Royal Responder Review:
Free Version
May 31st 2008
Next in my review of free autoresponders was Royal Responder. For the longest time, I thought they were based out of the UK because of the name, but they’re from Colorado.
Here’s a link to their free version. If that link doesn’t work, look for Free Acct in the menu of their home page.
Pros
Pro: After subscribing, user is redirected to your home page
In the paid version, you can specify a page. In the free version, it redirects to your home page after the user subscribes.
I like this. The visitor is not taken to a confusing page that shows lots of flashy banner ads for your autoresponder.
Pro: Support and internet marketing tips
I didn’t feel they had as good tips as GetResponse. They have a blog but not a forum. But they have some information, which is helpful.
Pro: Some ads, but not too bad
Below is a screen shot of my email. You’ll see there is only one line at the top promoting their company. There are two more ads at the bottom where they can easily be ignored.
Pro: No forced double opt-in!
To me, this is the biggest selling point of the free version. It’s the only one I’ve found that does not force a double opt-in.
Pro: Can customize which fields are on form
Othe than email, which is mandatory, all other information you ask your visitor on your webform can be customized.
Con: Webpage form looks unprofessional
Compared to the other two I reviewed, the form box looks a little odd (but I’m sure you could tweak the html yourself). They give you a border around it. Also, compare what they show you on their interface your webform will look like:
with what it looks like on your page:
Con: Free account expires if no one subscribes in 45 days
This is the one point that would make me not use them. If nobody subscribes to your list in 45 days, your freebie account becomes inactive. So you have no way of accessing your existing subscribers.
Con: Can send HTML or text emails, but not both
Most autoresponders let you set up two versions of your email; one for sending to people who can accept html formating, and one for text-only. Royal lets you select either/or. (True in paid version as well).
Con: No attachments
I’m going to break my rule about only reporting issues in their free version. All of the free versions I’ve tested do not allow attachments. However Royal Responder doesn’t allow attachments in their paid version either. (When testing out an autoresponder using a free version, you should keep one eye on the paid version features as well in case you decide to upgrade, which is why I’m mentioning it here.)
I emailed customer support to make sure I wasn’t just overlooking it. Their response: “Since some email providers block emails with attachments, we don’t allow attachments. Instead provide a link to a download page in your email.”
While this may be true, I want to decide for myself whether this is the best course of action based on my subscribers. I’ve had people email me that they aren’t technical enough to do a download. I’ve also noticed that a lot of email providers see an email as spam if it has a link and very little text.
Con: Name in email
The email sent to the visitor automatically has your name and address at the bottom instead of your company name and address.
Con: Uses admin email as reply-to
Whatever I put for my email is what Royal uses as the reply-to email (unlike GetResponse which lets me set a reply-to email for my campaign).
Summary
So far, this free autoresponder is the least obtrusive to the visitor of the ones I tested. The fact that you’re using Royal Responder is invisible to the user except for a small line at the top of the email and an ad at the bottom. But the possibility of losing your list after 45 days makes me want to keep looking. I also don’t like that you can’t include an attachment, even in the paid version.
Unavailable Features
They have some restrictions in their free version. You’re limited by:- No broadcast messages
- Can only manually add 10 subscribers per week
- Only one campaign
- Five message limit
- Cannot set a confirmation URL to point to a page on your site (but points to homepage)
- Cannot include an attachment
- Cannot export
Unique Available Features
The free version of Royal Responder was unique in these ways:Pros
- After subscribing, user is redirected to your home page
- Webpage form does not say Royal Responder on it
- Support and internet marketing tips
- Some ads, but not too bad
- No forced double opt-in!
- Can customize which fields are on form
- Webpage form looks unprofessional
- Free account expires if no one subscribes in 45 days
- Can send HTML or text emails, but not both
- No attachments
- Name in email
- Uses admin email as reply-to
Pro: After subscribing, user is redirected to your home page
In the paid version, you can specify a page. In the free version, it redirects to your home page after the user subscribes.
I like this. The visitor is not taken to a confusing page that shows lots of flashy banner ads for your autoresponder.
Pro: Support and internet marketing tips
I didn’t feel they had as good tips as GetResponse. They have a blog but not a forum. But they have some information, which is helpful.
Pro: Some ads, but not too bad
Below is a screen shot of my email. You’ll see there is only one line at the top promoting their company. There are two more ads at the bottom where they can easily be ignored.
Pro: No forced double opt-in!To me, this is the biggest selling point of the free version. It’s the only one I’ve found that does not force a double opt-in.
Pro: Can customize which fields are on form
Othe than email, which is mandatory, all other information you ask your visitor on your webform can be customized.
Con: Webpage form looks unprofessional
Compared to the other two I reviewed, the form box looks a little odd (but I’m sure you could tweak the html yourself). They give you a border around it. Also, compare what they show you on their interface your webform will look like:
with what it looks like on your page:
Con: Free account expires if no one subscribes in 45 days
This is the one point that would make me not use them. If nobody subscribes to your list in 45 days, your freebie account becomes inactive. So you have no way of accessing your existing subscribers.
Con: Can send HTML or text emails, but not both
Most autoresponders let you set up two versions of your email; one for sending to people who can accept html formating, and one for text-only. Royal lets you select either/or. (True in paid version as well).
Con: No attachments
I’m going to break my rule about only reporting issues in their free version. All of the free versions I’ve tested do not allow attachments. However Royal Responder doesn’t allow attachments in their paid version either. (When testing out an autoresponder using a free version, you should keep one eye on the paid version features as well in case you decide to upgrade, which is why I’m mentioning it here.)
I emailed customer support to make sure I wasn’t just overlooking it. Their response: “Since some email providers block emails with attachments, we don’t allow attachments. Instead provide a link to a download page in your email.”
While this may be true, I want to decide for myself whether this is the best course of action based on my subscribers. I’ve had people email me that they aren’t technical enough to do a download. I’ve also noticed that a lot of email providers see an email as spam if it has a link and very little text.
Con: Name in email
The email sent to the visitor automatically has your name and address at the bottom instead of your company name and address.
Con: Uses admin email as reply-to
Whatever I put for my email is what Royal uses as the reply-to email (unlike GetResponse which lets me set a reply-to email for my campaign).
Summary
So far, this free autoresponder is the least obtrusive to the visitor of the ones I tested. The fact that you’re using Royal Responder is invisible to the user except for a small line at the top of the email and an ad at the bottom. But the possibility of losing your list after 45 days makes me want to keep looking. I also don’t like that you can’t include an attachment, even in the paid version.
RSS
