It’s one thing finding an autoresponder with all the features you want, but just as important, especially if you don’t have the funds for the top of the line autoresponders, is to make sure you avoid hooking up with an autoresponder that is going to end up making you regret the day that you ever signed up with the service. In this article, I’m going to alert you to a few things that you definitely want to look out for when searching for an autoresponder. This may take a little bit of digging, as most companies aren’t going to tell you what’s wrong with their service, only why it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

One of the things I learned the hard way is that you don’t want to hook up with an autoresponder service that doesn’t have an import or export feature. Let’s say you had a list with another autoresponder service, or even your own script, and because of spam complaints, you want to take your list to another service. Well, if that service doesn’t have an import feature, and the only way to get these people back in is to have them re-opt in manually, or worse by manually entering them yourself, you are going to be in for some very long nights, especially if you have a list of 10,000 people.

What about the export problem? Well, let’s say you’re no longer happy with the autoresponder you just signed up with. Maybe you found out that their delivery rates are horrible or they just raised their price and you don’t want to pay it. If they don’t have an export feature, you’re going to have to enter all those names manually to get them into your new autoresponder. This is something I had to do when I finally converted to an autoresponder that met my needs, so I am speaking from experience.

Another thing you want to watch out for when signing up with an autoresponder service is their policy on single opt in mailings. You don’t want to get hooked up with a service that leaves you responsible for spam complaints if you decide to go with single opt in, which is why I strongly recommend going with double opt in to avoid this problem altogether. So if your autoresponder service doesn’t have double opt in, you may want to consider going elsewhere.

Finally, you don’t want to hook yourself up with an autoresponder service that has a bad reputation, and this is very easy to check. Just go to www.uribi.com and see if they’re on any of the blacklists. If the service you want to hook up with is blacklisted, then more likely than not, your emails are not going to get delivered. And, if you go with double opt in, that means that few of your subscribers will get their opt in emails. Your list will end up suffering greatly because of this. So make sure the autoresponder service that you want to get involved with has a good reputation.

Of course there is how you run your autoresponder series in the first place, but that’s a topic for another discussion.

Just make sure the autoresponder you decide to use doesn’t turn out to be the hangman’s noose around your neck.

To YOUR Success.