Email Marketing is one of the most effective methods of staying in touch with your prospective and existing customers. Aweber offers a complete email automation solution, tons of templates, a reliable deliverability rate and ability to integrate with all the leading apps.
The Interface:
Aweber offers a minimalistic interface focusing on exactly what you are going to need in your email marketing campaign. With ergonomic navigation, you can easily find different features and keep a track of your statistics. It is simple and very easy to use even for the least technical users. Yet it offers some of the most powerful tools and features that guarantee that your email marketing campaign is going to be a big hit.
Pricing & Plans:
Aweber offers a free trial for as low as $1 for 30 days. Beyond that, it offers 5 different pricing packages:
- Up to 500 subscribers: $19 per month
- 501 to 2,500 subscribers: $29 per month
- 2,501 to 5,000 subscribers: $49 per month
- 5,001 to 10,000 subscribers: $69 per month
- 10,001 to 25,000 subscribers: $149 per month
If you have more than 25,000 subscribers on your list, you can request a quote from Aweber and they would offer you a custom-tailored solution for your marketing needs. AWeber features are irrespective of your pricing plan. The pricing is only based on subscriber count. AWeber offers its full list of features whether you pay $19 per month or $149 per month.
Aweber Email Templates:
Aweber offers around 700 read to use templates. The templates are visually appealing and very easy to set up for both experiences and new users. The templates can be used for a wide range of marketing applications. The templates are fully responsive and adapt easily to any screen size, offering enhanced readability and visibility. Along with the templates, Aweber offers you over 6000 stock images and the hosted images ability to pixel perfect your templates.
Sign-up Forms Set up:
Aweber offers an easy to use sign up form set up. The form designer offers a wizard like step by step procedure to create sign-up forms. You can add animations and effects as well. The interface allows you to insert your custom HTML code as well. You can create and implement your own CSS and design rules. At the end of the process, you get a few lines of code that you have to integrate into your landing page or website to enable the signup box.
Email Deliverability:
Aweber offers an astounding over 99% deliverability rate which if not the highest in the industry is surely among the highest. If your email does not get through to the recipient, nothing else matters. If you send an email with Aweber, you can rest assured it is getting through to your recipients.
Autoresponder:
Email marketing campaigns are heavily dependent on personalized and targeted messages followed by a timely response. Aweber’s autoresponder tool offers you a complete automation solution for your email marketing needs. It ensures that your customers would always get the information they need at the right moment. All you have to do is create a series of emails and set up an autoresponse schedule. With access to over 150 email templates you can personalize and spice them up as per your requirements.
Integration Capabilities:
Aweber offers a remarkable cross platform integration capability. You can easily integrate sign up forms with your website, blog and facebook pages. If you are using a CRM, Aweber allows integration with Zendesk and Salesforce. It can also be integrated with popular shopping cart tools. This features allows you to add customers to different lists whenever they purchase an item.
The more technical users can visit AWeber Labs to build their own apps and time-saving tools using the AWeber API, a flexible programming interface that provides you access to your AWeber data and all sorts of powerful functions.
Reports & Analytics:
An effective and result oriented email marketing campaign goes beyond just subscriber count and revenue. You need a comprehensive overview of the complete flow path and customer enagagement with your website or landing pages.
With interactive charts, Aweber shows you the open rate, CTR (Click through rate), bounce rate through an email reporting dashboard. This allows you to isolate problems and quickly resolve them. You can also bring up data on your subscribers, including location information and records detailing when and why customers unsubscribed from your list.
Data Importing:
Aweber allows you to import your contact lists using a variety of formats. There are two importing methods: a manual text-based upload and a spreadsheet upload (they accept XLS, XLSX, TSV, CSV, and TXT files.
Building your own applications:
For the advanced users Aweber offers the Labs feature which allows you to build your own super customized applications as per your requirements. You can get some off the shelf apps for wordpress, shopify, Twitter and Facebook. You can create your own templates and dispatch them through the tool and service of your choice. Integration with shopping carts, PayPal and other services can be facilitated by either using third party apps or designing your own right from scratch.
Customer Support:
Aweber offers one of the best customer support services. You will get access to a toll free phone number during the business hours. The live chat also gives an efficient method to address any issues you encounter during your campaign. You also have the email support with a decent response time.
Issues with SSL:
If you are using a secure SSL connection, you are likely to encounter issues with the pop up sign up box. You cannot use aweber forms with a secure SSL connection.
Conclusion:
Aweber provides a decent, reliable and affordable platform for your email marketing needs. With over 700 fully responsive template you have a lot of flexibility at the front end. With easy integration options and cross platform compatibility, you get the same flexibility at the backend as well. The scalable packages allow you to upgrade your pricing plan as per your requirements. The issue with the SSL secure connection is a headache and a downside. The customer support is superb.