Before we dive in and talk about the best affiliate marketing autoresponder, I want to tell you about my friend Danny.
Danny is a speed junkie. He’ll drive anything with 4 tires and a steering wheel. He’s the fastest driver I know.
I, on the other hand, am an average driver. I love to go fast, but I’m not as proficient at burning tires as him. Yet, I always make him eat my dust at the lights.
Why?
Because I drive a 300 horse power V6. And Danny’s trailing in a 4 cylinder Chevy Cruse. All I have to do is put my foot down. My driving skills have nothing to do with it. Neither does the road we’re on. Or the weather. It’s the car.
Your autoresponder is to your email marketing what a car is to the racing driver.
It’s not the only thing that matters. But it matters a lot. Especially if you’re generating 4,000-7,000 new leads a day like I do.
If you ever shopped for a car or a pair of jeans, you know what shopping for an autoresponder feels like. There’s many shapes and sizes. And you ought to choose one that’s right for you.
For example, if you’d like to build a multi-step campaign sequence that integrates webinars, direct mail, email marketing and text messages – use Infusionsoft.
If you’re a blogger and you’d like to drip out content to your subscribers – use Drip.
If you run a software company – consider mailing through an SMTP service like MailJet or SMTP.com.
I’ve created this guide for the affiliate marketer and promised to stick to internet marketing and make money online niche, because that’s my specialty. I’m going to keep my promise and answer the following question:
What’s The Best Autoresponder For Affiliate Marketers?
There’s five things you should consider:
1. Email Delivery – there’s no such thing as 100% email delivery, but choosing a high-delivery autoresponder can make a huge difference for you. You won’t get 80% open rates, but you won’t land in SPAM either.
2. Price – autoresponder is a monthly expense. It grows as fast as your list does. Choose an AR that offers the right pricing structure for you before you start building your list. Later you won’t be likely to switch, because transferring your list over to another autoresponder is a pain.
3. Ease of Use – imagine driving a car with the steering wheel mounted on the right hand side (or on the left if you’re used to right-hand drive cars), the gearbox lever located under the driver’s seat and the windshield wipers switch is next to the ashtray. That would make for an awkward and uncomfortable drive. Same with an autoresponder that offers poor user experience. Believe me – it’s a nightmare. Especially if you not technologically savvy.
4. Functionality – automation and segmentation. One is necessary to save time. The other to make more money while saving time. The former isn’t hard to find. Most ARs have it. But the latter is trickier and often requires 3rd party services to accomplish.
And one of my personal all time favourites…
5. Red Tape – as a child growing up in post-soviet Ukraine, my mother instructed me to tell no one I was Jewish. Sometimes I feel the same way about autoresponders. Surprisingly, many autoresponders hate affiliate marketers. Some will ban you. Others will just put you on a bad IP so your filthy emails don’t muddy their good IPs. It’s the autoresponder holocaust out there and you need to know who you can trust.
There’s dozens of autoresponders I could review. But that would be a waste of time. I narrowed it down to these 3: AWeber, Getresponse and Mailchimp.
Why?
Because they get the job done and they don’t cost an arm and a leg.
Listen to this podcast where I review each in detail based on the aforementioned criteria.
Now that you have a great autoresponder, you’re ready to learn how to inbox like a pro, and the first step to do that is…
Avoid SPAM Trigger Keywords
Spam complaints will kill your autoresponder.
Or if you’d like me to be more direct: They will get you banned.
The first thing to look out for are SPAM trigger keywords such as “commissions,” “make money online,” “work from home,” and anything of that nature.
ESPs are allergic to hype-talk.
Check your emails against this SPAM keyword list.
Make It Personal
Another way ESPs (email service providers) judge emails is by deciding whether it’s marketing or personal communication.
Anything that’s “marketing” will end up in the Gmail promotions tab or – more likely – SPAM.
Create a feeling and appearance of personal communication when you market to your list and you’ll inbox better.
Personal emails contain few links. Most don’t contain any. After grueling testing we discovered that one link per email (usually towards the end of the email) works best.
Here’s what your email should look like:
Here’s what your email shouldn’t look like:
6 Email Formatting Rules
1. No colors. Black and white only.
2. Avoid bulky paragraphs. One liners are best.
3. Avoid long and complicated words. Use short words. Pretend you’re writing to a 3rd grader.
4. Use min bold, italics and underlines. Less is more.
5. Write like you talk. Don’t try to sound scientific or formal. Pretend you’re sitting over a coffee with the reader. Be casual. Write like you talk.
6. If you suck at writing, talk your emails out. It helps.
Signature
From Name
From Email Address
Due to recent changes with Internet Service Providers, you can no longer inbox with a free email address (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL) as your from email address.
Domain email is far more likely to inbox.
If you already bought a domain name, reach out your hosting company and ask them to help you set up a forwarding inbox. Or just follow this tutorial on ProBlogger.
If you do, follow this tutorial to adjust your AWeber or Getresponse settings:
9 Email Subject Line Formulas You Can Swipe
68% of all SPAM email is being reported purely on subject line.
People don’t bother reading the contents of the email unless the subject line appeals to them in a powerful way.
But that’s something you already knew. You knew that subject lines matter. That subject lines can make or break your entire email follow up sequence. That people are lazy and that you have to get creative to stand out in a crowded email inbox.
What you didn’t know is that any great subject line that pulls high open rates is based on a formula you can learn. If you understand the formula, you can write a winning subject for any product promotions in seconds.
There’s dozens of email subject line formulas. I religiously use about a dozen of them.
Here’s 9 that work every time..
– Pure Benefit – if you have what your list wants, give it to them. Chances are, if your market is experiencing a problem, that’s all they can think about. When they spot the solution to their problem in a form of a subject line, they won’t be able to resist.
How to choose the perfect domain for your business opportunity
[free workshop] How to make $3-$16 per optin on your list
Build your list with other people’s money
My sneaky little secret to working less and earning more
– Curiosity – create an itch for them to scratch with a cliff hanger subject line that creates a gap that can only be bridged by reading the email
NEW VIDEO
Your question
EPIC fail
SHOCKING (test results)
Don’t forget, You can mix and match any two formulas together to create hybrid email subject line formulas that “punch” twice as hard.
– Play On Book & Movie Titles – this formula leverages the principle of familiarity. We cling to the familiar. The key to successfully playing on movie and book titles is to focus on best-selling titles everyone heard about
Wolf of Solo Ad Street
50 Shades Of Igor
Hunchback of Igor Dame
Solo Fight Club
– Fear – there’s two reasons we do anything. To gain pleasure and to avoid pain. The fear of pain is an extremely powerful motivator. Use it. Play on your list’s insecurities, anxieties and “worst case scenario” projections.
Too much to do and not enough time to get it done?
Looking for a buyer-rich traffic source? You may be out of luck
Solo ads are dead!
Are you being scammed as we speak?
– Challenge Existing Dogma – our decisions are driven by biases. Identify the biases that get in the way of the sale and attack them.
American dream DEAD
3 types of people I don’t accept as clients
My uncensored opinion on SEO traffic
Why prospecting on Facebook and Instagram is a waste of time
And my personal favourites…
– Present State Of Things In The Industry – if you operate in a niche market larger than a shoe box, there’s always something going on. Tie your subject line to current events to get an open rate bump.
Do BitCoin business opportunities work?
My response to Jon Benson’s recent video
Why I don’t do Black Friday discounts
My opinion on David Wood’s public meltdown
– Controversy & Drama – get a visceral response from your list by talking about controversial subjects or expressing a controversial opinion on a boring subject. And have the balls to do it unapologetically.
I was wrong about MOBE
Another reason I hate Facebook Ads
Why I fired 80% of my customers
The elephant in the room…
– Scarcity & Deadlines – fear of missing out is almost impossible to resist. Play on this emotional bias to drive more sales.
Your discount expires in less than 60 minutes
Only 2 more introductory coaching packages available
Blogging offer of a lifetime (not to be repeated)
Exclusive change to work with me one-on-one [1 spot]
– Personal – personalizing your subject lines has nothing to do with using reader’s first name. It’s all about tone. How would you email your class mate or co-worker? Would the subject line sound official or would you have given it a warm friendly tone?
LOL!
hey
We’re starting in 60 minutes. You coming?
I really wish you were here…
Avoid These Subject Line Mistakes
– Clickbait & Misleading Subject Lines – it may take weeks or even months and sometimes years for you to get your subscribers to like you and trust you. It only takes one misleading subject line to violate that trust.
– Writing Your Subject Line Before The Email – common rookie mistake. You’ll write much better subject lines and you’ll write much faster if you write subject line last, not first.
– Being Funny/Clever – you’re not writing to elicit praise or laughs, you’re writing to make money. Focus on your ideal outcome. Don’t get carried away. There’s no Pulitzer for the world’s funniest subject line. You don’t get a medal for the cleverest email of the year.
– Cramming Too Much Information – your subject line isn’t supposed to inform or educate. Its job is to trigger emotional pain and pleasure points to get the email opened. And besides, the inbox preview field can only fit about 8 words. So anything beyond that won’t even be read.
And one of the most common yet deadly ones..
– Swipe Other People’s Subject Lines – imitation is the highest form of flattery and the first stage of learning. No shame in swiping a few subject lines when you’re brand new. We’ve all done it. Swiped subject lines, however, never work for you as well as they work for the person who wrote them. Use other people’s subject lines for inspiration. Come up with a unique spin on what they write or adjust your own writing based on the tone and style you observe.
What’s Ideal Open Rate & Click Through Rates For Your Autoresponder Email Follow Up
Defining success of your emails strictly by open rates and click through rates is how idiots track success.
As far as metrics are concerned, sales and average customer value should be your only concern.
Open rates and CTR can be easily manipulated, because human beings are biased emotional wrecks. High open rate means nothing. Sales are everything.
At best, your open rates are indicators of interest. They tell you which technique works better and what may interest your list in the long run.
My buyer list open rates over the course of 5 days tell me my list will be interested in a program about how to create the perfect bridge page for promoting business opportunities.
This isn’t hard evidence. It’s just indicator of interest.
Based on this data, I decided to release a training that teaches people how to build the perfect bridge page for promoting business opportunities.
On the other hand, it doesn’t mean that I should discard all the other emails that generated lower open rates.
For example, the “Would you like me to do all your marketing for you” subject line pulled only 30% open rate compared to the 44% on the “Perfect biz opp bridge page.” Yet, it has produced 3X the sales.
If you’re looking for a starting point for your emails to know whether or not you’re on the right track, here’s some numbers you can work with.
For an opt in prospect list built with solo ads, start by aiming for 10%-20% email open rate and 10%-12% CTR of those who opened.
For an opt in buyer list built with solo ads, aim for 30%-50% open rate and 10%-20% CTR of those who opened.
Perfect Time To Email Your List
Mailchimp (a well respected email marketing autoresponder company) conducted a study on optimal time to send emails and concluded there’s no one easy answer.
What they really meant to say is that all the scientific-data-driven marketers should get out in the real world and test their theories.
Just like many, I used to believe there’s a perfect time of day to send out emails. I believed there’s a magic 10-minute window all email users take a break from their busy lives, sip a warm latte and check their email.
But truth is there’s no perfect time, no perfect day or perfect month that will get you more email opens or clicks. You have to get some skin in the game by actually sending out a bunch of emails at different times and on different days.
And likely, what you’ll find is that day and time seldom dictate your open rates.
Whatever send time you choose to stick to eventually – stay consistent with it.
Consistency projects professionalism and discipline. It sets expectations. It penetrates your subscribers’ subconscious and anchors them to expect to hear from you so when you don’t mail they feel like something’s missing in their lives.
Perhaps the sweetest benefit of consistency is more sales. Sporadic mailing schedule shows unprofessionalism at best. People like to buy from people who take themselves and what they do for a living seriously.
