subject: Autoresponder Services And Opt-in Forms [print this page] When you are doing your research to determine which autoresponder will best serve your needs, remember that like every other Internet business, those that you get your autoresponder through have a reputation that they have earned... whether it is a good reputation or a bad one... it has still been earned. You want to find a company that will provide your business with an autoresponder and has a reputation for good, reliable service and high deliverability.
Don't succumb to the temptation of a free autoresponder before evaluating it very carefully. In the long run, you probably won't be happy with it. The free autoresponders are only free of in the monetary sense... they aren't exactly free. Most will place their own advertisements in every message that you send using the autoresponder. This will not look good to your customers and/or potential customers. You really need to get a paid for autoresponder at the very start. You will find that in time you will want one that will be better than any of the free ones can provide and, since changing autoresponders isn't all that easy, it's better to make the right choice up front.
There are any number of possible autoresponder services to use for communicating with your list once you have built one, and practically all the autoresponder services help you with creating your opt-in forms. But the out-of-date opt-in forms you will create on these sites are NOT the best option for building your optin email lists in this day of popup opt-in forms. The truth of the matter is, your opt-in forms are where the rubber meets the road in the signup process, so you should always offer the best one you can.
Be sure to do your own research and choose for yourself but remember that you absolutely must have high deliverability. This is the single most important evaluation point. Reputable services will provide the number up front. One of the easiest ways to research them is to look at the very bottom of e-mails you get from the Internet marketing Big Dogs. Since they will all have unsubscribe links at the bottom, you'll be able to tell, in most cases, who they are using to contact you. Just remember not to click that link to get to the web site, or you won't get that e-zine any more!
To get you started with your research, here is a list of reputable autoresponder services (remember, this is not an exhaustive list):
