Using auto responders is a good way to systematically sell and convert prospects to customers. If you are smart enough to figure out what it is that makes people do business with you, automatic email marketing can have a huge impact on your business.

But before you go out and buy autoresponder software, there is something you should know. The best autoresponder software comes free with good email service providers. The same companies that you use to send out email blasts, email newsletters and email marketing campaings often include autoresponder software at no additional charge.

Autoresponder software enables you to program a predefined sequence of emails and send them over a predefined period of time. In direct mail (postcards and sales letters) this is called a drip campaign. The idea here is that you drip out marketing and advertising over a period of time usually equal to your sales cycle.

If it normally takes 20 days for a prospect to make a decisions, then you might program 5 messages over a 20 day span. Each message should be designed to move your prospect down the sales cycle. You must educate and convince him that your product is the solution to his problem.

Autoresponder software can be a huge benefit to any business. Often times we tend to work to the prospects who respond to us. This can cause a large amount of leads to be “left for dead” when they reality is that they are perfectly good leads who just need a little more content from you to help them choose your company. Autoresponders generally increase sales conversion rates because a software program is systematically keeping track of the message delivery. Autoresponders make it so that you don’t have to manually manage all your prospects all the time.

Companies with good Autoresponder Software

Service Provider	Offer	Rating
	Constant Contact 60 Day free trial Lots of great looking templates Great for beginners Pay by list size (good for frequent senders)	4.9 out of 5 stars
	StreamSend 30 Day free trial, no credit card to try Plans from $20/month Good for both beginner and experts Pay for messages sent (good for large lists)	4.2 out of 5 stars
	iContact 15 Day free trial, no credit card to try Plans from $10/month Excellent stats and integration Pay by list size (good for frequent senders)	3.7 out of 5 stars
	Vertical Response 30 Day free trial, no credit card to try Plans from $10/month Easiest system to use, also does surveys Pay for emails sent (good for large lists)	3.2 out of 5 stars

*Since most companies offer a free trial, you should sign up and test drive each interface.
You will quickly figure out which email service provider is best for your company.

Most email blaster reviews are written by experts in email marketing or current users of the software. They generally have spent much time learning about email marketing and they know what works and what doesn’t work so well. It is important to know all the pros and cons of an email blaster program before you purchase one. It isn’t practical to pay for a big program that does a lot of extra things if you don’t intend to use it. A review can help you determine the features offered and how well they work.

When checking email blaster reviews it is always good to go to a neutral source. Looking at reviews on the manufacturer’s website is not always ideal. Most of the time, they will only select favorable reviews to include on their website. A neutral website will show both the good and bad reviews. This is beneficial because it will show you the full picture of the software and whether it will work for you or not. If a feature doesn’t have a good review, but it isn’t something you will use, then it may still be worth considering.

Email Blast Free Trials

Service Provider	Offer	Rating
	Constant Contact 60 Day free trial Lots of great looking templates Great for beginners Pay by list size (good for frequent senders)	4.9 out of 5 stars
	StreamSend 30 Day free trial, no credit card to try Plans from $20/month Good for both beginner and experts Pay for messages sent (good for large lists)	4.2 out of 5 stars
	iContact 15 Day free trial, no credit card to try Plans from $10/month Excellent stats and integration Pay by list size (good for frequent senders)	3.7 out of 5 stars
	Vertical Response 30 Day free trial, no credit card to try Plans from $10/month Easiest system to use, also does surveys Pay for emails sent (good for large lists)	3.2 out of 5 stars

*Since most companies offer a free trial, you should sign up and test drive each interface.
You will quickly figure out which email service provider is best for your company.

While going through the email blaster reviews, be sure to check pricing and customer service options as well. There are many software packages that will offer a trial, so you can actually test the product before you purchase it. The features may be limited, but they will generally allow you enough to get a good feel for what it offers. Customer service can also be an extremely important feature. If you aren’t very technical oriented, then you will need customer service to help you as you set up your parameters and mailing lists. Be certain that you get a company with good customer service, where they will assist you while you learn their product. Email blasters can be a very good investment for a company who is using email marketing to promote their goods and services, just be smart and pay attention to the reviews others have made on the products before you decide which is best for your business needs.

How Do I Email Blast My Customers?

You will need to start by finding a dedicated service provider. When you are reviewing, companies, you should check out a few things. Find a provider who has all the tools and features that you are looking for and can use, including specific message send times. These providers, often referred to as auto-responders, will allow you to get your customers’ attention when they offer it, not when you’re ready. Instead of checking emails and making time to send out email blasts when the time is right, you can set it all up to be done for you so that you don’t miss a beat. When you stay on top of communication, people will feel much more appreciated.

Once you choose a service provider, you simply start setting up your campaign. For example, if you’re trying to sell a product or service, you will want to compose various emails to offer soft and hard sell situations so that you can get in touch with people and get them to come to your website. Trying to figure out what you want to accomplish with your campaign will help you to determine the types of emails you should send and what they should say.

What Tone Do I Use to Email Blast My Customers?

Talk directly to the customer. Pretend like you are composing a message for one person, not thousands. Be professional, yet friendly and understanding. Make them feel like they mean the world to you (because they ultimately do) and you will get your desired response from email blasting campaigns. Using your own email looks slightly unprofessional and is very time consuming, so make sure that you take it up a notch by using service providers and making the most of each email that you compose so that it gets through to your customers and draws them into your site.

Email Blast Companies mange the servers and software needed to design effective email blast campaigns. Tools for mailing list management , HTML email design and file hosting are the core components of what an email blast company provides.

The best email blast companies also feature built in statistical reporting, a key element in any marketing effort, which will allow you to fine tune your email marketing campaigns.

As an email marketing firm we send dozens of different email blasts for our clients each week. Some of our clients host their own email blast server, others purchase our email vps server and others use 3rd party email service providers. Each method has pros and cons, and depending on the number of people on your list and how often you send, one type of email blast company will be better than the others.

The Best Email Blast Companies

Here are our favorites. The links below will provide you with a free trial of their services, so you can see which one fits your needs.

1. StreamSend – Easy to use, intuitive and not very expensive. They charge based on emails sent, not the size of your list. This is important for people who might send once or twice a month.
2. Awebber – Great for people who need automated email blast campaign followups – where you create a email sales campaign and then send on a time delay (ex. 1 email per day for 7 days.) Awebber charges based on the size of your emal blast list. A good choice if you plan on sending more than once a week.
3. GetResponse – For marketers looking for an email blast service provider that provides multi-media capabilities, cross-channel tracking and email blast automation. Not quite as easy to use as StreamSend, but more features. If you want to combine email marketing with social marketing and video, GetResponse has the tools to do the job.