In today’s review, I will introduce you to one of the most popular tools in designing and sending an HTML e-newsletter.
The article will tell you the details of prices, features, templates, availability and everything you need to know: What is Getresponse, should you use this tool, and whether getresponse has any advantages and disadvantages.
What is getresponse?
GetResponse is an all-in-one email marketing software that helps businesses send emails automatically, manage relationships with customers, turn potential customers into loyal customers, reach out to Potential customers on many different platforms: desktop, mobile, tablet, …
This is one of the popular tools trusted by many businesses. Specifically, Getresponse is an email marketing application that allows you to:
- Import and manage email lists. At the same time, you can use data from Getresponse to create newsletters that are sent to subscribers in your email list.
- Automatically send emails to subscribers via the “autoresponders” feature. It also analyzes data related to email marketing campaigns such as: Email open rate (open rate), number of clicks (click through), number of forward emails, …
Recently, however, the feature of Getresponse has been slightly improved with the goal of becoming an all-in-one integrated marketing tool – versatile.
Besides email marketing, the tool also provides hosting for webinar, landing page and some other features related to customer relationship management – CRM (customer relationship management).
Refer to the article:
What is email marketing? Details of how to make effective email marketing 2019
GetResponse supports you in Email Marketing
The main feature of Getresponse
Getresponse’s feature set is extremely easy to understand.
Not only provide necessary information on email marketing such as hosting, templates, autoresponder, data, … as mentioned. Recently, this application has also expanded some features to gradually become an all-in-one versatile application / CRM marketing.
The question is whether Get response can do it all or not?
Let’s explore some key features with me to find out.
Autoresponder
Autoresponder is an e-newsletter that is automatically sent to a subscriber at a time you decide.
You can customize the time.
For example, as soon as someone joins your email list, they will immediately receive a welcome message. The next day, they will get some useful information. A week later they received a promotion notice for some products or services. Then a few days later, they may receive a message calling to track your business on social networks, …
This is the main function of Getresponse – the product provides an extremely easy to use feature set.
The main feature of GetResponse – Autoresponder
You can send messages based on time or action. Messages based on time are looped as in the example above.
Also based on the action is the message will be sent according to the action or information of the user. For example, if the user:
- Open
- Click
- Register to join specific list
- Change contact information
- Complete the transaction or fulfill the target
- Have birthday
- …
Then each user will take different actions, they will receive different emails.
For example, when I send emails to people A and B. Suppose user A receives the email and opens it to read, while user B receives the email but does not open the email to read. In this case, of course in the next email I send, the email that people A and B receive is definitely different.
Getresponse recently launched a new version of the autoresponder feature. It is called “Marketing Automation”
This new feature helps you automate operations by dragging and dropping. You only need to set up “automation flowchart” – the automatic navigation chart to let Getresponse know what to do if the user opens an invitation message or clicks on a certain link.
This feature is much more improved than traditional autoresponder. It helps you create your own user journey.
Note: The advanced marketing automation features are only available in expensive packages from Pro packages and up.
Analysis
Get response provides comprehensive analysis and reporting features. Here, you can get basic data such as: Email open rate, number of clicks, unsubscribed rate, …
There are also some cool features as follows:
Analyze user interaction with sent email
- One-click segmentation: This option helps detect customers who are not interacting with the sent e-newsletter. Also include them in the subscriber group, which you can email again under another e-newsletter version.
- Metrics over time: You can know exactly when most customers “touched” your email. Based on that determine the appropriate time to send emails in the future.
- Email ROI: By adding the tracking code to the post-sale page on the website. You can know if your email marketing campaign will generate sales or generate profits after investing.
- Per-user information: You can click on any subscriber to see where they are subscribing from, the address of the subscriber and the emails they have previously opened.
Mailchimp and Aweber also provide similar reporting (especially tracking sales). But the reporting feature of Getresponse is undoubtedly among the top most functional tools.
Split testing – Compare and contrast
What is another prominent feature of Getresponse? Certainly, you cannot fail to mention split testing. Getresponse allows you to compare up to 5 different messages, compared to other competitors:
- Campaign Monitor tool: allows to compare 2 messages.
- Mailchimp: allows comparing 3 messages (for low-cost packages, high-quality features are better but the cost is very expensive, the most expensive is $ 199 per month)
- Aweber: similar to Mailchimp can compare 3 messages.
- However, the Mad Mimi tool does not have split testing.
So, if you need this feature, Getresponse will be a name to consider.
Sample e-newsletter Getresponse
As for the template, I do not appreciate the Getresponse tool.
The plus point of Getresponse is that it has more than 500 templates for you to choose from, and is divided into easy to understand categories. So, you can quickly find the right template and edit it until you’re satisfied.
The template is also very flexible. You can easily change fonts, layouts, images. Of course, you can design your own HTML email template and insert code for it.
However, although the quality is quite good and possesses some outstanding features, the template of the tool is not as eye-catching as competitors like Campaign Monitor.
Another point worth noting is that Getresponse’s RSS-to-email application options have not been varied (only 11 templates).
Of course, if you are not happy with the Getresponse template then you can buy from third-party vendors like Theme Forest.
Templates provided by GetResponse
Responsive email design (Responsive email design)
Getresponse is ahead of the competition with its responsive email design feature. It can automatically customize the e-newsletter template so that when users use mobile devices, the layout and fonts will automatically change accordingly.
Most competitors have now caught up with this feature and launched templates for responsive emails. But Getresponse is still better when it is possible to display a preview of an e-newsletter.
You only need to press the “mobile preview” button to quickly see how the email is displayed on your smartphone.
Not only that, you can also rotate the preview on your smartphone to see it displayed on both horizontal and vertical screens.
GetResponse has both a preview displayed mode on the phone
Web fonts on Getresponse
One thing I really want Getresponse to improve further is support for web fonts. Because e-newsletters created by Getresponse currently have only safe fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, Georgia, Trebuchet, etc.
This will result in your email being similar to other regular emails making the e-newsletter boring.
In addition to adding multiple web fonts to customer email, it would be great if Getresponse allows users to incorporate these fonts into HTML email.
Some other competing tools have provided a limited number of web fonts, so Getresponse should also change quickly.
Currently, Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor are the two leading names in web font support. However, fonts on Mailchimp are also very boring, just like using safe fonts.
Create a landing page
Online advertising campaigns that use landing pages will often bring more leads instead of just redirecting users to a (cluttered) website.
These landing pages will take users to interesting squeeze pages – which contain clear information and beautiful layout design.
In this respect, Getresponse offers a very convenient feature that many other competitors do not. That is creating a very friendly landing page mobile interface.
With Campaign Monitor and Aweber, you have to use an intermediary landing page tool (of course, a fee) like Unbounce or Instapage. Mailchimp recently also had this landing page feature, but not as complicated as Getresponse.
GetResponse also provides a landing page creation feature
However, if you do not use Getresponse’s ‘Pro’, ‘Max’ or ‘Enterprise’ packages, this feature is quite limited. You can only create 1 landing page and this landing page can only display 1000 times per month.
Also note that for the cheapest Get response package, you cannot use the A / B testing landing page.
Here the system will display different user versions of the landing page, calculate the conversion rate and ultimately automatically create the best landing page.
If you are interested in landing pages, you should consider using the more expensive Getresponse package.
Or you can buy the Landing Pages feature as an add-on for an additional $ 15 per month.
But note that, with this feature, although the add-on does not limit the number of landing pages to potential subscribers, it still does not provide you with A / B testing features.
So, if I wanted to use Getresponse’s landing page feature, I would not be afraid to buy a more expensive package. Despite the high cost, this is a great feature and a great support to make your email marketing campaign successful.
Webinar
Getresponse recently introduced a new feature called webinar host.
Webinar is often used to create leads that make the idea of combining email databases and webinar tools in one application very attractive.
The cost is extremely favorable when compared to other reputable webinar solution providers. For example, one of the leading webinar services, Gotowebinar, charges $ 199 per month to host 500 webinars.
With Getresponse, you can do so, and more. For only $ 165 (as long as your list contains less than 10000 email addresses)
In terms of the number of participants, Getresponse Pro package allows webinar hosting with 100 people and Max package, this number is 500.
You can also buy the webinar feature as an add-on for cheaper packages, namely: $ 40 a month for 100 people and $ 99 a month for 500 people.
Some prominent webinar functions of Getresponse:
- Participants do not need to install any software to participate in webinar
- Record webinar activity with just one click (one-click record)
- Screen sharing (screen sharing)
- Free online storage for playback files
Webinar interface feature of GetResponse
Considering all the aspects, the webinar feature has the potential to become a powerful weapon in e-marketing. It helps Getresponse outperform your competition, especially you can link it to the CRM tool below.
Getresponse CRM
One of the inconveniences when using many popular CRM tools today is that you need to export data to CSV and then return to the email marketing tool to export email lists. (or export data from email marketing tool to CRM to add lead to it)
So, when Getresponse introduced its new feature, CRM, I was very excited about being able to get out of data export and it all fell into one place.
At first, I was not very impressed with Getresponse’s CRM tool. You can only do simple things like creating a sales pipeline, adding contacts to the process, manually tracking activities like email, phone calls, etc. with these contacts.
But recently Get response has been upgraded. CRM has integrated with all features of Getresponse email marketing and you can add users to the CRM process based on their behavior (fill out forms, open emails, purchase …) or start autoresponder when new contacts are added to the process.
You can use this feature as follows:
- You can add a contact at any stage of the sales process based on the page where the customer fills out the form. After a few days you can send them an automated email that matches the current stage of the process.
- Based on customer behavior on this email (for example, clicking on a link) you can automatically move them to another stage of the process and invite them to the webinar.
This is a very smart feature and I do not think of the same email marketing application that provides integration between autoresponder and CRM processes. If you want to use this feature, you often have to look for expensive and expensive CRM applications like Salesforce and Infusionsoft.
However, Getresponse’s CRM still has some shortcomings.
The most obvious shortcoming is the ability to track email activity. Other CRM programs allow you to bcc a dropbox email address at any time you send an email to a lead or customer.
Doing so will record interaction activity in the contact history. Currently you cannot do that on Getresponse CRM nor is there a simple way to send one-to-one emails to leads or customers.
Previous interactions that you sent to the lead are not displayed. And the strange thing is that when you click on a contact in the deal deal process, you can’t see the activity of the contact, what they did (like opening, clicking …)
To view this information, you must exit Getresponse’s CRM, search for contacts in the contact section and click on the details. But doing so does not show their transaction history.
Unlike other advanced CRM tools, Getresponse CRM does not have a job management function. That means you cannot assign jobs to other team members.
Finally, adding contacts to a stage in a very difficult process. You must add a contact to the list first. Then go to the CRM process, add transactions and look in the contact list you just added.
This process is quite annoying and time consuming. It is best to directly add a transaction to a process and then add contact details of the lead or the customer at that time.
From the above reviews, Getresponse’s CRM is quite half-hearted.
But this is a new feature and in terms of automation, what this tool does is quite impressive. Hopefully this feature will be further improved because if you go in the right direction, it can change the game of businesses.
Getresponse’s CRM feature
Manage and distribute data
Opt-in process
There are 2 ways to add a subscriber to an email list: single opt in and double opt in.
- With single opt-in: Users will be added to the email list as soon as they click the confirm button on the registration form.
- With double opt-in: When registered users are sent an email with a confirmation link for them to click before successful registration.
The main benefit of single opt-ins is that users can easily participate in your email list. Thereby increasing the conversion rate (conversion rate) and the number of subscribers.
Double opt-in helps verify whether the registered email user has to use a real email address or not. From there, it can filter data and information more accurately (because the open rate is calculated based on a list of only real email addresses).
The good news is that Getresponse allows you to use either of these. This is an advantage that not all competitors have.
Data collection and form
There are two ways to use forms on Getresponse: you can insert custom HTML forms or design forms on Getresponse. By choosing an existing template and customizing it to suit the website design.
For the second method, you can add a form to the page by using a snippet of JavaScript code to display your form in a variety of formats (such as inline, pop-up or slide-up).
Frankly, I think Getresponse’s template should improve some points. The first thing is that the response is not good on devices (the template cannot automatically resize to fit each device).
In addition, Getresponse does not provide a control button to turn on and off forms on specific devices or different pages of the website.
For Google’s latest algorithm for pop-ups (pages can be heavily impacted on search results if the pop-up shows up on the screen of a mobile device – called intrusive interstitial). Then this is the point you need to note.
Because of this, I usually refrain from using the template of Getresponse and making the embedded HTML form to my liking. As for the popup, you can link Getresponse to the growth-hacking tool, Sumo. (This tool helps turn off pop-ups on mobile devices as well as display forms as desired on certain pages)
Data grouping options
One of my favorite things about Getresponse is that you can instantly send, (or remove) multiple groups of data. Other competitors like Mailchimp and Aweber do not have this function.
For example, if you have an email list on Getresponse that is divided into 4 groups: A, B, C, D. With Getresponse, sending mass messages to groups A, B and C is extremely easy, you just stick to the box corresponding to each group. You can also send a message to Group B, Group C to quit Group D.
Do not just send and drop multiple groups at once. You can do the same with your personal list. For example, if you have 3 separate email lists on Getresponse. You can send emails individually to all three groups.
This utility feature makes Getresponse stand out from the competition. As far as I know, Campaign Monitor also has this feature but comes with no cheap cost. This premium feature is only available in the extremely expensive ‘Mailchimp Pro’ package.
Getresponse email delivery rate:
The rate of emails sent to the inbox is email deliverability rate. The percentage of e-newsletters sent successfully is an important consideration when choosing email marketing tools.
Not all email marketing providers are transparent about this ratio. However, Getresponse seems to be quite frank when it comes to their website.
At GetResponse, we are often asked about the quality of deliverability rates. Because deliverability depends on many factors, including message content, deliverability rates may vary from email to email. For all customers, however, we are proud to say that the average deliverability rate currently reaches 99%.
If this is true, then this is a dream number, giving you confidence that the large number of emails you send with Getresponse will reach the intended recipient.
In fact, Getresponse also tells you the deliverability rate of each message in the email analytics, which I have not seen any competitors have. This is a huge plus.
However, to ensure high deliverability rate, it is also advisable to use a system called DKIM email authentication. Ẽmail authentication method is designed to see if emails are fake. You can use DKIM with Getresponse but this feature is only available in the ‘Max’ Getresponse package.
Although I have no problem with deliverability when using the cheaper package, other competitors do not need to buy premium packages to use this feature. Hopefully in the future Getresponse will be equally generous.
Purchase the Getresponse Max package to use Getresponse’s DKIM
User friendliness / interface
Overall Getresponse is quite easy to use. Basic operations are as easy as importing contacts, creating campaigns, setting up autoresponder, checking data; neat and intuitive interface.
However, compared to competitors, it must be said that Campaign Monitor is more user-friendly, and Mailchimp has a more sophisticated interface (although sometimes this interface makes finding features a little difficult)
From a user-friendly perspective, Getresponse needs to be better at editing the e-newsletter.
In theory, the drag and drop interface will give you the flexibility to create content blocks, move content around the e-newsletter. But in fact, it is a bit inconvenient to use such as accidentally deleting text or moving in the wrong position.
If you can get used to this way, it is quite convenient. But in my opinion only Getresponse can do better.
Support
As of this moment, Getresponse support is the best in email marketing tools. The company provides a telephone number besides live chat support, email and a variety of online courses and rich documents.
However, Getresponse is no longer supported by phone. Instead you can only use live chat or email. To be honest, most e-marketing platforms now support these two channels. If you like to call, you can think of Aweber.
Regarding the quality of support services, I do not have to use it often (this is also a plus) but I assess the heterogeneous quality. Sometimes they provide good live chat support, I do not have to wait too long to chat with staff but the email channel is not as effective.
Feedback from my readers also showed that Getresponse should improve the quality of support services better.
Free trial package on Getresponse
Getresponse offers a free trial of all features for 30 days (with 1,000 subscribers) and does not require credit card information. You do not need to worry that you will forget to cancel the subscription and be penalized.
Getresponse offers a 15-day free trial
Conclusion: Advantages and disadvantages of Getresponse
Getresponse is one of the tools to help manage and process email data effectively. It has extremely competitive fees compared to other competitors.
Getresponse provides email marketing, automation, landing pages, CRM and webinars – all in one app.
However, Getresponse also needs to improve some points. Especially the email design, the drag and drop interface and the response is not high. Similarly, the data collection form is not perfect, especially for users who want to use mobile devices.
The following is a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of Getresponse for you to consult before deciding whether to spend money on this application or not.
The advantages of Getresponse
- Great marketing automation option.
- If your “Email” package is enough to meet your needs, Getresponse is much cheaper than other products that offer more features.
- When paying 1 or 2 years in advance, you will receive extremely attractive offers. It is hard to find the same discount from a competitor.
- The webinar feature is a USP exclusive selling advantage that no application has.
- Similar to CRM functionality, it is unique among other names (although it still needs more development to completely replace a CRM tool).
- Comprehensive report and split testing features.
- Getresponse is transparent about deliverability rate, publishes data on the website and provides deliverability figures for e-newsletters you send.
- Easy grouping of data. In this respect, Getresponse is more flexible than competing products – especially Mailchimp.
- Allow subscribers to be added to the email list by single-opt in or double opt-in.
- Getresponse sends high-response emails and allows previewing the e-newsletter version on smartphones easily.
- Functions to create landing pages utility but you have to buy expensive packages to fully use this feature.
- You can try all features of Getresponse for 30 days without having to declare credit card details.
- All packages are supported 24/7 for free.
Getresponse has a number of relative advantages
The disadvantages of Getresponse
- Drag and drop interface when designing email is quite annoying.
- The data collection form is unresponsive and you cannot control when the forms appear on the website.
- CRM functionality needs further improvement to be able to replace standalone CRM applications.
- RSS-to-HTML email template limited.
- You can only use safe fonts for e-newsletter, resulting in the template is not as eye-catching as the products of competitors. The pricing structure is a bit confusing, users have to pay extra to use the landing page creation tool.
- The landing page add-on does not have the A / B test feature, which means you must use the more expensive package to use this feature.
- DKIM authentication is only available in the more expensive “Max” package.
- Not supported on phones.
This is all you need to know about this versatile Getresponse tool.
Now, do you have the answer to whether you should use this Get response tool or not? If you find the article useful, share it to find out gradually!
Good luck to you!