Reginald Chan

Category: Tools

Find the latest reviews on the best tools you should be using as a blogger, writer, and an affiliate marketer.

  • Thrive Themes vs Divi 3.0: Which Is The Best?

    Thrive Themes vs Divi 3.0: Which Is The Best?

    Thrive Themes vs Divi. Which is the better choice?

    I get this question all the time and I want to be really honest here. I don’t think there is a guide out there which cover a lot of what Thrive Themes and Divi can provide.

    And in most cases, they are often one-sided due to personal preferences. I ought to be different and I hope you will find value in this post. More importantly, I hope you will be able to decide which is the best WordPress theme for yourself.

     

    Important disclaimer

    I want to disclose that I am an active affiliate for both Thrive Themes and Divi. However, I do have active purchases for both Thrive Themes and Divi (due to my nature of work). Therefore, I want you to be rest assured that I know exactly what I’m talking about.

     

    Thrive Themes vs Divi: Overall design

    Design and feel are two things that I look highly on. I am a minimalist guy and I don’t like complicated designs. Take a look at this blog and you will figure that out.

    That’s only the core reason why I use StudioPress for my personal branding.

    Now, Thrive Themes vs Divi, which has a better design?

    Let’s take a look at what Thrive Themes can offer. By default, Thrive Themes comes with 10 themes that you can start with.

    In comparison, Divi also comes with 10 inbuilt themes that you can choose from.

    Until here, both Thrive Themes and Divi are both providing pretty decent designs. Therefore, I would give them an equal score here.

    Thrive Themes 1 Divi 1

     

    Thrive Themes vs Divi: Ease of use (uploading design and demo version)

    At this point of time, it felt like a fair comparison and this should be a draw, right?

    No! You’re wrong and this is where nearly EVERY marketer out there doesn’t tell you.

    Divi is a clear winner here and allows me to explain to you further.

    Imagine you are a complete beginner and have no coding knowledge. You purchase Thrive Themes and you hope to import the demo content, load it up and walaa, you are all set to go.

    Here’s the problem. There is NO complete demo content upload or download available. Therefore, you have no choice but to do everything from scratch.

    Don’t get me wrong. You can download the demo and upload them but you will be shocked after uploading. You probably have the colour and that’s much. No fonts nothing. The only way is to work from scratch again and that would take some time.

    If you are going to for Thrive Themes, don’t be surprised with this! Again, it is not something bad, just troublesome.

    Divi is no different either (in some ways). You can download the demo themes and upload them. Now, Divi flares here because you can get the complete demo version to your site. The only downside is that Divi comes with DOZENS of features that will make your head spin.

    Of course, the easiest (but time-consuming) way is to read the manual first.

    Sorry, Thrive Themes but Divi is a clear winner here. Not everyone has the time or knowledge to play with codes.

    Thrive Themes 0 Divi 1

     

    Thrive Themes vs Divi: Website loading speed

    Anyone who is serious about managing a website will always take consideration of the loading speed.

    On average, a website visitor expects the site to load under 2 seconds. Websites that load under a minute often rank higher on search engines compared to those sites that have slow loading speed.

    Here’s one problem with these WordPress themes. Not all the WordPress themes out there are well coded for speed. Make no mistakes that there are premium WordPress themes that take ages to load.

    I tested both Thrive Themes and Divi based on a new website, zero plugins and only similar content on the front page.

    After three tests, the results are as below.

    Thrive Themes: 1.2 seconds, 1.35 seconds, 1.2 seconds

    Divi: 1.6 seconds, 1.86 seconds, 1.71 seconds

    I was hoping that either one of them would hit the below 1-second mark but they didn’t. Nonetheless, the results are pretty obvious that Thrive Themes is definitely a better choice when it comes to loading speed.

    The developers behind Thrive Themes are bold enough to share their mindset on website loading speed on their website (see below).

    SpeedTest_Thrive_Themes

    Thrive Theme 1 Divi 0

     

    Thrive Themes vs Divi: Customization features

    If you are looking for a premium WordPress theme that doesn’t require a single line of code to customize, then you are going to love both Thrive Themes and Divi.

    Both of these are the leaders in the market for drag and drag WordPress builder. By far, no one had come close to what they can offer in terms of customization.

    However, when comparing both of them, who will be the ultimate winner?

    Carry on reading to find out.

    Thrive Themes allows you to do customization with their Content Builder. This is how it looks like in action.

    Thrive Content Builder ReviewThrive Content Builder is awesome and it works like charm. Among all the content builder, Thrive Content Builder certainly makes content building much easier.

    But, there’s a problem with the content builder. It doesn’t play well with CloudFlare. Again, I have no issues with Thrive Content Builder but if you want to use it with CloudFlare, make sure you turn the CloudFlare Rocket Loader off.

    Divi is different from Thrive Content Builder. Here’s how it looks like in action.

    divi customization feature review

    Yes, Divi is just like Thrive Content Builder. Customization can be done easily with Divi and Thrive Content Builder.

    Divi has its own issues as well. The most common one is the size of the page and technology behind it. Due to the wide range of features, the page loads slower and it can be annoying if you are using a slow web host. A good web host can easily solve this problem any time of the day.

    Thrive Themes 1 Divi 1

     

    Thrive Themes vs Divi: Split testing

    I know you are asking for this. Who doesn’t love split testing, right?

    With split testing technology, you can test pages with different fonts, colour, and wording, to name a few. Here, Divi flares extremely well because split testing is inbuilt in all themes.

    Using Divi, you can test out anything, from a small part of the page to the whole page. Basically, the sky is your only limit.

    divi split test feature

    Until date, Divi is the only premium WordPress theme that allows you to do perform the split test on pages.

    On the other hand, Thrive Themes do allow split testing but only on opt-in forms (email marketing). Of course, I certainly hope they will implement this in the near future.

    But until then, Divi is the clear winner when it comes to split testing technology.

    Thrive Themes 0 Divi 1

     

    Thrive Themes vs Divi: Pricing review

    Pricing is always a concern and I’m sure you feel the same too.

    So, which is the better deal?

    This is how much Thrive Themes cost.

    Thrive Themes Pricing

    And this is how much Divi costs.

    Divi Pricing

    From the above, it is clear that Divi is much cheaper when compared yearly. Divi also is a clear winner as it has the lifetime plan which is a single payment.

    In terms of face value, Divi is definitely the winner but if you would take into consideration of the unlimited use of Thrive plugins, Thrive Themes is actually the one with higher value.

    When you sign up for Thrive Themes, you will automatically able to use all the Thrive plugins to further skyrocket your website. With Divi, you only have access to a smaller number of plugins and other themes.

    Thrive Themes 1 Divi 0

     

    Recapping the Thrive Themes vs Divi review and comparison

    Let’s calculate the score, shall we?

    Thrive Themes and Divi both managed to earn four points after the review. So, which is the best WordPress theme?

    Personally, I would recommend Thrive Themes if you are a blogger or managing a small business. Thrive Themes products are very much fitted into these categories and they will help you ‘fly’ high in the sky. See Thrive Themes in action here.

    If you are looking for a professional WordPress theme for your business, Divi is a better choice because it offers more customization and features which fit well for business and professional nature. Take a look at Divi here.

    What do you think? Leave a comment below and let’s discuss.

  • Thrive Leads vs OptinMonster – Which Plugin Is The Best Plugin For Building An Email List?

    Thrive Leads vs OptinMonster – Which Plugin Is The Best Plugin For Building An Email List?

    Thrive Leads vs OptinMonster.

    There are many plugins for email list building but nothing comes close to what Thrive Leads and OptinMonster can provide.

    Let me share with you a simple fact:

    Email has 2.6 billion unique users worldwide. Moreover, that number is expected to exceed 2.9 billion by the end of 2019. 

    ExactTarget had quoted, “Email is not only alive – it’s the number one direct channel in terms of daily use and consumer preference for both personal and marketing communications.”

    Building an email list is no longer an option. It is a necessity for business survival. Regardless it is for affiliate marketing, blogging or business, email marketing is a very powerful tool if you use it right.

    The first step in building an email list is to select an email marketing service provider, which I’m sure you already had.

    The second and most crucial step is to find a WordPress plugin that will drive your subscription rate off the roof. After all, having the best email marketing service provider isn’t going to give you much assistance if you aren’t converting visitors into subscribers.

    To help you on this step, I’ve compared two of the best list building plugins on the market so that you can build your list in the most efficient way possible.

     

    Thrive Leads

    Introduction: Thrive Leads is the complete list building plugin for WordPress. It has every type of opt-in form including Sticky Ribbon, Popup Lightbox, Slide-In, Opt-in Widget, and Screen Filler.

    Summary: Thrive Leads is a good choice if you want to have complete control on how the plugin works. It allows you to tweak everything under the roof, without any coding skills.

    Thrive Leads is one of the most popular list building plugins for bloggers nowadays because there is just so much hype around this plugin. What I love about Thrive Leads are:

    • Multiple opt-in forms which can be set to trigger and appear in multiple places
    • Perform numerous A/B testing (split test)
    • Availability of shortcodes
    • One click sign up links
    • Sign up subscribers directly to webinar
    • Ready made templates and boxes to choose from

    What makes Thrive Leads an awesome plugin for list building is the ability to do anything with just one plugin. As for the record, ThriveBoxes is one feature that no other list building plugin had ever integrated and it works like LeadPages’s Leadboxes feature (sorry LeadPages).

    For the record, Thrive Leads is included in the Thrive Membership and no separate purchase is required.

    1. Configuring Thrive Leads

    Love the basic setup? No worries. Here’s the common setup you can choose with Thrive Leads:

    opt in types thrive leads vs optinmonster

    There are many ready-made templates you can choose from when you use Thrive Leads. Here are some examples:

    Thrive Leads ready made templates

    Now, that’s really a lot of templates, right?

    The guys over at Thrive Leads understand the challenges faced by bloggers and marketers. Not many of us are design-driven and therefore, having different types of ready-made templates and drag and drop builder helps us to create better forms to build an email list.

    Disclaimer: My favorite is still ‘Scroll Mat’. Just saying 🙂

     

    2. A/B testing with Thrive Leads

    Apart from that, Thrive Leads comes with the awesome A/B testing which is godly. With this feature, you can literally any testing such as:

    • Different Form Types: A lightbox popup vs. a slide-in form or a widget vs. a ribbon.
    • Different Triggers: Show a popup after 3 seconds, once the visitor scrolls 50% down the page or when the visitor is about to exit your site.
    • Different Design & Content: Change the headline, add a new image or switch colors.
    • Different Offers: Download a checklist vs. Participate in a webinar

    You can start and stop the A/B testing at any time, as well as the ability to select the winner (either manually or automatically).

    split testing feature with thrive leads

     

    3. Precise targeting using Thrive Leads

    Advancement of technology allows us to do a lot of things and one of them is to show relevant popups to the right type of audience. With Thrive Leads, you can display specific forms with just a few clicks:

    customizing thrive leads

    4. Powerful features that made Thrive Leads super powerful

    Want to know why Thrive Leads is powerful? Here are four things you should know (if you are dead serious in list building using Thrive Leads):

    • Exit Trigger: Show your opt-in the moment a visitor is thinking about leaving your website.
    • Time Trigger: Choose between showing your opt-in form instantly or after a certain amount of time (in seconds) has passed.
    • Scroll Trigger: Choose between showing your opt-in form when a user scrolls to a specific part of the content, after passing a defined percentage of the content, or after reaching the end of your content.
    • Click Trigger: Show your opt-in when a user clicks an element (like a button or link) in your content.

     

    5. What didn’t I like about Thrive Leads?

    Apart of all the goodies that Thrive Leads can offer, there are still things I wished they could be improved.

    Thrive Leads doesn’t play well with CloudFlare: I use CloudFlare to speed up my website and I have specific Page Rules to make my website blazing fast. The problem is Thrive Leads visual builder (WYSIWYG) doesn’t work well when those options are turned on. Of course, there isn’t much Thrive Leads could do but if you want to use Thrive Leads with CloudFlare, make sure you turn off the ‘Rocket Loader‘ on CloudFlare (temporary) while setting up forms using Thrive Leads.

    What is Rocket Loader?

    Rocket Loader improves page load times by:

    • Decreasing the number of network requests by bundling JavaScript files, even third party resources, to avoid slowing down page rendering
    • Asynchronously loading scripts, including third party scripts, so that they do not block the content of your page from loading immediately
    • Caching scripts locally (using LocalStorage, available on most browsers and smart phones) so they aren’t refetched unless necessary

    Just too many customizations and made it confusing: Thrive Leads comes with so many customizations which it is really tricky for beginners. Sure, they have videos but let’s be honest. Who views the videos unless you are desperate, right? The options aren’t really direct and idiot-proof if you know what I mean.

     

    6. How much is Thrive Leads?

    There are three different pricing structures you can choose from (each comes with one year support):

    • 1 Site: $67
    • 5 Sites: $97
    • 15 Sites: $147

    Alternatively, you can choose Thrive Membership which costs $19 per month (with all plugins included for unlimited sites) when you pay annually.

    When it comes to pricing, I would say that it is definitely worth the money because of the features that Thrive Leads provide.

     

    7. Is Thrive Leads worth it?

    Here’s the biggest question. I’ve been using Thrive Leads since the beta stage and I would say that it is pretty well done. If I would comment, I would say that their finishing isn’t as smooth as OptinMonster but apart from that, they are pretty much awesome to say the very least.

     

    8. My verdict for Thrive Leads

    Thrive Leads is best for advanced users who want to double their email list in just a short period of time. Plus, it is also a great tool because you get everything you need under one roof.

    With the amount of features that comes packing with Thrive Leads, this is definitely one of the best list building plugins I had used for a long time. Highly recommend anyone to use this!

    Click here to try Thrive Leads today!

     

    OptinMonster

    Introduction: OptinMonster is not just a WordPress plugin. It’s a complete web-based app that’s available for different platforms including WordPress.

    Summary: OptinMonster is very smooth and easy to use. An absolutely beast that helps you build an email list fast, minus all the challenging configuration and hassle.

    Just like Thrive Leads, OptinMonster had evolved a lot … from a humble beginning to a massive email list building for WordPress users.

    OptinMonster comes packing with a huge list of features which include:

    • Lightbox
    • Sidebar
    • Floating Bar
    • After post / In-Line
    • Slide-in
    • Mobile
    • Full Screen

    The best part? Each of these forms can be customized according to your liking through drag and drop.

     

    1. Display rules on OptinMonster

    OptinMonster display rules

    Anyone who is serious about email list building knows that display rules feature is critical. For the record, OptinMonster is the first WordPress email list building plugin that offers Exit-Intent feature.

    Let me give you a quick example.

    If you configure your campaign to load after a 7-second delay and set a 50% scroll value, then your visitors will have to be on your site for 7 seconds AND scroll the page 50% or more to trigger the campaign.

    The next step is to choose your intended audience who will see the form.

    OptinMonster comparison versus Thrive Leads

    Note: You can easily setup more display rules to further customize your forms on OptinMonster. This gives you more control on what your forms can and cannot do, thus giving you more precise audience targeting.

     

    2. MonsterLinks

    What is MonsterLinks?

    MonsterLinks is the name of the 2-Step Opt-in technology from OptinMonster. MonsterLinks can turn any link or image into a 2-step opt-in process. When a user clicks on the link or an image, a popup opens up asking them to subscribe.

    Brian Dean from Backlink uses MonsterLinks on the site to boost email subscriptions. Here’s how it looks like in action.

    Monsterlinks

    The concept of Content Upgrades is based on a psychology principle known as the Zeigarnik Effect, which states that those who initiate are more likely to finish the process.

     

    3. OptinMonster’s Success Themes

    In short, OptinMonster comes with a list of ready-made templates for you to choose from. Wonder why they use the name “success themes?”

    OptinMonsters success themes

    Well, these are templates which had been tested out and prove to be extremely effective for your success.

    I love OptinMonster’s success themes because I have zero knowledge in design. Yup, no joke.

     

    4. What didn’t I like about OptinMonster?

    I often compare both OptinMonster and Thrive Leads (Thrive Leads vs OptinMonster in my mind) and one thing I wished I had more are the ready-made templates.

    OptinMonster doesn’t come with that many ready-made templates compared to Thrive Leads.

    Another thing I didn’t like about OptinMonster is the campaign setup. Coming from Thrive Leads, OptinMonster seems to be very specific when it comes to campaign creation. While there is nothing wrong with it (generally speaking), it certainly felt like each campaign is dictated by opt-in type. And yes, in some ways that felt very annoying 🙁

     

    5. How much does OptinMonster cost?

    The pricing for OptinMoster is slightly different. For starters, each pricing plan comes with very different features.

    Basic: $19/month or $108/year (save 25%)

    • Unlimited Optin Forms
    • A/B Split Testing
    • Page Level Targeting
    • User-friendly Reporting 1 site

    Plus: $29/month or $228/year (save 25%)

    • Everything in Basic, and:
    • Floating Bar
    • Sidebar Forms
    • After Post / Inline Forms
    • Content Locking
    • 3 sites

    Pro: $39/month or $348/year (save 25%)

    • Everything in Plus, and:
    • Exit-Intent Technology
    • Referral Detection
    • Mobile Specific Forms
    • Yes / No Forms
    • Slide-in Scroll Trigger Boxes
    • Smart Canvas Forms
    • Full Screen Takeovers
    • Campaign Scheduling
    • Unlimited Sites
    • Priority Support

     

    6. Is OptinMonster worth it?

    I know, you are not pretty much undecided if OptinMonster is worth it. Here’s what I think.

    OptinMonster is good and very intuitive. It is prior in the market and what makes it really good is that it is co-founded by Syed Balkhi, founder of WP Beginner. Now, this means that plugins created by him and his team are always very good and able to integrate to any WordPress themes without issue.

     

    7. My personal verdict on OptinMonster

    I love beautiful things (and plugins). Personally, I would say that OptinMonster is well created and deserve all the credits in the email list building industry. Being an active OptinMonster user, I would say that there is no doubt in my mind that OptinMonster is good and worth the money.

    See OptinMonster demo here!

     

    OptinMonster vs Thrive Leads

    The real comparison for OptinMonster vs Thrive Leads is probably the pricing factor.

    • $348 – OptinMonster (Pro’s package with all features included)
    • $228 – Thrive Themes (10 themes and 6 plugins including Thrive leads)

    Both OptinMonster and Thrive Leads are available as subscription-based service, which means that you’ll always have to pay either a monthly or annual fee to use them.

    Comparing OptinMonster vs Thrive Leads on the smallest plan, here’s how it looks like:

    • $108 – OptinMonster (single site with selected features)
    • $67 – Thrive Leads (single site with all features)

    Now, as you can see, it is actually more worth it (and you get more savings too) when you opt for Thrive Leads. Even when using Thrive Leads with the smallest plan of $67, you save $41 per year and on top of that, you are not limited to the features as of what OptinMonster offers for its smallest plan.

    Overall, it is important to understand that while both offers very similar features, Thrive Leads is seen to be the best option since it doesn’t limit you for any of its features.

    When it comes to email list building, you certainly wouldn’t want to be bolted down with restrictions, right?

    I hope you like this OptinMonster vs Thrive Leads comparison. Which is your favorite email list building plugin?

  • Convertkit vs Drip vs MailChimp: The Best Email Marketing Automation

    Convertkit vs Drip vs MailChimp: The Best Email Marketing Automation

    The introduction to email marketing automation (before we compare MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip)

    Email marketing automation is the thing right now. It doesn’t matter if you are selling a course or simply trying to create a more engaged subscriber.

    According to Hubspot, success in email marketing automation comes down to two parts:

    • Recognizing that marketing automation does not do marketing and lead generation for you but it can help you scale your business
    • Centering your marketing messages around the real and live person at the receiving end of your campaigns

    It makes all the sense if you think about it.

    The first step is to start creating content that attracts the right type of audience and when they show up at your doorsteps, you need to bribe them with a powerful call to action (I use Thrive Leads for that matter).

    The second part is to understand your audience before you are able to send emails that resonate closely with them. Hubspot said about “treating them like a real person” and that’s what you should be doing!

    Using advanced tagging tools, you will be able to send timely and powerful email contents to them and in return, you will get better click-through rates and engagement. Plus, you may even see a drop in people unsubscribing as well!

    BONUS: For a limited time only, I’m opening up an exclusive 7-days course to help you with affiliate marketing. Want in? Click here for more info!

    MailChimp, ConvertKit, and Drip are three of the most powerful email marketing automation software in the market today. I was searching for MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip the past few days and sadly, I can’t find one. Therefore, I did mine and I hope you like it!

    What made it worse is that most of the comparisons out there don’t compare or even include MailChimp. So, I hope this comparison between MailChimp, ConvertKit, and Drip will give you a great idea on which email marketing automation you should be using for your business.

    This post would be pretty long since I’m giving a detailed explanation on all the three email marketing automation. Therefore, here’s a quick drive down on the overall summary for them.

    I recommend you to read the full article to get the complete information which will certainly be useful for your decision making between MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip.

     

    If you are a complete beginner or running with very limited funds for email marketing

    Then your best choice is MailChimp.

    Sure, MailChimp has several weaknesses (highlighted here) but it is still the best value for money. I have seen MailChimp grow a lot since two years back and now, I’m proud to say that it has evolved into an excellent email marketing automation system.

    Here are the reasons why you need to be using MailChimp for email marketing:

    • Absolutely free to use (up to 12,000 emails a month and 2,000 subscribers)
    • Comes with email marketing automation for all accounts
    • Easy to setup and start for beginners
    • Comes with an array of beautiful templates (for newsletters)
    • Excellent delivery rates
    • Easy integration with third party apps and e-Commerce stores
    • Advanced tagging for paid accounts

     

    How much does MailChimp cost?

    • New Business plan (forever free) > Free for life up to 12,000 email per month and 2,000 subscribers
    • Growing Business plan > Starts from $10 per month for 500 email subscribers and unlimited email delivery
    • Pro Marketer plan > Starts from $199 per month

     

    Who uses MailChimp?

    • Yoast SEO
    • Leadfeeder
    • Viral Loops
    • Breezy HR
    • Captive Media

    >> Try MailChimp Today <<

     

    If you are a blogger or marketer trying to better manage your subscribers for better click-through rates and engagement

    Then your best choice is ConvertKit.

    ConvertKit is built for bloggers and marketers who want more than just email marketing. As a matter of fact, ConvertKit is was built directly against what MailChimp is doing and ConvertKit is a great alternative to MailChimp.

    Here are the reasons why ConvertKit is best for you:

    • Easy to use, plain templates that are proven to increase clicks and engagement rate
    • ConvertKit is subscriber centric (ability to manage your subscribers with just a few clicks)
    • Send targeted emails based on your subscriber’s interest
    • Easily track subscriber’s actions based on clicks tracking
    • Easy to use email automation system
    • Comes with unlimited landing pages

     

    How much does ConvertKit cost?

    • 1 to 1,000 subscribers > $29 per month
    • 1,001 to 3,000 subscribers > $49 per month
    • 3,001 to 5,000 subscribers > $79 per month

    There are also custom plans for those who have a huge list of email subscribers.

     

    Who uses ConverKit?

    • CopyHackers
    • Bare Metrics
    • Smart Passive Income by Pat Flynn
    • Tara Gentile
    • Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss

    >> Try ConvertKit today! <<

     

    If you are trying to sell eBooks, courses, and other paid media

    Then Drip is your best choice.

    Drip is just like ConvertKit, but with many other functions in it. What makes Drip different from the rest of the email marketing automation systems is the ability to tag each subscriber with extreme details.

    Here are the reasons why you need to use Drip for email marketing automation:

    • Custom made email marketing automation that makes sense
    • Details workflow and email automation creation
    • Advanced tracking of email subscribers
    • Get more insights and more revenue with contact management tools
    • Drip integrates with just about everything
    • Comes with inbuilt widget without needing any plugin

     

    How much does Drip cost?

    • 1 to 100 subscribers > Starter plan (Free)
    • 101 to 2,500 subscribers > $49 per month
    • 2,501 to 5,000 subscribers > $99 per month

    There are also custom plans for those who have a huge list of email subscribers.

     

    Who uses Drip?

    • Help Scout
    • Ambassador
    • When I Work
    • Segment
    • Teamwork
    • Samcart

    >> Create a free Drip account here <<

     

    MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip – Complete Comparison

    Now that you get a quick hang on what email marketing automation software and the importance of having the right tool, let’s dive into the main topic for today, MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip.

     

    MailChimp Review

    MailChimp is one of the best email marketing automation for beginners and small businesses. As for the record, MailChimp doesn’t offer automation back then. But since May 2017, MailChimp had rolled out new email automation for every MailChimp user.

    And yes, you guessed it right! Even for the free accounts!

    Email marketing automation can be a challenging business. Lucky for you, MailChimp is one of those email marketing providers that made marketing automation really that easy (even for beginners) to master!

    https://youtu.be/qNvC75dt0jQ

    It totally makes sense since there is so much competition in the market where MailChimp can no longer keep their hands clean and not doing anything about it.

    For email marketing beginners, the MailChimp move is heavenly and timely.

    I still use MailChimp for some of my projects and they are good. I have absolutely no complaints about them and I believe you won’t have either, especially when you do not need advanced tagging on email subscribers.

     

    Advantages using MailChimp

    • Availability of free and premium plans
    • Email automation on all plans (including free ones)
    • Beautiful templates
    • Best in the market for drag and drop
    • Excellent delivery rates

     

    Disadvantages using MailChimp

    • The process of tagging a subscriber is not an easy task (coding required)
    • Ugly subscription forms
    • Many advanced features for email marketing are not available in the free plan
    • Very strict rules in email content (including affiliates and promotions)
    • Support is slow and available only for paid plans

     

    My personal recommendations for using MailChimp

    MailChimp is best when you do not require any advanced email marketing features. You can consider using MailChimp if you are just starting out in the blogging world or if you have a developer in-house to code your email for tagging reasons.

    You can’t go wrong using MailChimp and once you are comfortable enough with email marketing, there are better options such as ConvertKit and Drip to consider.

    Start here: You can start using MailChimp using this link.

     

    ConvertKit Review

    If you like the interface on MailChimp, you are going to love ConvertKit too. Being a ConvertKit user, the best way to describe ConvertKit is MailChimp on steroids.

    ConvertKit is powerful because it serves three main purposes that most email marketing automation software isn’t able to do:

    • Ability to tag each subscriber based on actions with ease
    • Inbuilt landing pages makes lead generation even more powerful
    • Easy email automation system with visual

    Another selling point using ConvertKit is the forms, tags, and segments which will help you to segment your subscribers (a little setup required). Hit play on the video below to get more information.

    Advantages using ConvertKit

    • The power of Infusionsoft, but easier to use than MailChimp
    • Integration with more than a dozen apps
    • Email automation made easy
    • Very supportive and active support team
    • ConvertKit is created mainly for bloggers and advanced marketers
    • Affordable pricing and plans to fit your needs

     

    Disadvantages using ConvertKit

    • Not able to manage multiple domains using one account
    • Landing pages are very simple and limited in choices
    • Plain text in most email templates
    • Pricing increases dramatically (more than others) at higher tiers
    • No free plan available

     

    My personal recommendations for using ConvertKit

    You should be using ConvertKit if you are serious about making money out of your email list. ConvertKit even published an article on the 5 reasons why you shouldn’t use ConvertKit and stick to MailChimp.

    In short, ConvertKit comes with a small price tag for some heavy duty email automation features.

    Is ConvertKit worth the money? Absolutely!

    Start here: Click here to check out ConvertKit now!

     

    Drip Review

    When I moved to Drip, I had my hat blown off. BIG TIME!

    I heard about Drip sometime back and when LeadPages acquired Drip, I knew Drip was something. It must be, right?

    Drip is like putting ConvertKit on steroids. Why?

    drip email automation

    I am totally blown away when I created my first account with Drip. What I love (not like) the most is the introductory part where you would need to answer a few questions. The answers collected from the Q&A will be used to customize your email marketing solution when you first start on Drip.

    In other words, you will start with many features turned on (which helped a lot with the whole process).

    I do a lot of things with my website; from consulting business to selling courses. So, it is a no-brainer to use Drip because of several advanced options under the hood.

     

    Advantages using Drip

    There are a lot of advantages using Drip (just like ConvertKit and MailChimp) and here is a list of them:

    • A best-in-class visual workflow builder
    • You can automate everything (18 triggers and 16 actions in the automation rule builder)
    • Tag your subscribers based on their actions
    • Identify your best leads (useful if you are selling a product or services)
    • Send targeted emails (drip campaigns, broadcasts and one-off emails)
    • Ability to track your email marketing performance
    • Effortlessly capture email addresses (instead of using plugins)
    • Drip natively integrates with dozens of applications and platforms
    • Availability of free plan (for 100 email subscribers)

    As you can see above, Drip does offer more advantages when compared to ConvertKit and MailChimp.

    But hey, Drip has its disadvantages too!

     

    Disadvantages using Drip

    • Overall pricing is more expensive when your list is small (price improves once your list grows)
    • Not suitable for beginners and newly started bloggers
    • Too many features which may lead to confusion for beginners
    • The free plan is only for 100 email subscribers

     

    My personal recommendations for using Drip

    Drip is not for everyone. As a matter of fact, the same goes for MailChimp and ConvertKit. Drip is the best email marketing automation software if you know exactly what you are selling.

    I use Drip for this website because I wanted to create powerful marketing automation funnels to deliver the right content to the right audience.

    The Goal: Create powerful marketing automation funnels

    Start here: Click here to see Drip in action now!

     

    MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip – Summary

    Phew!

    This is a long comparison between the top three email marketing automation systems in the market today. What do you think?

    Would you go for:

    • MailChimp which is the best free email automation system?
    • ConvertKit if you are a blogger or marketer who wants to better manage your subscribers?
    • Or like me, going for Drip because you want to have powerful email marketing automation features to maximize revenue and engagement?

    Leave a comment below and I’m happy to hear your thoughts.

  • AWeber Review 2017: Why Email Marketing Consultants Are Recommending AWeber?

    AWeber Review 2017: Why Email Marketing Consultants Are Recommending AWeber?

    In this AWeber review 2017, we are going to take an in-depth look at one of the popular email marketing solution (that are even recommended by most email marketing consultants).

    [feature_box style=”8″ only_advanced=”There%20are%20no%20title%20options%20for%20the%20choosen%20style” alignment=”center”]

    Latest Update: Like email marketing? Read my latest comparison between MailChimp, ConvertKit, and Drip for 2017! Read more.

    [/feature_box]

    We will go through everything you need to know about AWeber, including the advantages and disadvantages of using AWeber for business owners.

    aweber review 2017

    What is AWeber?

    Until date, AWeber is one of the most popular email marketing and autoresponder tools for business owners and bloggers alike.

    AWeber got its fame in the email marketing world because it offers excellent pricing, features, templates, interface and customer support.

     

    AWeber Review: What are the features of AWeber

    I’m planning to make this post as the best AWeber review, and therefore, I want this post to be as informative as possible. This post on AWeber review is more than 2,400 words and therefore, feel free to bookmark this for future reference!

    AWeber is a full-fledged email marketing and automation tool and here are the complete (yes, C-O-M-P-L-E-T-E) features that it offers:

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”1.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • Campaigns
    • Autoresponder Follow Up
    • Expert Customer Service
    • Subscriber Segmenting
    • Sign Up Forms with Style
    • Email Newsletters
    • RSS to Email
    • Drag-And-Drop Editor
    • HTML Email Templates
    • App Showcase
    • Manage Subscribers
    • Email Delivery Rates
    • Email Marketing Tracking
    • AWeber Stats App
    • Atom App
    • Email Marketing API

    [/bullet_block]

    Phew, that’s a huge list of 16 email marketing and automation tools that will skyrocket your email marketing strategy.

    No wonder why email marketing consultants always recommend AWeber, right?

     

    1. Creating Campaigns Using AWeber

    [button_3 text=”get-started-its-free.png” align=”center” href=”https://www.reginaldchan.net/recommends/aweber/”/]

    What I love about AWeber is the ability to automate your emails.

    But wait! You probably heard that AWeber can’t do email automation like that.

    Yes, you are right, but that was AWeber back in 2016. AWeber is now able to perform email automation and do all the excellent tagging you always wished.

    The new AWeber sleek drag and drop editor will be the only thing you ever need when it comes to email automation.

    [feature_box style=”8″ only_advanced=”There%20are%20no%20title%20options%20for%20the%20choosen%20style” alignment=”center”]

    Through statistics, click through rates (CTR) for automated emails are up to 35% higher than broadcasts. So, segmenting and automating your emails will be an effective strategy in building long-lasting relationships with your email subscribers.

    [/feature_box]

    When you use AWeber, you are no longer creating normal, boring email campaigns. With the inbuilt email automation by AWeber, you can not only schedule emails sequence based on time, but you can also create powerful action-based segmenting!

    Here are three important email marketing strategies that you can use with AWeber (even though there are probably hundreds of them that you can build yourself):

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”1.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • Welcome campaign
    • Educational campaign
    • Linking one campaign to another

    [/bullet_block]

    NOTE: You can add elements like autoresponder emails and wait times, and set criteria for when someone starts a campaign.

     

    2. Autoresponder Follow Up

    Make no mistakes; AWeber email automation tool is powerful, and can skyrocket your email marketing to new heights.

    AWeber autoresponder follows up sequence, you can:

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”1.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • Save a lot of time
    • Build relationships that last
    • Increase engagements and more importantly
    • Making the great first impression

    [/bullet_block]

    Not only that, you can tag your email subscribers based on the actions they have taken. This ensures that you are growing your email lists and reduce the chances that your email goes into the spam folder and improve your unsubscribing rate as well!

     

    3. Customer Support

    AWeber customer support is good. At any point in time where you need help, you can fire up a question, and they are they to help out (unlike other AWeber competitors).

    Here’s what you need to know about AWeber customer support level:

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”1.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • Just a call or click away
    • Availability of knowledge base
    • Weekly and monthly email marketing guides
    • Constant updates on AWeber’s blog

    [/bullet_block]

    Current awards that AWeber had are:

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”69.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • 2017 Stevie (Bronze) Winner for Sales & Customer Service
    • 2016 Stevie (Gold) Winner for Sales & Customer Service
    • 2015 Service Team of the Year Runner-Up, NCSA All-Stars

    [/bullet_block]

    aweber testimonial

     

    [feature_box style=”8″ only_advanced=”There%20are%20no%20title%20options%20for%20the%20choosen%20style” alignment=”center”]

    BONUS: Click here and try AWeber for 30-days free (no credit card required).

    [/feature_box]

     

    4. Subscriber Segmenting

    Segmenting is important because you want to send the right message to them, at the right time.

    Always remember that segmenting ensures they only receive content that is relevant to their needs. As a result, you have more engaged readers, better click-through rates, and more sales.

    Here are a few ways you can segment your email subscribers based on their activities:

    aweber segmenting

     

    5. Email Sign Up Forms

    Let’s face this. You want to attract more subscribers to your email lists with sign up forms that look great on any device.

    Need to grow your email list? AWeber can help!

    AWeber comes with over 700 ready-to-use templates which make it easy to create professional sign up forms for your online business in minutes.

    With AWeber, you can:

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”1.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • Add forms to your website, blog or Facebook with just a few clicks
    • Get more eyes on your emails
    • Easily use matching colour schemes and forms that look good on any device
    • Test your forms using AWeber inbuilt A/B testing

    [/bullet_block]

     

    6. State-Of-The-Art Email Newsletter Software

    Do you want to have an email newsletter software that connects you with your readers, and ultimately transforming them into die-hard fans?

    I bet you do!

    With AWeber, you can deliver the best email newsletters with just a few clicks.

    Want to know why I recommend AWeber for all my clients?

    [step_graphics style=”1″ color=””][step style=”1″ text=”1″ headline=”Segment%20Your%20List”]%3Cp%3ESegment%20your%20list%20based%20on%20people%20who%20read%20your%20last%20email%20or%20re-engage%20people%20who%20didn%E2%80%99t.%20It%E2%80%99s%20the%20simplest%20way%20to%20make%20sure%20the%20right%20people%20get%20the%20right%20messages.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A[/step][step style=”1″ text=”2″ headline=”Create%20Your%20Message”]%3Cp%3EDrag%2C%20drop%20and%20edit%20-%20with%20AWeber%E2%80%99s%20email%20newsletter%20software%2C%20there%20is%20no%20design%20or%20coding%20experience%20required.%20Need%20images%3F%20We%E2%80%99ve%20got%20more%20than%206%2C000%20to%20choose%20from.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A[/step][step style=”1″ text=”3″ headline=”Send%20AWesome%20Emails”]%3Cp%3EWe%20provide%20all%20the%20analytics%20you%20need%20to%20track%20your%20emails’%20success.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A[/step][step style=”1″ text=”4″ headline=”Use%20a%20Template”]%3Cp%3EChoose%20from%20over%20700%20free%20newsletter%20templates%2C%20plug%20in%20your%20content%20and%20go.%20Need%20something%20extra%20special%3F%20We%20can%20build%20you%20a%20custom%20template%20too.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A[/step][/step_graphics]

    Yes, you read it right. The benefits of using AWeber is very clear. You have INSTANT ACCESS to over 6,000 stock images and 700 free newsletter templates.

    And AWeber allows you to integrate easily with your social media accounts!

    email newsletter automation software

     

    7. RSS to Email

    Email marketing is a great way to boost readership but do you know why so many bloggers and business owners fail to achieve that?

    They are not using the right email marketing software! A good email marketing software allows you to email blog articles directly from your website.

    When you use AWeber, you can transform your most recent posts into a newsletter for your readers. And the best part, it is done automatically!

    All you need is to hook up your RSS link to AWeber, and the rest are all taken cared of!

    The technology that AWeber has allows you to broadcast email newsletter from all major blogs, regardless of the blog software you are using.

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    Do you know that the easiest way to keep your subscribers updated with blog content is through email automation? Sign up for free 30-days unlimited access to AWeber and skyrocket your blog traffic today!

    [/feature_box]

     

    8. Drag-And-Drop Editor

    Drag, drop and send. How easy can that be?

    Creating professional looking emails from scratch is easy. With the drag-and-drop editor, you no longer need to code and build your email templates.

    A task that would take a few hours to complete could not be completed in just a few clicks.

    Here is a few features of AWeber email marketing software:

    aweber review 2017

     

    9. HTML Email Templates

    We receive hundreds of emails a day, and one of the best ways to make your email stand out is by making it memorable.

    In this case, you wouldn’t want to send those plain text email. You want to send them using a standard email template that is customized specifically for you!

    But here’s the thing. It is expensive to do one (apart from nerve-wracking with all the coding works).

    When you use AWeber, you are going to benefit in terms of time saving and professional email template designs.

    For starters, there are over 700 HTML email templates that you can choose from, ranging from 1-column, 2-column and yes, even plain text you’re a die-hard fan of those.

    There are also many color themes that you can use to match your website, and this is crucial. You want to brand your email marketing campaigns with the signup forms and even emails.

    With AWeber, all of the above are achievable at no cost to you!

    And if you are coming from another email marketing software or have your custom design in mind, you can upload it directly to AWeber.

    custom email templates AWeber

     

    10. App Showcase

    Do you have landing pages and shopping carts that you want to connect to your email marketing software?

    You can do it easily with AWeber.

    There are hundreds of different integration that you can use with AWeber, including:

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”1.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • Facebook
    • WordPress
    • LeadPages
    • PayPal
    • Launch Effect
    • Cyfe
    • Dasheroo
    • Drupal
    • Heyo
    • Short Stack
    • Rafflecopter
    • Gleam
    • Clickbank
    • Etsy
    • Shopify
    • Magento
    • 2Checkout
    • SumoMe
    • OptimizePress
    • aMember Pro
    • Member Mouse
    • Zendesk

    [/bullet_block]

     

    11. Manage Subscribers

    Do you wish to collect, manage and segmenting your subscribers with just a snap?

    With AWeber, everything you need to build a healthy email list is available at your disposal, under one roof.

    You can build your custom forms, tracking your subscriber’s activity and action, segmenting your list or even moving your list from other email marketing services to AWeber can be done easily.

    When I wanted to move my email list from GetResponse to AWeber, it took me under 15 minutes to completely import the lists. There was no need of support as it is just that simple!

    aweber review

     

    12. Email Delivery Rates

    Email delivery rates are vital and seriously, make no mistakes from this.

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    The ultimate goal is to get more eyes on your emails, and this can only be done when your email marketing software can deliver emails timely and accurately.

    [/feature_box]

    How good is AWeber delivery rates?

    I would say it is excellent, and probably as high as 99.99%. With a good and clean list, you are pretty much able to get perfect delivery rates with AWeber.

    And if you ever need help (which you certainly will somewhere down the road), AWeber regularly provide insider updates to ensure that you stay on top of the frequent changes that will affect your email marketing and delivery rates.

    Plus, easy to read analytics will make sure that you know what’s going on under the hood, any time of the day!

    AWeber Delivery Rates

     

    13. Email Tracking and Analytics

    Ask any email marketing consultants (not marketers), and they will tell you that the only way to grow your email marketing is by understanding the analytics. Seriously.

    Over the past decade, I’ve been helping business owners come in terms when email marketing; more specifically, helping them with email marketing consultancy.

    One of the biggest concerns for business owners, entrepreneurs and bloggers is to understand the analytics. Strong understanding of email analytics will help you to:

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”28.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • Send better emails (emails that get open and read)
    • Make more sales (raise your hands if you doesn’t like $$$)
    • Drive traffic to your website
    • Target (and understand) your audience based on their actions

    [/bullet_block]

    Sending emails is always the first part of email marketing. The second part is to analyze the results. Finally, you will know how you can maximize and make more sales!

    [feature_box style=”8″ only_advanced=”There%20are%20no%20title%20options%20for%20the%20choosen%20style” alignment=”center”]

    Important tip: If you want to start getting your emails read and ultimately achieve your business goals, start analyzing your email marketing results. You should start analyzing the results of your email after a few days of sending the email.

    [/feature_box]

     

    14. Check stats via mobile (AWeber Stats App)

    According to statistics, we spend more time with mobile devices than anything else on the planet. Therefore, it makes all the sense that you are concerned about your email marketing strategy.

    When you use AWeber, you can easily download the AWeber app on Apple App Store and Google Play.

    What you’ll get would be:

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”55.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • Check scheduled broadcasts
    • View your subscribers stats
    • Watch email opens and clicks rate on real-time
    • Keep tabs on follow ups / messages

    [/bullet_block]

    With this feature, you can now gain a holistic view of your campaign that gives you up-to-the-minute stats on scheduled broadcasts, sent messages, subscriber activity and followed up messages.

     

    15. Atom App

    Now, hold on! AWeber also comes with Atom App which works as a mobile signup form that allows you to add new subscribers to your email list while you are on the go.

    The magic starts when you successfully add the email subscribers to a list. For starters, they will automatically receive your first follow-up message immediately. As a result, you are not going to (ever) leave a new subscriber hanging and instead, creating the opportunity to connect with them instantly!

     

    16. Email Marketing API

    This. Is. Geeky. Stuffs.

    When you use AWeber, you can easily integrate applications easily with AWeber’s API.

    As AWeber is one of the best email marketing software in the market, the company has created ‘AWeber Labs’ where you can set up and find apps to integrate with AWeber.

    For beginners, you will 100% enjoy it since it is free to create a developer account and right after that, you’ll have unrestricted access to all the information you need to start building your first app!

     

    AWeber Review: Features (Recap)

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    If I would sum it in one sentence, I would say that AWeber is a great email marketing software that provides flexibility and tons of features for its users.

    [/feature_box]

    When it comes to email marketing software features, AWeber is very much at the top of the crop because it provides features that are high in quality and more importantly, reliable.

     

    AWeber Review: How Much Does AWeber Costs?

    According to AWeber, anyone can succeed with email marketing for less than a few lattes a month. 

    AWeber costs $19 per month, for up to 500 subscribers and unlimited emails.

    For $19 a month, you’ll get:

    [bullet_block style=”size-16″ small_icon=”1.png” width=”” alignment=”center”]

    • Email experts who are available 24/7/365 to help you with email marketing
    • Easy-to-use tools to create high converting emails and sign up forms
    • Industry-leading deliverability
    • State-of-the-art email automation system

    [/bullet_block]

    Here are a full list of features, as well as the different email marketing plans to fit your needs:

    aweber pricing

    Even one of my close contact, John Corcoran has nothing but excellent AWeber review:

    how good is AWeber (Aweber review)

    AWeber plans are very flexible and if you are starting out, consider using the lowest plan for a trial run.

    And if you are looking for some AWeber discounts, going for quarterly and annual billing option will just do the trick!

     

    AWeber Review 2017: Why Email Marketing Consultants Are Recommending AWeber?

    When it comes to email marketing software, AWeber is one of the best in the market. Affordability and reliable, AWeber is one of the best I have ever used for both business and blogging. Email marketing consultants are recommending AWeber simply because it is really easy to use and extremely reliable.

    I totally understand that AWeber may/may not be the best fit for you. If you are having trouble deciding or committing on AWeber, AWeber is offering a free 30-days trial. All you need to do is to click on this link and start sending emails today!

    Try AWeber out and take it a spin for a full 30-days. If it doesn’t fit, just cancel the account at no cost to you.

    BONUS: AWeber 30-days free trial doesn’t limit you on email marketing. It comes with full access to all features, just like having a paid account.

  • Advanced Tutorial For Setting Up GetResponse For Email Marketing

    Advanced Tutorial For Setting Up GetResponse For Email Marketing

    I am in love with the GetResponse email marketing provider and my experience with them since day one was mostly sweet. Having an email marketing provider that work hand in hand with you is like having a salesman that takes care of all the marketing and reaching out for you.

    While this is easier said than done, setting up an email marketing solution correctly is always challenging and confusing. Been there and done that to be honest.

    Don’t worry about it as I will be going through (in detail) on how to setup GetResponse email from the scratch, and no skill needed!

    What you will learn in this article are:

    • How to signup for GetResponse?
    • Setting up your first campaign
    • Setting up an autoresponder
    • How to create email messages
    • How to use the RSS to Email feature for email marketing

    As you can see, this is a superb long article and thus, I recommend you to bookmark this for future reference.

    For those visual lovers, you can also check out the slides below:

    [content_toggle style=”1″ label=”Embed this slide on your blog now!” hide_label=”Hide”]

    [/content_toggle]

    How good is GetResponse?

    I have used quite a few email marketing services in the past and to be utterly honest, nothing really come close to GetResponse (both service level and cost).

    GetResponse offer pretty much everything out-of-the-box when it comes to email marketing and features such as:

    1. Responsive designs
    2. A/B testing
    3. Auto responders
    4. Email creator
    5. Landing pages creator
    6. Social sharing features
    7. Email intelligence (analytics)
    8. List boosters (ease of importing contacts)
    9. Form builders
    10. Inbox preview
    11. RSS to email
    12. Time travel (more on this later on)
    13. Online surveys

    And we are not done yet! There are more than a dozen more features on GetResponse.

    From features to email marketing prices, GetResponse (in my personal opinion) is probably one of the best bang for your bucks service.

    The lowest package starts at $12.30 per month for 1,000 subscribers and you can upgrade or downgrade at anytime. What makes it even juicier is that you can easily try GetResponse email marketing for 30 days free of charge.

    Try GetResponse for free (and no credit card required).

     

    Setting up your first email campaign with GetResponse

    An email campaign is considered a list. Every time a reader signs up for your newsletter, he or she gets ‘imported’ into the email list.

    If you are setting up an email campaign, I would suggest you to create several campaigns instead of one. For example, you can create:

    • Optin for case studies
    • Optin for promotions
    • Optin for general newsletters

    The above are segmentation and this makes email marketing much easier. In other words, you would want to avoid sending all types of emails to everyone in your list. Instead, you want the right followers to receive the right emails.

    Having proper email segments could easily boost open rates, conversion and reduce subscriptions.

    1. Click on the Create Campaign tab as seen on the top right (or center) of the page.

    2. Select a campaign name and press Create New Campaign.

    Complete setup guide for GetResponse

    3. Once done, click on Edit Campaign Settings. There are two very important options here to set which are Campaign Email Address and Notifications.

    Editing GetResponse campaign settings
    This is what you see after setting up a campaign

     

     

    Special settings for in GetResponse email campaign
    These are the two custom settings you may decide to opt-in.

    If Campaign Email Address is setup accordingly, readers could easily sign up for your mailing list by sending a blank email to campaign-name@getresponse.com. I personally leave this option out.

    Notifications feature is pretty clear cut. You get notified for everyone who subscribed to your mailing list and enable this option if you are interested to get instant notification on new signups.

    4. You are all set!

    By now, you have completed setting up your first email marketing campaign. Give yourself a pat on the back or a cold beer (you may send one over for me too).

     

    Setting up GetResponse autoresponder

    An autoresponder is like having a customer service agent on steroids. Yes, autoresponder is used to say “hi” and “thank you” to all your new signups.

    Basically my GetResponse autoresponder settings are:

    • Welcome email & free gift reminder on next email
    • Email containing free gift
    • A follow up email to check if they had received the free gift

    Doing this manually to everyone of your signup would be tedious but with an autoresponder, you can basically set once and forget. Period.

    GetResponse allows us to set the number of days interval, goals succeed etc before it triggers the next email. My trigger method is rather simple:

    • Welcome email (immediate)
    • Email containing free gift (1-7 days later)
    • Email follow up (1-7 days later)

    1. Select Messages > Create Autoresponder

    Setup autoresponder using GetResponse

    2. Choose the goals you wish to have for your autoresponder (some call this triggers). To set this demo, I selected the welcome email to have the settings below:

    • Time based – 0 day
    • Send message – Immediately
    • Days – Every day
    • Autoresponder name – Select a name for reference (example, welcome email) 

    Setting up different goals to trigger different autoresponder emails

     

    Setting up GetResponse autoresponder feature

    3. Select Create New Email and key in the relevant details. There are two options to track your emails; Click-through and Google Analytics. I recommend to turn them on.

    Analytics for autoresponder email

    4. The next part is relatively easy. This is where you can build your own template or use a predefined one by GetResponse. Once you have chosen the right template, press Use Template.

    5. The image below is your standard GetResponse visual editor.

    GetResponse visual editor feature
    Does this email template look pretty?

    On the right side of the screen, you will have options to build your email template.

    There are options to save the template as Draft or for future usage.

    Once you have completed the template, you can select Test message by sending a sample email to yourself or test with over a dozen different displays and as well as selecting Mobile preview only.

    6. Now, all you have to do is to click on the Next Step and you will have the option to Publish the autoresponder.

    Building additional autoresponder is easy by repeating the same steps above. The only thing you need to do is to change the goals or triggers to put everything in place.

     

    How to send email using GetResponse?

    It is extremely to build a newsletter with GetResponse. There are two ways you can do so which are Message > Create Newsletter or by clicking the huge green button on the dashboard.

    Create email newsletter using GetResponse

    1. Once you click on either one of the links, it will bring you to the page as seen below. Remember to choose the right campaign or else, you will be building a newsletter for a different audience or recipients.

    By default, you would have two options; using New Email Creator or HTML Source Editor. Personally, I would go with the first option as it is a drag and drop feature by GetResponse.

    Have you tried GetResponse HTML editor?

    2. The next page would be pretty similar with the autoresponder setting page. The only difference would be the ability to have social share and A/B testing.

    You can integrate multiple Facebook and Twitter accounts with GetResponse. This means that whenever you send out an email newsletter, it goes live on social media too.

    With A/B testing, you can do various case studies on the types of colour, fonts and even words which could affect the open and conversion rate of the email.

    Social share and AB testing

    3. After you have configured your newsletter, it is time to head over to the sending option (visible after you press Next step). The below will be the display you will be seeing.

    GetResponse multiple sending options

    On this page, you will be able to choose who will be receiving the newsletters. Generally, the options would consist of:

    • Campaign selection
    • Saved searches (if you have search anything previously)
    • Excluding option

    You would also have the option to choose the contacts you want manually and this feature will automatically be enabled if you have selected to exclude at least one of your available campaigns.

    Manually selecting contacts

    Important note: A campaign will only be shown or visible if there is at least one subscriber in it.

    4. The next screen will show you a summary of the newsletter you had just created. Here, you would have the option to either send the newsletter out immediately (choose Send Now) or schedule it at some other time (choose Schedule).

    GetResponse Time Travel feature would mean that you have the ability to send out the particular newsletter accordingly to the recipient’s time.

    The below is the example of the screen done on my demo campaign.

    What is GetResponse Time Travel feature?

    As you can see above, the map shows the number of of recipients according to their location. Anything in blue would means that it is possible to send and anything in orange colour would mean that the time had past the current time at that specific location.

    All you need to do is to select the time and press Send.

     

    How to setup RSS to Email on GetResponse?

    For Internet Marketers, RSS to email is probably the best thing that ever happened to them. This feature enables you to send newsletters according to:

    • Time of publish
    • Number of posts

    RSS to email would only work if you have a working RSS feed for your website. If you don’t have one, you can get one using FeedBurner.

    1. Setting up RSS to email on GetResponse is rather easy. All you need to do is to fill up the following columns in the image below.

    GetResponse RSS to email settings
    How do you setup RSS to email on GetResponse?

    2. There are two frequency settings you can choose from:

    • Every time a new RSS article is posted
    • Send regular digest

    The first option is pretty clear cut but the second one, would require a little setting. It means that you can select the exact time and date the newsletter is sent out.

    RSS to email settings
    Pay extra attention to the red arrows

    There are filters which you can use such as:

    • Recent
    • Engaged
    • Shared
    • Commented

    Those simply means that a newsletter would be send out at the given time when either one of the goals above is triggered. By default, it would be Recent and thus, this means that GetResponse will send newsletter containing your latest blog post.

    3. The tricky part about setting up RSS to email on GetResponse (or any email marketing provider in this case) is the fact that the information in the newsletter are actioned according to codes.

    Here are the common RSS to email codes used by GetResponse:

    [[rss_title]] – inserts title of your RSS

    [[rssitem_title]] – inserts title of your post

    [[rssitem_author]] – inserts author’s name

    [[rssitem_content]] – inserts content of the blog post

    [[rssitem_image]] – inserts link to image added to the post

    [[rss_url]] – inserts url address of your post

    [[rss_description]] – inserts RSS description

    [[rssitem_comments]] – inserts amount of comments

     

    Codes to personalize GetResponse newsletters:

    [[firstname]] – displays contact’s firstname

    [[name]] – displays contact’s name

    [[lastname]] – displays contact’s lastname

    [[email]] – displays contact’s email address

    [[responder]] – displays the campaign name

    [[ip_address]] – displays contact’s IP address

    [[my_name]] – displays your from field name

    [[my_email]] – displays your from field email address

    [[remove]] or [[change]]- display the link for unsubscribing and updating details

    [[view]] – displays the link to on-line version of your message

    [[forward]] – displays link to forward the message to a friend

    [[facebook]] [[twitter]] [[linkedin]] [[pinterest]] [[googleplus]]- insert social sharing links that make it easy for your subscribers to share the email with their friends

    [[geo country]] [[geo country code]] [[geo region]] [[geo postal]] and [[geo postal code]] – insert geo-location data based on your subscriber’s IP address. Please note that this may not always be accurate due to how some ISPs are configured.

    [[favoritecolor]] – prints the value of the ‘favoritecolor’ custom field.

    [[shoesize]] – inserts the value of the ‘shoesize’ custom field.

    Don’t freak out!

    When I first discovered them, I nearly fainted (to be honest). Basically, there are only 3 codes you ever need to create a successful RSS to email newsletter as below:

    [[rss_start]]

    [[rssitem_url]]

    [[rss_stop]]

    Amazingly short right?

    Let’s say you are feeling a little adventurous and want to customize your GetResponse RSS to Email feature, here are the common RSS tags you can/should be using:

    [[rss_title]] – Title of the RSS Feed

    [[rss_url]] – URL of RSS Feed

    [[rss_description]] – Description of Feed, if provided

    [[rss_date]] – Publish date of Feed

    [[rss_start]] – Begin RSS block

    [[rssitem_title]] – Title of RSS Item

    [[rssitem_url]] – URL of RSS Item

    [[rssitem_content]] – Content of RSS Item

    [[rssitem_description]] – Description of RSS Item

    [[rssitem_image]] – First image found in Description

    [[rssitem_date]] – Publish date of RSS Item

    [[rssitem_author]] – Author of RSS item, if provided

    [[rssitem_tweets]] – Number of Tweets

    [[rssitem_likes]] – Number of Facebook likes

    [[rssitem_comments]] – Comments on the RSS Item

    [[rssitem_comments_url]] – URL for comments, if provided

    [[rss_stop]] – End of RSS block

    And if you are a visual type of person, here’s an example taken directly from GetResponse.

    GetResponse RSS to email example codes

     

    And yes, you are done!

    Yup, breath in a sign of relief and you are 100% done. You have successfully created a complete email marketing campaign using GetResponse.

    Now, I hope you find this email marketing tutorial useful and feel free to drop me any questions (if you have any) using the comment form below.

    Before we end this, enjoy a quick video done by the GetResponse team:

     


    Recommended tools of trade:

    Note: Hybrid Connect has been renamed to Thrive Theme in 2015.

    If you find this useful, I would appreciate if you would share this article with your friends!

  • 3 Disappointing Truth About MailChimp Email Marketing Solutions

    3 Disappointing Truth About MailChimp Email Marketing Solutions

    [et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]​MailChimp Email Marketing Services. This post was published on 9th July 2013 and it is time for an update because there are a lot of things that had changed over the years. Not only MailChimp had changed, everything from list building to email marketing solutions had evolved with technology. So, are you planning to use MailChimp for email marketing or already using MailChimp but is actively looking for alternatives? Today, I’m going to share some important things you should know about disadvantages using MailChimp which can impact your email marketing strategy dearly. ​This article is not about flaming or putting MailChimp down. Instead, it is just several small information which could affect you, your website or business if you are not careful with. More importantly, these disadvantages might impact your online marketing strategies! ​BONUS RESOURCE: ​Click here to learn more about MailChimp competitors (ConvertKit and Drip) here!

    ​What is MailChimp (or ChimpMail)?

    ​MailChimp has came a long way and over the years, it had it shares of improvements done to email marketing. MailChimp is currently the market leader for free email marketing solution. Here’s what MailChimp looks like in the past. mailchimp reviewmailchimp reviewmailchimp review ​It’s bloody old school to say the very least!  Those days, the tagline for MailChimp is “Send Better Emails” and now, the latest MailChimp tagline is “Marketing Platform For Small Businesses.” While MailChimp may have changed its logo, branding and tagline, the same old MailChimp email marketing ​model (which are highly sought after) remains:
    • ​Forever free account for email marketing
    • ​Manage up to 2,000 email subscribers free
    • ​Send up to 12,000 emails per month for free
    I know thousands ​of businesses around the world who stand by MailChimp when it comes to ​email marketing service. ​Even bloggers (both beginners and professionals) use MailChimp to manage their email lists! So, why is MailChimp such a popular email marketing service? I bet it has nothing to do with the chimpanzee who dressed up as a postal service previously. While I think that it is a great mascot as it serves a good balance between fun and work, the new mascot for MailChimp looks better and portrays quality. new MailChimp looksnew MailChimp looksnew MailChimp looks ​MailChimp got its name and fame by offering pretty much forever free email marketing solutions to those who need it. Small business owners, email marketers, bloggers and entrepreneurs use MailChimp because of the excellent pricing structures and of course, very good delivery rates. In short, MailChimp is an online email marketing solution to manage your contacts, send emails and track results. It offers forever free membership for the first 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails monthly. For me, forever free email marketing solution is very tempting and mouthwatering feature especially when you are new in blogging or Internet marketing industry. We are always trying to grow our mailing list and ​if you are just starting a new venture, you wouldn’t want to spend $20 to $100 a month for premium email marketing services. ​Hey, I get it … I’ve been there myself! When I first started Marketing Lancers (digital marketing agency in Malaysia), the entire company’s was going on lean marketing/setup. Minimum staffs and leveraging as many free tools as possible to reduce the overall cost. With the very interactive user interface, excellent back-end dashboard and​ forever free MailChimp email marketing services, ​your email marketing problem is solved, right? Well, I wished that was the case but it isn’t. There are some MailChimp weaknesses and disadvantages which you should be well aware off, or else they are going to bite you where it hurts the most (destroying your email list). ​Carry on reading to learn more about MailChimp email marketing solution. ​BONUS: If you want to learn how to use MailChimp effectively, here’s an awesome guide for you. The Complete Guide In Using MailChimp Email Marketing ​Solution (Step By Step Guide).

    1. No affiliate marketing with MailChimp

    The single biggest problem with MailChimp email marketing solution is their legal policies. MailChimp legal policies is pretty strict especially for many bloggers and work from home Internet marketers. Why? I got this shot from the main website (source below).

    ​Prohibited Content on MailChimp

    Please don’t use MailChimp to send anything offensive, to promote anything illegal, or to harass anyone. You may not send:
    • ​Pornography or other sexually explicit emails
    • ​Email offering to sell illegal goods or services
    • ​Emails that violate CAN-SPAM Laws
    • Alternate Comment TimesMarketing or commercial email with permission
    Some industries have higher-than-normal abuse complaints, which can in turn jeopardize the deliverability of our entire system. Nothing personal, but in order to maintain the highest delivery rates possible for all our customers, we can’t allow businesses that offer these types of services, products, or content:
    • ​Escort and dating services
    • ​Pharmaceutical products
    • ​Work from home,make money on online, and lead generation opportunities
    • Alternate Comment Times​Online trading, day trading tips, or stock market-related content
    • Alternate Comment Times​Multi-level marketing
    • Alternate Comment TimesAffiliate marketing
    • Alternate Comment TimesCredit repair and get out of debt opportunities
    • Alternate Comment TimesMortgages and loans
    • Alternate Comment TimesNutritional, herbal, and vitamin supplements
    • Alternate Comment TimesAdult novelty items or references
    • Alternate Comment TimesList brokers or list rental services
    ​If you send this sort of content, most email services providers won’t be able to help you. You might want to look into setting up your own mail server. MailChimp’s Delivery Guide explains how that works. Source: MailChimp Whoa, whoa, whoa! Are you blown? ​For the benefit of the doubt, I understand that MailChimp wants to protect its delivery rate but do you agree that MailChimp terms is not even an advantage to consider for online marketers and bloggers? I was made aware thanks to Adrian and you can read it all here (comment section). Personally, I wouldn’t mind the first few disadvantages but not allowing affiliate marketing is definitely the stop point for me. As a​ professional and seasoned affiliate marketer, using MailChimp email marketing solution means that I’m at risk of losing my whole email list​ and more importantly, going to impact my affiliate earnings severely! I could be wrong but Internet marketing is either selling/promoting products (affiliate marketing) or creating some sort of lead generation for business. ​ ​Editor’s Note ​If you are in the affilaite marketing niche like I do, I recommend you to understand the terms and conditions of MailChimp before using it. ​MailChimp has the tendency to remove your account without any notice and this means that all your hard work will just go straight into the drain! When it comes to MailChimp abuse reports, the risk is high and you need to know that you are not allowed to promote any affiliate products (apart from your own) using MailChimp.

    ​2. MailChimp pricing structure is misleading

    This MailChimp review is not complete without talking about the MailChimp pricing structure. MailChimp pricing structure is really bad. Take a look at both of these screenshots. MailChimp PricingMailChimp Pricing ​Basic pricing structure MailChimp 2000 SubscribersMailChimp 2000 Subscribers ​When you have more than 2,000 subscribers ​For me, the MailChimp email pricing structure is really misleading. Compare both the left and right side of the images. Let’s assume you are at 2,000 email subscribers and you are required to go for paid email marketing by MailChimp. You are no longer paying $10 but $30 for 2,000 email subscribers (up to 2,500 email subscribers). Do you see the big jump in pricing? That’s an additional of $20 on top of the base $10 per month! For bloggers, this is definitely not worth the money and effort. Sure, professional email marketers (even other blog posts) will say that when you have 2,000 email subscribers, you will be able to make sufficient money from your list. But, is that the real truth? For a fact, I know many bloggers and Internet marketers who have more than 2,000 email subscribers and not making a single cent from email marketing. If I’m putting myself in the shoes of new bloggers or low-income online marketers, MailChimp pricing is definitely one of the biggest disadvantages using MailChimp. Plus when include in the terms and conditions of not allowing affiliate marketing, it gets even worse! I will not be surprised the number of bloggers who have this question in mind, “How do I make money with email marketing with MailChimp?” Personally, I rather pay for AWeber anytime of the day compared to MailChimp based on the pricing structure (no offense, MailChimp).

    ​3. MailChimp support is bad

    ​Based on industry standards, MailChimp has one of the worst support you can ever image. mailchimp supportmailchimp support ​If you are using MailChimp free account, support will only be given to you on the first 30 days via email only (refer above). Yes, I know EXACTLY what you are thinking. MailChimp Support EmailMailChimp Support Email ​It is rather safe to say that when you use MailChimp free account, there is absolutely NO support given and I can’t even imagine MailChimp has such feature. Sure the knowledge base for MailChimp is very detailed but in today’s business world, data suggests that customers see fast, friendly and consistent customer service as the gold standard. 

    ​Should I ​still use MailChimp?

    ​I think this is one important question to cover. MailChimp has many disadvantages but I still use MailChimp for some of my blogs and businesses. When it comes to email marketing, MailChimp is pretty awesome and has a very unique pricing model. If you are a small to medium sized business and doesn’t require much from an email marketing solution, MailChimp is an excellent choice. If mailing list is under 2,000 email subscribers and you are not willing to pay for an email marketing solution, this ChimpMail is worth the try. ​The most important factor when considering using MailChimp is that you are not opening in the industry or markets which they do not allow (refer to their terms above). MailChimp is just like any other email marketing solutions such as AWeber and Convertkit. It is common to have emails delivered via MailChimp going to spam. This happens! The problems (in most cases) don’t sit on MailChimp servers but most of the the time, the email domain that you used or the content in the email that triggers the spam filters. Here are some samples:
    • Using Gmail or Yahoo to send email
    • Having words like “free” and “sale” in the email body

    What’s your thought on MailChimp?

    What do you think about MailChimp and all these issues? Again, this doesn’t prove or mean that MailChimp is bad choice for email marketing. I got to admit that the above sounds a little … biased … but I promise I’m not! Maybe, just a little frustrated as an avid Internet marketer myself. If you’re able to live with it (like the thousands who do), why not right? MailChimp offers:
    • ​Free and pay as you go (services)
    • ​Acceptable level of reliability (delivery)
    • ​Simple to use and intuitive dashboard/email marketing features
    Personally, I would use MailChimp if I’m running a small blog or a non-business site. However, I would rather pay a little bit more to have a better service especially when it comes to business matters. Moreover, Internet marketing is all about the ‘list’ and without one, you are basically nothing. My only concern about MailChimp are their terms and MailChimp pay as you go mechanics which can be very expensive as you grow your email list. Are you convinced with what I have to say about MailChimp? If you are thinking that hey, MailChimp is free to sign up and no strings attached, go ahead and register your free account here. Moreover, you have nothing to lose, right? Now, what’s your take on this? Will MailChimp be able to restore confidence among its member? Hit the reply button below and tell me what you think. … … … Thinking twice of MailChimp or looking for another email marketing provider? How about AWeber? Try it out for FREE today (plus 30 days money back guarantee)! And if AWeber is not your cup of tea, here are 4 more MailChimp alternatives to start your email marketing campaigns today. Read here. Overall, there are many other MailChimp alternatives that you could use. It all boils down to your email marketing requirements and the budget you can afford to commit to every month. If you like this article, could you please share this for me using the button below?[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]