Setting up Automated Email Responses: The Three Best Tools

If you’ve just started diving into the world of email marketing, then you’ve probably noticed one thing: There are a TON of terms you need to learn more about, and one of them is the topic of discussion for today – email autoresponder.

Automated email responses are pretty popular amongst digital marketers, and it’s something like the “out of office” email you set before going on your summer vacation. When it comes to email marketing, autoresponders do the same job; however, when they are used and their end goals are different.

In this article, we will take a look at what an email autoresponder is, how it works, the ways in which it helps drive marketing goals, and some of the best tools you can use on the market.

What is an Email Autoresponder?

To put it simply: an email autoresponder is a tool that sends automatic email messages in response to a predefined event which acts as a trigger. Nowadays, most email marketing services offer some kind of autoresponder feature; however, the difference comes mainly from the functions that each of these tools offers. One way to think of autoresponders is the simplest marketing automation form. As such, it requires an automation workflow with a ton of variables and conditions that determine how it will be used.

What are Email Autoresponders Used For?

Typically, marketers use autoresponder messages to

• Generate income by driving upsells and engagement
• Send specific messages to people on the company’s email list
• Move leads along the marketing funnel
• Send vital messages to email subscribers

Common Autoresponder Use Cases

Let’s now take a look at some of the most frequent use cases of email autoresponders so that you can see if any of them fit your business’s needs.

Double Opt-In

Automated double opt-in emails are critical for a permission-based email marketing strategy. They help maintain a healthy email list and ensure all your email campaigns are delivered to the correct inboxes. It’s pretty easy to understand: Someone subscribes to your email list, and then he gets sent an automated email with a link asking him to confirm his subscription.

Double opt-in does a few things:

• It helps eliminate misspelled email addresses that would otherwise lead to bounces.
• It minimizes accidental sign-ups and acts as proof of consent (which is now necessary thanks to GDPR and other data protection laws).

Basically, it’s one of the automated email responses that any marketer should have.

Welcome emails

This is perhaps the type of automated email response that you see the most often in email marketing. It’s easy to set up, and the “Thank you for your subscription” email is thought to be crucial when it comes to starting a relationship with a new subscriber. Along with that, there are many ways to add additional value to this type of email.

For example, you can use it to drive sales by offering new subscribers a special one-time discount, or you can promote your past content.

Onboarding Emails

This is an excellent example of an email autoresponder series (number of emails). These types of emails are typically sent at specific intervals, and their idea is to serve as a way to follow up with new customers and drive product adoption. They’re used to provide subscribers with information about your products and services and thus promote them more subtly.

Other Ways to Use Email Autoresponders

Along with these three popular types of automated email responses, marketers also use autoresponders for things like

• Abandoned cart emails (for ecommerce businesses)
• Reactivation emails
• Anniversary/birthday emails

Online, you can find tons of other examples of automated email responses that businesses use, depending on their needs.

Advantages of Automated Email Responses in Email Marketing

Many entrepreneurs think that autoresponders are only helpful for big companies, but that’s wrong. Even small businesses can benefit from autoresponder emails that minimize workload and improve your marketing campaign. By implementing autoresponders in an email marketing strategy, you will

• Save a ton of time – no need for any manual work by someone on your team.
• Give better care to the relationship with your customers thanks to relevant messages that get sent precisely when they’re awaited.
• Maximize opportunities to grow your revenue as you move customers through the marketing funnel.

How To Choose the Right Email Autoresponder Tool

If you’re already convinced to start using email autoresponders, let’s go to the next step, which is choosing the right email responder software.

When you start to consider what kind of email autoresponder tool to use, the first thing you should take a look at is your email marketing tool. It’s likely that it already has an integrated email autoresponder that can cover the simple use cases which we discussed in this article. With that said, if you have no idea where to start and you’re looking for some software recommendations, let’s take a look at some of the email marketing tools we recommend.

Three Best Email Autoresponder Tools

If you’re just getting started and you don’t want to increase your spending, then here are some free email marketing tools that can help you without requiring any payment (at least not right away).

Constant Contact

Constant Contact is one of the very best pieces of email marketing software on the market, and it’s also a terrific choice for creating autoresponder sequences.

Its pros include

• It has a generous free trial of 60 days – that’s two entire months that you can use to build an email list and start building email auto responses.
• The free trial doesn’t require you to provide any payment information, so you won’t get billed unless you expressly agree.
• It’s easy and fast to set up – creating your account takes just a few minutes.
• If you have a website, the software can help you create emails that follow the design of your site. For that to happen, Constant Contact scans your websites to find images and colors and then creates several options you can choose from. Along with that, there are many other free templates you can pick for your email marketing.
• It offers plenty of free online training and resources, and its customer service team is reachable through chat, email, and phone.

When it comes to the cons of Constant Contact, we can say that

• There’s no free plan that you can use forever. After the free trial runs out, you will need to pay to keep using the software.
• You will need to pay for the Email Plus Plan to use the very best features.

Constant Contact has two kinds of plans. First is the Email Plan, which costs $20 per month and comes with basic automation features. You have to pay $45 per month for the Email Plus plan for more advanced features.

Sendinblue

Sendinblue is one of the most popular marketing automation platforms that offers SMS and email marketing options. It’s perhaps the most popular email autoresponder platform in Europe.

Its most prominent pros include

• You can store as many email contacts as you want, even on the free plan.
• Most of Sendinblue’s tools are available even on its free plan, and that includes the automation tools.
• It has an easy-to-use interface, and you get constant support from the Sendinblue team.
• There are a ton of different templates you can choose from. Additionally, you can also import your own HTML template if you already have one.

When we talk about its cons, we have to mention

• Emails that get sent on the free plan have Sendinblue’s logo on them, and you can’t remove it.
• There is a 300 emails per day limit, which seems like a lot at the beginning, but may soon become limiting.

One of the coolest things about Sendinblue is the fact that it has an entirely free plan you can use. If you want to get more features, you can upgrade to one of its paid plans, the cheapest one of which starts at $25 per month.

HubSpot

If you work in marketing, you have to live under a rock to have not heard about HubSpot. It’s an incredibly popular CRM and email marketing automation platform that offers all kinds of tools that you can use for your business.

Many pros come with using HubSpot, but there are a few that stand out:

• It has a free plan that allows you to store an unlimited number of contacts.
• The email marketing tool has a free CRM that enables you to personalize your email marketing campaigns based on the information you have on your contact list.
• The free plan has many standout tools, including a form builder, live chat, ad management, and a landing page builder.
• There are a ton of templates you can use, or you can build your own email from scratch.

As far as cons go, here are a few ones you should be aware of:

• The emails sent on the free plan include the HubSpot branding, which can’t be removed.
• More advanced features such as automation and A/B testing are only available on the high-tier paid plans.

HubSpot’s free plan is quite lucrative; it features 2,000 emails per month and unlimited email contacts, as well as all of HubSpot’s free tools. With that said, the paid plans are a tad more expensive and start at $45 per month.

A Few Things To Keep In Mind

Email autoresponders are a must-use for any marketer in the current day and age. Not only do they minimize the manual effort that you need to make, but they also ensure that you maintain a good relationship with your customers thanks to timely and personalized email communication. Hopefully, this article inspired you to look into email autoresponder options and choose one for your business. For any additional help or advice, we at the Camberlion team are waiting for you on our blog and our social media profiles.