A Free WordPress Autoresponder
There are numerous autoresponder solutions and email marketing services available today, some free, some that cost, third party services such as GetResponse or Aweber and several others and scripts that webmasters can install on their own servers.
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Whichever route you decide to follow there are benefits and drawbacks to each.
Third party services are most favored due to the fact that, at least with the two market leaders, deliverability is high and there is little chance of spam complaints finding their way to your door. Features are comprehensive and due to their market positions, users of both GetResponse and Aweber usually find that integration and compatibility with other programs and services is generally high. The downside of course is the expense and some people are unable to afford or justify the monthly fees associated with the services.
Scripts are numerous but often installation is a nightmare and I’ve certainly tried a few only to find that they did not work as advertised or that support was non existent. There are paid and free solutions if you want to go this route, but, in all honesty, I’ve yet to find a genuinely great autoresponder script that is easy enough to get up and running for a person of limited technical skills and has all the features you might require or desire.
Having recently lost the services of my autoresponder and email marketing company, due to a major failure of their server and systems, I once again found myself cast into the tedious search for an affordable alternative to what was an excellent email marketing package. I wasted a lot of time trying and rejecting a number of scripts, looked at a few commercial third party services and was beginning to think that I was simply not going to find anything as good as I’d had at anywhere near the price I have been paying.
Enter the free WordPress autoresponder!
It was then that I came across the GWA Autoresponder for WordPress. A free WordPress autoresponder in the form of a plugin.
It was urgent that I found something as quickly as possible as all my opt-in forms were no longer functioning so it grabbed my attention because it was free, and because it was a WordPress plugin. However, I doubted a free WordPress autoresponder would have the functionality I needed and decided to take a closer look to see just what it could do.
I have to say that the free version will be more than adequate for a lot of WordPress users who just want to be able to set up an opt in form on their blogs and start building a list. It is really simple to install and set up and if you are a remotely competent WordPress user you can literally have it up and running in a few minutes. Basically if you can install a plugin, you can install the free wordpress autoresponder or GWA Autoresponder plugin too.
I downloaded the plugin and had it functioning very quickly but it soon became apparent that it wasn’t going to be a substitute for my previous service. Basically, it’s fantastic for those who have no need of anything more than a means of generating opt-ins on their WordPress site with a built in autoresponder facility that can be loaded with sequential messages and used to mail out to their list manually when desired. You can build your opt-in forms and use them on any webpages you choose, not just on your WordPress sites, which is good, but there are some limitations – hey, it’s free, so you have to expect some.
As a free user your opt-in forms will have a link back to the service which you cannot remove and your emails will all have a link appended to the footer too. If this really bugs you, you can pay a small fee of $5 to have the branding removed.
All in all it’s a great free autoresponder and I would recommend it to anyone who is not yet using any form of autoresponder or mailing software.
If you want to harness all the features and really have your own fully featured autoresponder which you can use to build an unlimited number of lists and forms, be able to redirect subscribers to any URL after opt-in, upon confirmation and on unsubscription, you will need to upgrade to the pro version.
Aha you say, here’s the catch! But really it isn’t, if you don’t need the extra functions you can use your free autoresponder forever and never worry about paying a cent. The beauty of upgrading is that it is an amazingly low one time cost of just $27.00 if you grab the one time offer that you will see when given the opportunity of taking the upgrade.
I bought a copy immediately because the value of the pro version would be very hard to beat anywhere. In terms of ease of use and customization options I’ve not seen anything better and certainly not from either free or paid scripts that I have experimented with. Also, support was very prompt and courteous and once you pay for the upgrade you will get access to some useful bonuses, and some comprehensive tutorials on how to use your new autoresponder in a variety of ways to get the best from it. It worked straight out of the box, requires no cron jobs, although you can use them if you need or want to, and there was no knowledge of script installation required whatsoever.
As a pro user you can import all existing subscribers into your lists without the need for them to opt-in again which is a bonus as anyone who has had to move a list before will confirm. The autoresponder is shared hosting friendly as it can be throtteld in a variety of ways to ensure you do not upset your hosting provider by overloading the server with your emails or falling foul of their hourly sending limits. Spam complaints are minimized by the fact that the autoresponder offfers double optin for all subscribers and records their information upon signup so their can be no doubt that they asked for your emails. Every email includes a one click unsubscribe link too of course. You would have to be an idiot to fall foul of the CanSpam Act using this software, but for those who are new to email marketing, there is plenty of advice within the interface as well as in the members area.
All in all a great solution for any WordPress user looking for either a free or paid autoresponder service. There is a lot more to the software but I hope this has given you a good idea as to whether it might be for you or not. The free WordPress autoresponder is an entirely risk free proposition so why not try it on your blog and let me know what you think.
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June 4, 2010 at 6:10 am
Thanks for share about this nice auto responder tools i like it .I also like your blog theme design its nice.
June 13, 2010 at 7:40 am
I’ve never tried using autoresponders for email marketing. I will try out the free version first and see how it goes. Who knows, this might actually help me out in the long run. Thanks
June 13, 2010 at 3:50 pm
wow nice i will put this auto responder to my design site.
Thanks its a superb post.
June 16, 2010 at 1:07 am
CLD – thanks for your kind comments and I hope you will find the plugin useful.
Tim – I have been using the paid version for some time and it works flawlessly. The free plugin has its limitations but if you’re just starting out it’s a good first step and you have nothing to lose which is always nice
OLD – glad to be of some help, hope it will be a useful addition to your website.
June 24, 2010 at 7:46 am
I like the sound of the auto responder, at the momet I am using the Get Response free version, but will consider the wordpress one when I need to upgrade.
June 30, 2010 at 3:48 am
I installed and tested three free autoresponders plugin yesterday – GWA, WP Responder and BFT Light. Of the three, WP Responder is the most comprehensive. BFT Light is good if you don’t want double opt-in to be able to send emails to your list but is a very basic autoresponder. All in all GWA seems to be a decent autoresponder and works well enough.
July 6, 2010 at 4:00 pm
This is a great alternative for many of my business website clients who have tried this plugin and loved it. Thank You for the info.
July 7, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Glad you have found it useful “Surrey” I looked at various WP options before going with this one and although you really need to upgrade to get the full benefits, the free option is excellent for those who just want a simple to use autoresponder and opt in form. Users really do need to backup their WP installations regularly if using it though.
July 22, 2010 at 11:40 am
messages from GWA goes to spam folder! and how to fix that?
July 22, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Hi Jairam,
Firstly there are some email providers whose spam filters are overly aggressive and unless the end user marks a message accordingly there is not a lot you can do in some cases. Also people are often far too keen to mark messages as spam even if they have opted in to a double optin list and once they start doing so their mail client will place messages according to their instructions.
My personal experience with GWA has been generally good an deliverability is excellent – however, some messages will almost certainly end up in people’s spam/junk folders. At the point of opt in it is always a good idea to ask people to whitelist the address from which you are sending your emails to avoid as many problems as possible.
Hope this helps, you might get some additional help from the member’s area if you’re still concerned.
August 17, 2010 at 3:36 pm
One very big disadvantage to using a plugin autoresponder, over a traditional service, is that most web host servers have a bad reputation in the eyes of email service providers which results in low delivery rates. Also, if you plan on using a free service until you have a larger list of subscribers and then transfer them to a paid service, all your subscribers will need to opt-in again to the new service which will result in a huge drop in subscribers.
August 17, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Hi Nick,
Yes, I agree in part with what you say and certainly deliverability can be an issue, particularly for those on shared hosting. I would recommend a dedicated IP for anybody on shared hosting in any case, even if not involved in email marketing.
To date I have had decent delivery rates with GWA and I would add that even stats on open rates from the top third party providers can be skewed for various reasons. As for moving subscribers to a new list with an alternative provider, it is not necessarily the case that you will have to get all existing subscribers to opt-in again – often importing your contacts can be achieved without this requirement if you discuss it with the service provider and can offer proof/assurances that your list is indeed a double opt-in list. Personally I wouldn’t move to any provider who flatly refused to discuss such an important issue beforehand.
September 9, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Does GWA plugin give you stats like aweber does? i.e open rate and so on
Can you segment lists for ad swaps?
Thanks
September 9, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Hi Ricco,
GWA unfortunately does not offer much in the way of stats compared to Aweber, GetResponse and other third party services no.
The free version is a basic opt-in form builder and autoresponder that can be used for one list. Upgrades are available for those who need to build multiple lists etc. but if you are looking for an Aweber replacement, GWA can’t really be considered one of them unless you just don’t want or need all the features their service provides. For those who can’t justify the monthly fees for an autoresponder/email list manager it’s not a bad choice and is relatively cheap.
If you have technical/feature questions or concerns you can address them to the program owners via their page at http://hub.freeautoresponder.biz/
Hope this is helpful.
September 27, 2010 at 8:18 am
hi everyone,
i’ve installed the plugin but, dont know how to configured. does anyone help with a toturial or an how to?
Thx in advance.
October 4, 2010 at 2:52 am
There are links to help you on the plugin page within your WP Admin or you can view some tutorials at the site here
http://tutorials.freeautoresponder.biz/index2.php
October 14, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Thanks for help tutorials on plugin page.
October 16, 2010 at 7:24 pm
You’re Welcome
November 9, 2010 at 10:53 am
Its looks like a nice plug in… but i am not sure i am ready to leave aweber… This plug in may have some big deliverability issues .
November 9, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Ashley,
I think for those already using a service such as Aweber or GetResponse and who can afford those services are not the target market for a plugin like this and I think my review makes that quite clear. For those on a much tighter budget however, the free or paid version of this plugin would be a good starting point.
Deliverability in my experience has been very good but you have to bear in mind your hosting arrangements too, when using an autoresponder on your own server.
On some shared hosting there could be issues dependent on the size of your list and frequency of mailings etc. but with a decent host you should not have any real problems. I have run GWA on my VPS for many months now and it performs admirably well. The quality of your list will also have considerable bearing in deliverability – if you know your audience and they know you, they are far less likely to start marking emails as spam and causing mail from your server to be consigned to junk folders by the big mail service providers. Ultimately, services such as Aweber spend a lot of time working with email providers to ensure that mail sent from their servers gets delivered – that is probably the best reason to pay their monthly fees.
December 8, 2010 at 2:27 am
Wow this is really very amazing tool. I was not aware of it. Thanks for sharing such a great thing here.I would like to know more tools like this if any.
April 5, 2011 at 7:08 am
I have to say, we are a big fan of wordpress and the free autoresponder plugin as you say is nice and easy to use and also free. Brilliant!
In the future I will refering people to this page as a refrance post. Thanks for your time and posting.
MO
August 29, 2011 at 11:50 am
I thought this was agreat article and even though people can’t always afford to pay for an autoresponder such as getresponse or Aweber but there are still some things that people need to take into account when using a free autoresponder plugin for wordpress. If you are going to use a free plugin you need to make sure that your web host isnt blocked by the free email clients such as yahoo or hotmail. If your host is blocked then these free autoresponder plugins and scripts you can get are only going to work with free google emails.
August 29, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Thanks Simon and yes, I think we have made it clear that deliverability is always a possible issue with autoresponder scripts based on a user’s own server. There are so many variables affecting this that it is impossible to say with any degree of certainty whether it will be an issue for any particular user over another. Expensive third party services are more reliable in this respect and that is not in dispute. We have hosted this script on our VPS for some time now and results have been good. See also our comments regarding a dedicated IP option for shared hosting users which is recommended if available through your hosting company.
October 17, 2011 at 9:09 am
thanks for the share, i was also wondering which theme is this blog as i would like to use on mine.
October 17, 2011 at 9:41 am
The theme we use on this site is a lightly modified version of Fresh News from Woo Themes.