Autoresponders are some of the most crucial tools used in the email marketing campaigns of many businesses. They are used to collect the email addresses of customers who have opted into the forms or squeeze pages to get free reports and information on products and services.
But how does a business decide between the many autoresponders on the market, and how do they go about doing an email marketing tools comparison between them?
The purpose of autoresponders is to allow the creation of optin forms, the creation and scheduling of letters and the creation and management of email lists. These are the basic functions of all autoresponders and AWeber and TrafficWave autoresponders get those basic jobs done.
Apart from these basic functions of autoresponders, there are many other characteristics of autoresponder software.
What follows is a comparison between AWeber and TrafficWave autoresponders that may help your business determine which may be the best one for your business needs.
Additional AWeber and TrafficWave Facts and Features
- Fees – The starting price for AWeber services is just $1.00 for the first month of service, and then beginning in the second month the fee is $19.00 for service as long as the number of total subscribers is not greater than 500. Under their plan you are allowed to create an unlimited number of email lists.
- With this autoresponder the monthly fee charged will rise with the number of subscribers a business is able to attract. Once the total number of subscribers rises above 500, the monthly fees become $29.95 and with 10,000 and more subscribers, the fee becomes $149.00 per month. These fees are far higher than other autoresponders in the industry.
- AWeber charges for un-subscribers who are not manually deleted from the system.
- TrafficWave charges $0 to try their service for the first 30 days, and then the fees are charged to a flat rate of $17.95 per month regardless of the number of subscribers that the business acquires.
- Affiliate Program – AWeber’s affiliate program pays a 30% recurring commission but the affiliate structure is not as elaborate as that of TrafficWave.
- TrafficWave’s affiliate program pays out 100% commission to affiliates on the new sales revenue. Commissions are paid through 10 different levels – they use a 3 x 10 matrix structure.
- User Interface – The user interface of TrafficWave is not a very sophisticated one and is in fact quite basic and does not integrate well with other services. The letter crafting editor presents with formatting errors at times and the creation of the opt-in forms are limited to pasting HTML code into the source code of the website.
- In AWeber, the user interface is very user friendly intuitive and is state of the art in terms of options and functionality. There are two options for creating opt-in forms, they can be inserted into the source code of the website, or an opt-in form can be created and maintained on the autoresponder’s site while the JavaScript code is inserted into the website.
- Social Media Interface – With AWeber you are provided with the ability to connect with your lists through the social media platforms of Twitter and FaceBook. TafficWave does not provide that feature.
- Ad Tracker – With TrafficWave you have access to an ad tracker that works outside of the autoresponder system and allows you to track your external links. Outside services would normally charge $20 /month for this service.
- AWeber provides tracking for its own emails but does not do so outside its own system.
- Customized Landing Pages – You will have access to landing pages customized for various niches in the back office of TrafficWave but no such feature exists in AWeber.
This email marketing tools comparison has shown how TrafficWave and AWeber differ in their features and services. AWeber provides a state of the art service including an excellent interface, web forms and support services.
Their pricing structure, affiliate program and additional fees charged for un-subscribers are features that weigh negatively against the service.
TrafficWave provides the services of an autoresponder, is extremely affordable, and provides valuable additional features. It is up to the webmaster to decide between these two services, both get the job done, but offer a different array of additional services.
Tags: autoresponder, aweber, Email Marketing Tools Comparison, trafficwave