Autoresponders For Different Purpose - which one should you pick?

There are basically four categories for email autoresponders. They are:

1. Free Autoresponder
2. Self-hosted Autoresponder Service
3. Third-Party Autoresponder Service Provider
4. Integrated Ecommerce Package (includes autoresponder functions)

1. Free Autoresponder
(Not Recommended, For Inexperienced Only)

Benefit:

• Free (Nothing Beats Free?)

Disadvantages: 

• Free autoresponder contains advertising
• Your readers may get distracted and not get your messages. In essense, you are promoting someone else business in return to use the free autoresponder.

Suitable for:

• Someone is starting out in internet marketing. 

Additional Comments:

• I don't recommend any particular free autoresponder.  We have tried a few free autoresponders.
  We've obtained more emails than we intended to send by using those autoresponder services.
• If you are really new to internet marketing, google "free autoresponder" and get the related resources.
• Use a "secondary" email to sign up for these free services.
• Warning: You will get a lot of "SPAM" emails. This is how they earn money by giving you "free" services. 
• Unless you are really very new and don't treat your business seriously, then you should not consider free autoresponders.

2. Self-Hosted
(Low Cost Method For Beginners)

Benefit:

• One time investment
• No recurring fee

Disadvantages:

• You need to install the script yourself or pay someone to install it for you.
• After installation, you may need to spend some time in learning how to set up the cron job and manage the database.
• Support for autoresponder script may not be readily available whenever you need it.
• Your IP address could be banned by internet service providers when your subscribers report your emails as SPAM. 

Suitable for:

• Technical competent to install script yourself
• Small business who does not mind to get their hands dirty
• Low volume email senders

Recommended Resources:
I generally don't recommend self-hosted email autoresponders, as I have encountered problems with it. If you insist, I would recommend this Autoresponser Script.

3. Third Party Hosted Email Autoresponder Service
(Highly Recommended Solution - this is what I use!)

Benefits:

• Web-based, you may access and send email anywhere
• High deliverability
• Instant technical support
• Suitable for technical-challenged marketers

Disadvantages:

• Recurring monthly fee.

Suitable for: 

• Serious Internet Marketers/ Affiliate Marketers establishing online business 

Recommended Resources:
This method is the path I am using and I highly suggest this to you, even if you are starting out marketing online.  I use this Autoresponser to manage my email marketing.

4. Integrated Packages
(Experienced Marketers With Established Business Model):

Benefit:

• All in one package provides full-tracking analysis for your integrated business, customer and product delivery.

Disadvantages:

• Higher financial outlay
• Take time to learn how to implement the integration
• Not recommended for beginners

Suitable for:

• Merchant/ Business Owners who desire full-blown ecommerce and autoresponder functions.

Recommended Resources:
I recommend this integrated tool should you decide to make it big online. A few other internet "gurus" are using the same tool to manager their multi-million dollar online business.

1. Autoresponder Script
   
   Learn It From Me - But Do NOT Follow My Failing (I lost 2 years with my online venture by picking a wrong email autoresponder) Here is my embarrassing story, and I hope you won’t make the same mistake… Back in 2004, I wanted “cheap and easy” method to manage my email marketing campaign. I bought a script (very famous third party script) and installed it onto my server. At the very beginning, I had some success and in 3 weeks time. I sold 3-4 of my ebooks, by following up with my customers automatically with my then-newly purchased script. That success is also the beginning of my online misery. It was one of my biggest marketing mistakes. I should have said it’s a diaster. Later the script was not fully supported
2. Ecommerce Package
   
   Autoresponders and Shopping Cart Integration When people place orders through your website, it is always a good idea to immediately acknowledge the purchase. One way to do this is with the use of an autoresponder that can be integrated with your shopping cart. In fact, many shopping carts that are available today have their own autoresponders built into the system.
3. Third Party Autoresponder
   
   Learn It From Me - But Do NOT Follow My Failing (I lost 2 years with my online venture by picking a wrong email autoresponder) Here is my embarrassing story, and I hope you won’t make the same mistake… Back in 2004, I wanted “cheap and easy” method to manage my email marketing campaign. I bought a script (very famous third party script) and installed it onto my server. At the very beginning, I had some success and in 3 weeks time. I sold 3-4 of my ebooks, by following up with my customers automatically with my then-newly purchased script. That success is also the beginning of my online misery. It was one of my biggest marketing mistakes. I should have said it’s a diaster. Later the script was not fully supported by the vendor, my emails were not been able to delivered to my subscribers! Many web service providers like AOL blocked my emails as they think my emails were were SPAM! I already used double opt-in subscription method to sign up my subscribers. The conclusion? No matter how well you manage your newsletter, someone will complain to his/her ISP (internet service provider) that your emails are spams