Last Updated on November 16, 2021 by Scott Charleboix

In this post, How to add an Autoresponder for your e-mails I wrote this when I first started blogging and I haven’t invested the money into an actual program to create automated” e-mails. An autoresponder (based on how you set it up) typically sends x amount of e-mails to your subscribers with the parameters that you input into your program.

How to add an Autoresponder for your e-mails

I’m updating this blog post and optimizing it for SEO. In the middle of optimizing this post, I’m going to take a brave step forward and sign up for an autoresponder program. But I don’t want to take that big step until I start getting a steady amount of new subscribers.

For example, I updated this blog post about 1 1/2 months ago and my subscribers have only increased to 118 so I’ve got a ways to go before getting ConvertKit’s recommended “Creator” program. Another reason for not wanting to make the venture at this point is that I’m waiting for my blog to get monetized and people start buying more of my affiliate clicks before investing my own money into another program. Running a blog can quite expensive, especially when the affiliate links aren’t converting. Hopefully that will change with time as people begin to trust “your” site.

Update: I’ve been blogging for over a year now and my subscribers are growing at a good rate. At the current time I haven’t spent the money for an autoresponder program that’s available in the likes of ConvertKit. The prices below represent monthly prices if you sign up for an annual subscription. Monthly prices are a couple of bucks higher.

With my total number of subscribers very close to 100 and not even close to 1,000 subscribers. It doesn’t seem right to spend the money at this point until my Blog begins to start monetizing on a regular basis. When that happens I’ll gladly sign up for a professional responder program to boost my sales. In the meantime, if your like me, I’d recommend spending the time to grow your e-mail list of subscribers.

Too much time was spent with a program called Beacon Lead Magnet Software.  Without going into all of the boring details on how to set up their program it was very readily apparent that this lead magnet software was too costly and not easy to use.  Hoping to have worked with the folks from Constant Contact to set up an autoresponder turned into them wanting to charge extra money to develop my marketing campaign.

Hence, the intended Part 2 of 2 must be put on hold until a further date. It doesn’t seem to make sense to have two landing pages on the same page.

Update 9/12/2020: With the help of ConvertKit, I have an autoresponder e-mail program.

Between now and the time that this post was initially written, one of the best programs to use for designing lead magnets is ConvertKit. To tell the difference between a landing page and a lead magnet you can also check out this blog post that has a lead magnet on it. This post didn’t have one at the time it was written because I was just learning about lead magnets.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is: “An incentive that marketers offer to potential buyers in exchange for their email address or other contact information.

Lead magnets usually offer a piece of digital, downloadable content, such as a free PDF checklist, report, eBook, whitepaper, video, etc.”     – 
                     Google Search

To make a lead magnet requires the use of a landing page:  “In online marketing, a landing page, sometimes known as a “lead capture page”, “static page”, or a “destination page”, is a single web page that appears in response to clicking on a search engine optimized search result, marketing promotion, marketing email, or an online advertisement.”
                                                    Wikipedia

Chances are pretty good that at one point or another you’ve already utilized this technique (of a lead magnet). Then the website would provide you with a Free PDF book or some other freebie if you provided your name and e-mail address. 

Consequently, within 1 hour and three minutes the first popup (below) with OptinMonster was created.

Mind you, the picture depicted isn’t the actual popup that was setup yesterday.  It still required a little bit of touch-ups here and there. 

Note:  For OptinMonster, you’ll need to put a code into your website. 
Plug-ins are personally preferred over code – To put code use the plug-in   Insert Headers and Footers in the body, header, or footer.

That is to say, having an automated responder on my website so far has been one of the greatest challenges to me. 

What is an autoresponder?

An autoresponder is a set of e-mails that are made up ahead of time and are sent to the requestor after they’ve provided information, normally name and e-mail address.

Sometimes, it’s better to go with your gut and spend the little extra money in the first place.  For example, in the long run, I ended up utilizing the program on Constant Contact to set up an autoresponder.  The people at Constant Contact have a team of supporters that you can reach via phone, what a concept.    If you sign up with Constant Contact, please be sure to mention my name (Scott Charleboix) as a referral to save us both $30.00.

Why should you use an autoresponder?

An autoresponder doesn’t require any manual intervention (in terms of verifying the e-mail address). The autoresponder does that for you by sending an e-mail for verification to the e-mail provided.

With Constant Contact, migration is leaning toward having information filled out, an e-mail is sent to them, and the e-mail will have a link so that the Free 20 Essential checklist tips to create a blog can be viewed. 

After installing my initial popup, a big surprise appeared: “OptinMonster does not manage your subscribers or send out any emails to subscribers. That functionality is managed by your specific Email Service Provider. OptinMonster provides many native Email Service Provider integrations to streamline the process.”

Getting OptinMonster is only half of the equation to get automatic emails.
The e-mails can be found within OptinMonster.  A good recommendation on your blog is for when name and e-mail information is provided that they get something back in return right away. 

This kind of service (a one for one exchange) provides the faith to look into their site a little more.  It’s the moment of trying to gain their attention while they’re still in your website and capitalize that they will continue looking at your website on a regular basis.

What’s the difference between single and double opt-in?

Personally, I’m highly in favor of the double opt-in method (in case the name or e-mail address was misspelled and to prevent spam).

Single opt-in – “A single opt-in is a one-step process and only requires a person to enter their email address one time in the signup box on a website. No confirmation is required, and they immediately become a subscriber.
                                                                                            Google Search. 

Double opt-in – “Double Opt-In. A double opt-in occurs when a user signs up for an email marketing list, and then an email is sent out to the user which includes a link to click and confirm the subscription. Only after the confirmation click is completed will the user officially be added to the email marketing list.”                                                           Google Search