Email marketing is one of the best ways to market your business.
But, before you can get started with email marketing, you’re going to need an autoresponder and probably a landing page or some sort of place to collect emails.
That’s why we’re going to be comparing GetResponse vs MailerLite as these are both two autoresponders that offer both these features.
GetResponse comes with a visual CRM pipeline tool which is great, as you don’t need to integrate it with your autoresponder as GetResponse is your autoresponder.
However, it’s not quite advanced as an actual CRM or ActiveCampaigns CRM. If you would like to read more about that you can read my comparison of ActiveCampaign vs GetResponse.
GetResponse is a full marketing system that comes with more features than MailerLite. MailerLite comes with landing pages and everything you need for Email marketing, but GetResponse also comes with sales funnel and CRM functions.
However, MailerLite will be enough for some people, as it offers great features for beginners. It also has a completely free plan which is the best free email marketing plan out there.
On the flip side, GetResponse has some of the best overall marketing features on the market.
Who Takes The Crown?
Of course, if you want to go by overall feature-wise it’s going to be GetResponse.
However, for a lot of people, beginners especially, MailerLite will be the preferred option.
So, overall GetResponse but for anyone only needing landing pages and email marketing tools, it would have to be MailerLite.
Either way, both of these options are great for their own purpose.
If you need all the marketing bells & whistles go for GetResponse.
If you’re only looking for email marketing tools and landing pages, go for MailerLite.
Today, we’re going to be taking a look at Deliverability, what it is, and some practical tips that will help you improve your deliverability.
If you have started email marketing, you have probably heard of deliverability or probably know what it is.
Either way, taking the steps we are going to cover in this article to improve your deliverability is never a bad thing.
What Is Deliverability?
Deliverability in email marketing is the ability of your emails to be delivered instead of going to the spam folder. Due to a very small number of people checking the spam folder, deliverability is extremely important if you want to get your emails read.
Why Is Deliverability Important?
For most marketers and businesses, emails are used to drive conversions.
This means deliverability has a direct impact on the sales you make, meaning it’s tremendously important.
If nobody is reading your emails, nobody is going to click your links and nobody is going to buy from you.
So, getting deliverability right is extremely important.
What Affects Deliverability?
Here are some things that affect Deliverability:
The email itself (does it use words also commonly found in spammy emails?)
Your Domain IP’s reputation
Your Engagement
Domain Ownership verification
The servers deliverability from which you are sending the email (your autoresponder)
As you can see above, there are quite a lot of factors that go into your deliverability and there are probably a couple more.
However, in this article, we are going to focus on the ones mentioned above, as they are the factors that will have the biggest impact.
How To Improve Deliverability
Here are some steps you can take to improve your deliverability:
Don’t send spammy emails
Verify your domain ownership
Test your emails first
Clean your list regularly
Use the right autoresponder
Don’t Send Spammy Emails
My first tip is to not send emails that probably trigger spam filters.
If your emails contain a lot of phrases about money or “click here to activate your system”, then they will probably land in the spam box quite often.
Avoid using those sorts of push-button phrases for whatever you are promoting, otherwise, your emails will probably always go to spam.
Authenticate Your Domain Ownership
The second tip is to verify your domain ownership.
You don’t necessarily have to do this, but it does definitely help if the servers receiving your mail know its actually you sending it.
Here I must admit, I barely ever bother to do this myself, unless it’s an email I feel is going to make a significant amount of sales.
I probably should though, as it can sometimes be the difference of landing in the Promotions tab, or the inbox which often has an open rate difference of 20%.
So, don’t be lazy like me, test your emails and you will get more opens.
Clean Your List
The next tip is simple, clean your list. Why?
If your inactive leads are receiving your emails, they obviously aren’t going to open them.
This means you are getting no engagement (opens, clicks, etc.) which the receiving servers will see, and then that will hurt your domain’s reputation.
At some point in your automation workflow, just add a little trigger Contact has read or clicked any email, if yes, continue the automation as you normally would, if not remove them from your list.
Use The Right Autoresponder
My last tip is to use the right autoresponder, as the reputation of the server you are sending from also plays a big role in the deliverability of your email.
ActiveCampaign consistently performs the best in deliverability, so you can check them out if you would like to.
As you have seen throughout this article, deliverability is very important as it has a direct impact on your sales.
While you don’t have full control over deliverability, you definitely do have some and you can follow the steps outlined in this article to have a much better chance of getting your emails delivered.
Hopefully, this article has been helpful for you, and if it has, make sure to leave a comment and/or share it!
In online marketing, you often hear the word split-testing being thrown around.
And, it’s for a good reason, as split-testing can have great benefits on your conversions.
If your conversions are higher, then you’re going to make more money.
It’s that simple.
What Is Split-Testing?
Split-testing also is known as A/B testing is the process of testing different variations in marketing.
The reason why some call it A/B testing is because you are testing variation A vs variation B to see which one generates more conversions.
Before modern technology, you used to have to manually create both pages (or whatever you’re testing), drive traffic the same amount of traffic to them and then compare the analytics of each page.
However, today, technology is a little more advanced and most software will give you an option to test two different variations.
By doing this, the software will then split the traffic into an equal amount between the two variations and show you the analytics of variation a and b.
Where Can You Split-Test
You can split-test pretty much anywhere and anything you want, but here are some common places which marketers like to split-test.
Emails
Firstly, we have emails.
If you’re building an email sequence, you probably want to know whether Email A or Email B converts best.
So, you can then split-test those emails.
For example, you could see if your story generates more clicks or Email B which is a more personalized email but doesn’t contain a story.
ActiveCampaign and GetResponse even lets you split-test inside of your automation workflow which is great.
This can also work well throughout your entire automation, combined with lead tagging based on the automation variation they went through.
If you split-test two different variations of the entire automation workflow and your leads with the variation b tag converted much better, then you know to use that variation of the workflow.
I also like to test variations if I send an important email to see which one land in the inbox and which one land in the promotions tab.
Then, I can use the one which lands in the inbox and get a much better open rate.
Landing & Sales Pages
This one is super important.
On your landing pages & sales pages, conversions are probably the most important thing.
If you can change a sales page to convert 10% better, then that same sales page is generating 10% more money.
So, by creating two landing or sales pages, then split-testing them, you’re likely to find which one does better.
If you are paying for your ad to be clicked, you can drive the cost down by generating more clicks.
Google, Facebook, and the rest optimize their platforms to make money, so they sell the spaces cheaper to advertisers that generate the most clicks.
If your ad isn’t generating clicks and somebody else’s is, Google & Facebook are going to prefer that advertiser and reward him by lowering his cost per click.
When you are buying thousands of clicks, this is a huge advantage.
Plus, you can also split-test different ads to see which one and its audiences convert better with your offer or qualify the visitor better for your offer, then this also has a direct impact on your sales.
Pop-Ups
Lastly, we have Pop-ups.
And, this is also a really important place to split-test.
If you have a pop-up on your blog which is converting at 2%, there might be a variation that converts at 4%.
That’s a huge difference.
Now, every 1,000 visitors, you are collecting 40 emails instead of 20.
What Elements Can You Split-Test?
You can split-test pretty much anything you want.
Images
Videos
Button Size
Button Font
Button color
Font size
Font Color
Background Image
Pretty much anything on your page or email.
However, what I usually like to split-test is the:
Headline
Offer
Discount
Video (If it’s very different or one page uses a video and one doesn’t)
I like to test things that will have a bigger impact.
If your customer really wants/needs whatever you have to offer, then changing the button color and font size, will probably not make a big change in conversions.
And, unless you are testing with a huge data set of visitors, you won’t even know if that small change in conversions was due to whatever you were testing or just because the people were a little different.
This would then result in more testing and you probably wouldn’t know when to stop.
But, if you would split-test something which would make a bigger impact like the offer, headline, etc. then, you can find meaningful changes much quicker.
That’s just how I do it, I’m sure there will be some people who like to split-test those little elements too.
Benefits of Split-Testing
Split-testing really just has one benefit which is that you can find what works.
By split-testing you can find which variation:
converts best
generates the most amount of traffic
is opened or read the most
You get to experiment and see which one will work the best.
That is pretty much the only benefit, but it’s huge.
If you can change a page or an email to even just convert 1-2% better in the long run, you’re going to make a lot more money.
Final Thoughts
I hope this article has shed a little light on what split-testing is and how it works.
It’s definitely a useful feature that is available in most sales funnel software and autoresponders which you should be using, once you generate a significant amount of traffic.
If you have an extremely small data set, I wouldn’t worry about it too much as you don’t know if the changes in conversions are due to your changes or if the visitors were just different.
Today, we’re going to take a look at a useful email marketing feature, which should be part of your automation marketing strategy.
Most email marketing tools will have this feature and many other features.
However, in the rare case that your autoresponder doesn’t have this tool, we are going to take a look at 3 autoresponders that do offer this feature.
What are Automation Workflows?
Automation workflows are several automated emails that are sent based on the actions of your subscriber. This feature is used to send more targeted and more personalized emails.
Below is an example of an automation workflow.
For example, if your lead clicks a link, you can send email A, but if they don’t you can send email B.
Your autoresponder will do this for you and like the name says it’s automated.
How Do They Work?
Using email marketing software, you can create your automation workflow for your list with the behavior triggers for specific emails.
Now, when somebody joins this list, they will be sent your emails.
And, depending on the actions they take, they will be sent specific emails that you set up.
All without you having to manually check the actions of your subscribers.
How To Setup Your Automation Workflow
First, you will need an autoresponder.
Then, you will start an automation workflow, some autoresponders also call them:
Automations
Automation sequences
These names all mean the same thing, this feature.
Once, you have it set up, you need a place to collect emails.
Some autoresponders such as GetResponse come with landing pages that you can use too.
But, you can also use forms or a plugin to collect emails from your blog.
If you’re planning to collect emails from social media, you should use landing pages, again GetResponse has this feature built-in.
Once, you have a place where you collect emails, you need to integrate this part with your automation workflow.
This is different for every software, so just search up how to integrate the two pieces of software you are using (after this reading this post😃).
What Behavior-Triggers Are There?
There are many behavior-triggers and they do differ from autoresponder to autoresponder.
But, here are the main ones most autoresponders will offer:
ActiveCampaign even offers Geography, Time Zone, and many more triggers.
Why You Need Automation Workflows
You need automation workflows, as they allow you to send more targeted emails.
If your lead hasn’t opened your email, you can resend it automatically if you want to.
But, if you had to do this manually with thousands of emails, it would be pretty hard.
Or, if a link is clicked, you know they are interested.
And, if they have purchased from you, you can apply a tag so that you know they have purchased from you.
Later on, you can send everyone without that tag a promotional email, so you don’t annoy the people who have already purchased from you.
Benefits of Automation Workflows
Automation have many benefits, but here are a few:
More targeted emails
Time-Saving (You couldn’t even do this manually due to the amount of work involved)
It allows you to make more sales.
Any business needs this, as with automation workflows you are not just sending your list random emails, you are sending emails tailored to each individual and their behavior.
This will increase conversions.
Best Autoresponders that offer Automation Workflows
Most autoresponders will offer this feature, as I mentioned earlier.
The real difference is how advanced the features are such as triggers.
So, here are my 3 favorite autoresponders that offer automation triggers:
ActiveCampaign has one of the strongest email marketing tools on the marketing and they still offer more than an email marketing tool as it offers SMS marketing and a powerful CRM too.
And, in terms of automation workflows, they have the best features.
Or at least from all the tools I have used, and I have used most of them at some point.
Overall, it’s a strong email marketing solution for businesses of any size.
You want to start building your list and driving sales through email marketing.
But, first, you need an autoresponder.
You wanted to compare ActiveCampaign vs GetResponse, as you are unsure which one suits your business better… That’s exactly what we’re going to do today.
Unlike many others, I won’t try to stir you away from one or the other, I will just aim to help find the best option for your business.
While they are both great options, there are some significant differences between them which may make one more suited for your business.
ActiveCampaign was founded by Jason Vandeboom in 2003.
Since then, it has become one of the most popular solutions for marketing automation and CRM.
ActiveCamapign has over 300,000 customers. It’s known to be one of the most powerful email marketing automation & CRM solutions on the market.
About GetResponse
GetResponse was founded by Simon Grabowski in 1998.
It has also become one of the most popular marketing automation software on the market. Nowadays, GetResponse is much more than just an autoresponder.
It is also a sales funnel builder, CRM, and a landing page builder. Today, GetResponse has over 350,00 customers making it one of the most popular autoresponders on the market.
Features
The first thing that we are going to be comparing is the features.
To make the comparison easier, I have divided the features into three sections, Email Marketing, CRM and Landing Pages & Funnels.
Each section then compares the two platforms in a specific category, to help you find the best software for you.
But, let’s take a look at the core features of both ActiveCampaign and GetResponse before we start.
As you can see they have extremely similar email marketing features. They offer almost identical email marketing tools, but ActiveCampaign’s automation workflows have a few more triggers.
Also, keep in mind that both of these tools have full split-testing functionality for your email campaigns. This means you can even split-test inside of your automation sequences.
Another autoresponder that also compares decently to these two in terms of features is Aweber. If you would like to read more about that, you can read my ActiveCampaign vs Aweber post.
Deliverability
Both of these platforms were tested in Deliverability in February 2020.
ActiveCampaign was found to have a 90.2% deliverability rate, whereas GetResponse only had a 75.6% Deliverability rate. (emailtooltester)
What does this mean?
It means that in these deliverability tests, emails by ActiveCampaign were delivered 90.2% of the time, whereas emails by GetResponse were only delivered 75.6% of the time.
ActiveCampaigns rate is the highest across the Industry.
I must also say that this is dependant on how you build your list and your line of business.
If you build your email list through traffic exchange platforms and your emails look a little spammy, then, of course, you will face some trouble with deliverability.
Other than that, you should not face problems with deliverability.
However, you can test your emails first and see where they are going, so that you can make any changes if needed.
For email marketing, it’s a minor win for Activecampaign, due to the deliverability and more automation triggers.
CRM
The next category in which we are going to compare the two is CRM.
Both of these platforms offer CRM, however, GetResponse CRM Tools are a bit more limited.
As you can see, the ActiveCampaign CRM functions are a little more advanced than GetResponse. Additionally, the tasks are also more automated on ActiveCampaign.
That being said, GetResponse has a decent CRM too, but it just doesn’t quite beat ActiveCampaign’s CRM.
Other
Both platforms also have some other features that don’t go into the above categories.
Activecampaign also offers SMS marketing which of course, has significantly higher open rates.
GetResponse does not offer this feature. So, that’s an aspect in which ActiveCampaign wins.
However, GetResponse also offers tons of free courses if you are a member of GetResponse.
For example, their 90-day list building program. This can be extremely helpful if you are completely new, as you will learn how to build and grow your email list. So, that might be a reason why some people may want to go with GetResponse.
The next feature that we are going to be comparing between the two platforms is landing pages & funnels.
This feature is only offered by GetResponse, so it’s a clear win for GetResponse. However, we will be having a look at this feature, just to see what GetResponse has to offer.
Funnels
GetResponse offers an “Autofunnel” feature which allows you to build funnels easily.
If you choose to use this feature, GetResponse will help you build your funnel, by organizing all the needed steps for your funnel. This will allow you to build your funnel much easier.
Below is an example of a lead funnel being created through the auto funnel feature.
You can also use the landing page feature to create funnels, you just have to redirect to your different pages in the funnel settings.
However, what’s great about the auto-funnel feature is that it will calculate your sales for you which makes life so much easier, as you know how profitable you are. Plus, you can have an exact overview of how many leads came into your funnel and how many sales you generated which as you can imagine is pretty powerful.
Lastly, GetResponse auto funnel feature also comes with some ready to use lead magnets which you can also use if they are related to your target audience.
These are mostly in the internet marketing niche.
Landing Pages
If you don’t want to use GetResponse auto funnel feature, then you can use the landing page feature instead.
The landing page feature allows you to build landing pages, thank you pages, and sales pages using the drag and drop editor.
Additionally, GetResponse comes with over 180 different templates that you can use to create your pages.
Webinars
Lastly, we also have the webinar feature.
GetResponse allows you to host interactive webinars with features such as polls and surveys.
Detailed reports on the attendance of the webinars are also available.
Now that we have compared both of these platforms on pricing and features, let’s have a look at their customer support team.
ActiveCampaign Support
GetResponse Support
24/7 Live Chat✔
Free On-boarding ✔
Help Center ✔
Ticketing Support ✔
Email Support ✔
Live Chat✔
Free On-boarding ✔
Help Center ✔
Ticketing Support ✔
Email Support ✔
As you can see, both of these platforms offer great customer support.
The main difference is that GetResponse live chat is available 24/7, whereas the ActiveCampaign live chat is only available in the following hours:
Sunday from 4 pm – 11 pm, Central Standard Time
Monday – Thursday from 8 am – 11 pm, Central Standard Time
Friday from 8 am – 4 pm, Central Standard Time
Also, from my experience, GetResponse has less of a wait in their live chat. However, that could also have to do with the time when I was trying to reach the support team.
With that being said, from my experience, the ActiveCampaign on-boarding was a little better than the GetResponse onboarding.
For support, I would say it’s a draw, both platforms have great support.
Ease Of Use
The next category in which we are going to compare these two platforms is the ease of use.
Both platforms are extremely easy to use.
Both platforms come with a wide variety of customizable email templates that are easy to edit.
The automation builders of both of these platforms are pretty similar too. Nobody should run into any trouble building automation workflows on either of these platforms as it’s incredibly easy.
Both dashboards are also very organized and easy to use. You should not need any experience to use GetResponse or ActiveCampaign.
The main differences between GetResponse and ActiveCampaign are:
GetResponse has a landing page feature, ActiveCampaign does not
GetResponse has an auto-funnel feature, ActiveCampaign does not
GetResponse has a webinar feature, ActiveCampaign does not
ActiveCampaign has a better deliverability rate
ActiveCampaign has a built-in SMS autoresponder
ActiveCampaign has a better CRM feature
Both of these options are fantastic email marketing solutions for businesses of all sizes.
GetResponse is a complete marketing system that also lets you build funnels and landing pages to bring in new leads into your list.
ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, is a complete email marketing and CRM solution that lets you communicate with your customers through multiple channels.
If you are already collecting emails somewhere else, for example on your blog or with another tool, then you should use ActiveCampaign.
Why?
Because of the higher deliverability, the more advanced CRM and if you want to start with the lowest plan, it also includes automation.
Another reason why you might use ActiveCampaign is the SMS marketing feature, as this is not available in GetResponse unless you integrate with 3rd party software through Zapier.
You will face additional charges if you try to set up an SMS marketing campaign through GetResponse.
ActiveCampaign may also beat the pricing of GetResponse depending on the features that you need.
You should use GetResponse if you also need to build landing pages, funnels, and webinars.
ActiveCampaign does not offer this option, so if you do need these features you should use GetResponse. With that being said, you can also use a 3rd party software to build these pages and use ActiveCampaign.
However, by doing that you will face additional charges and GetResponse offers all of those features.
The last reason why you may want to use GetResponse is their courses and education which you will get free access too.
If you are finding it a little hard to get your business off the ground, GetResponse offers a 90 Day list building course, in which they teach how to build email lists.
As you probably saw throughout this GetResponse vs ActiveCampaign comparison, you can’t pick a clear winner.
Both are fantastic solutions if you are looking for high-quality email marketing automation.
Personally, I like to use both of these pieces of software as I like them a lot.
If you can’t decide between the two, I would assume that you don’t need funnels, landing pages & webinars in which case I would recommend ActiveCampaign.
However, you should also remember that both of these platforms offer free trials, so you can test both of them out first.
