Free Wordpress Autoresponder

Tue, Apr 27, 2010

Product/Software Reviews, Wordpress

A Free Autoresponder For Wordpress

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.

No time to read this post? Get Your Free Wordpress Autoresponder Here

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 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.

It was then that I came across the GWA Autoresponder for Wordpress.

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 it 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 GWA Autoresponder.

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.

Download your free Wordpress Autoresponder here

new banner blue wp Free Wordpress Autoresponder

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13 Responses to “Free Wordpress Autoresponder”

  1. Custom Logo Design Says:

    Thanks for share about this nice auto responder tools i like it .I also like your blog theme design its nice.

  2. Backpacking Tim Says:

    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 :)
    Backpacking Tim´s last blog ..CamelBak BPA-Free Better Bottle with Bite Valve

  3. online logo design Says:

    wow nice i will put this auto responder to my design site.
    Thanks its a superb post.

  4. caymanhost Says:

    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.
    caymanhost´s last blog ..How To Backup Your Website Using PLESK Control Panel

  5. Wolfgang Says:

    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.
    Wolfgang´s last blog ..Six Qualities That you Need to Make Money on The Internet

  6. Corporate Level Strategy Says:

    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.
    Corporate Level Strategy´s last blog ..Corporate Level Strategy

  7. Surrey Says:

    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.
    Surrey´s last blog ..Site Scores Higher Than 97 of Websites Online-

  8. caymanhost Says:

    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.

  9. jairam Says:

    messages from GWA goes to spam folder! and how to fix that?

  10. caymanhost Says:

    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.

  11. Nick@ixhosting Says:

    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.
    Nick@ixhosting´s last blog ..IX Web Hosting Review

  12. caymanhost Says:

    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.


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