a solid recommended solution for podcasters and YouTubers.
It’s one of the most user-friendly autoresponders on the market, and the best part is that it’s one of the few autoresponders that offers a free plan.
The other features offered by ConvertKit include the easy to use and well-designed subscriber segmentation function, as well as the option of sharing automation with others.
However, the golden function offered by ConvertKit has to be its option to auto-resend email broadcasts and unopened emails. So, if your numbers don’t look too good and are worried about why your subscribers did not open or respond to your emails, ConvertKit might be the best option for you.
On top of that cool function, you might also like it because unlike other autoresponders which list-based, ConvertKit works as this single, powerful database from which you can access and manage all your subscribers.
For you to separate your subscribers, ConvertKit comes with tags that allow for the easy separation of the subscribers on your list based on their interests and any other category you might be targeting.
With the use of segments and tags to group contacts, ConvertKit offers that which no one else offers, meaning that if you send out broadcast emails to subscribers, you get to choose who gets the emails and who doesn’t based on specific sequences, forms, products, tags, age, geographical location, etc.
So, if you are looking for the best email list management tool for your affiliate marketing business or any other online business, ConvertKit might be a great option for you.
One catch though – ConvertKit is not the cheapest autoresponder/ email list management software on the market, with the cheapest/ smallest plan going for $29/month for up to 1,000 subscribers; $49/month for a maximum of 3,000 subscribers; $79/month for a maximum of 5,000 subscribers; and a custom price if you have more than 7,500 subscribers.
It is, however, worth noting that despite the expensive plans, ConvertKit offers excellent subscriber list management functions, which means great value for money.
And as mentioned above, you can access a free plan (not advertised) if you are new to affiliate marketing where you can give this tool a test run, as long you have less than 100 subscribers.
3. Aweber
Aweber is one of the best autoresponders on the market for affiliate marketers, and it’s the ideal option for use by beginners as well as experienced affiliate marketers.
One of the main reasons why Aweber is on our list is that it prides itself in being one of the most popular and also the very first software application for email marketing.
It’s easy to use and feature-packed, meaning that it would be an excellent investment, especially if you are looking for an affordable autoresponder to start with.
Its features include the subscriber segmentation function, subscriber list import, reporting and analytics, export functions, as well as sign-up forms.
It lacks some of the best-sophisticated features for email marketing automation, but that isn’t to say that its automation functions are poor – It still gets the job done.
Aweber allows you to come up with follow-up campaigns to send out to your subscribers. However, it lacks functions for landing page creation, as well as CRM and webinar functions.
Aweber features a 5-tier pricing plan starting from $19/month for a maximum of 500 subscribers, and you’d have to request a quote from the team if you have more than 25,000 subscribers.
4. SendLane
SendLane might be imperfect in that it lacks important integrations, as well as A/B split testing functions and other important integrations, but it comes with a number of important features for email marketing.
It has great email automation functions, a drag-and-drop editor allowing customers to create and send flyers, coupons, and even newsletters.
It integrates easily with existing websites, and the coolest bit is that affiliate marketers can use it to send out affiliate links through their email campaigns. It also features subscriber management systems that are based on lists and tags, as well as other advanced features.
The biggest issue, however, is that SendLane is expensive with the pricing of its basic plan, starting from $35/month for use with 1,000 subscribers. Also worth noting is its customer experience/ interface, whose design and usability could be better.
5. Actionetics (ClickFunnels)
If you are familiar with ClickFunnels, it’s likely that you’ve come across one of its features, Actionetics also called the Follow-Up Funnels. Actionetics represents one of the best autoresponders on the market, and it’s regarded as an excellent option for affiliate marketing email marketing options.
Though it’s quite expensive and you have to pay $297/month to access it as it is part of the ClickFunnels’ Etison Suite, Actionetics is a smart automation email marketing tool which makes it very easy for you to follow up on our leads from your sales funnel, and to broadcast emails to your qualified leads, based on the leads’ journey within your sales funnel.
If you choose to pay for this premium service, some of the benefits that you can look forward to including no limitations on the number of subscribers that you can keep in contact with and manage, it boasts very high deliverability, it sports a smart follow-up system that’s based on the actions of subscribers, it allows you to send out affiliate offers to your subscribers as you wish.
Then there’s access to the full ClickFunnel marketing tools suite, which allows you to build a complete and successful affiliate marketing business.
You can also use it to build and come up with high converting designs for landing pages, sales funnels, squeeze pages, and you could also create webinars and run an online course site. Unfortunately, this package is very expensive, and you can only use it with the ClickFunnels marketing tool.
6. Hubspot
If you run a large affiliate marketing business or you are a marketer for a large client, you might like Hubspot as your email marketing autoresponder service, especially if you are looking for a premium service that supports the services of marketing hubs or agencies.
Hubspot also offers a free plan for beginners or anyone who wants to try out the service before going all in. The paid plan is not suitable for individuals as it costs a whopping $800/month.
Some of the impressive features offered by Hubspot email marketing include an impressive level of personalization for your email campaigns, which means that your email copy and the messages you send to your subscribers have a real human touch – no bots/aliens; allowing you to build strong, personal, and close relationships with your subscribers.
Hubspot is also big on segmentation and tagging of subscribers, which means sending the right emails to your audience, always at the right time.
The other impressive features include the live drag-and-drop editor, multiple email copy/ design templates, the option of adding CTAs, A/B testing, as well as advanced marketing automation functions based on the behavior of your leads.
You might also like the SEO functions for content creation to boost ranking, the option to schedule your posts on social media, monitoring of brand mentions, tracking of social media ads, and ROI.
7. MailingBoss
With no trial period and lifetime access for $49, the MailingBoss could be the best email autoresponder services for you. This autoresponder service allows you to send an unlimited number of email to your subscribers, you will have access to subscription boxes within seconds, and it holds an unlimited number of site subscribers.
On top of that, this autoresponder service boasts an intuitive function called the smart segments, which allows you to send emails to the right people, and you can also personalize the emails sent out.
MailingBoss, just like the rest of the top-rated autoresponder services, will send out email links based on different triggers, including actions taken by subscribers.
And just like Hubspot, it supports a social sharing function, as well as A/B split testing functions, which will enhance the exposure of the products/ services you are marketing.
Its Google Analytics integration is the other timely feature that allows you to track and analyze the performance of your email campaigns, tweaking the campaigns as you go for the best results.
8. MailerLite
MailerLite is another top-rated email marketing software that will help you run your affiliate marketing business with ease thanks to its functions, such as the drag-and-drop editor, which is rather easy to use, and it also allows for the creation of professional and personalized emails for increased traffic and sales.
It features a number of email automation features which allow for the segmentation and tagging of your subscribers’ list based on certain elements, for easy personalization, and success of the email campaigns.
It also offers landing pages and popups, which are essential for the growth of your subscriber lists.
These pages and forms will also make it increasingly easy for you to test the success of your email campaigns and for you to run comparisons on the email copies or designs that work best for your brand.
It also comes with a free plan, which is ideal for startups with a list of subscribers not exceeding 1,000. The paid plans are also significantly affordable compared to what you get from other service providers, with the prices ranging from $10/month – $50/month.
The premium plans cost as much as $100/month, and this is still an affordable option.
9. Kartra
Kartra might not be the most popular tool in the world of autoresponders, but it is one of the most powerful tools for email marketing, and its functions are seemed to be superior to the functions of email marketing automation tools like Convertkit or even MailChimp.
It boasts an impressive range of functions for running email campaigns, including automations, broadcasts, tagging, sequences, and also the creation of simple subscriber lists.
Kartra allows you to either import or manually add your list, you can use it to create forms for new subscribers, and the best bit is that its form builder is quite easy to use.
You might also like it because it allows you to send email copies that have been designed by experts.
Unfortunately, it lacks a free plan, and its plans are pricey, with the cheapest plan going for $99/month. Perhaps this pricing comes from the fact that Kartra is more than an email marketing autoresponder tool, and it really is an all-inclusive digital marketing platform.
10. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign also boasts an impressive range of email marketing and also marketing automations and functions designed to improve communication with your subscribers, for example, A/B split testing, sending of email subscription forms, newsletters, as well as event tracking and SMS messaging.
You can also use ActiveCampaign to send target messages to your subscribers as it allows for an advanced level of market segmentation. The pricing is also quite affordable, with the basic plan going for $9/ month and the premium plan priced at $229/month.
It also features professionally-designed email templates, and it supports email marketing funnels. You might also like the 14-day trial period.
Conclusion
The best autoresponders for affiliate marketing come with features and functions designed to enhance the success of your email marketing and overall digital marketing strategies, and the options outlined above are some of the best, depending on your budget and your business needs.
