Well, this Getresponse review is here to help you. I will discuss in depth the prices, models, and marketing functions of the product – and give you the verdict on each of them.
At the end of this article, you will have a much clearer idea of the relevance of this product to you – or if you should look elsewhere.
Let’s start with an important question …
What is Getresponse?
is an email marketing application that allows you to:
- create a mailing list and enter data there
- send emails to subscribers on your mailing list
- automate the sending of emails to subscribers through the use of “automatic answering machines”.
- visualize and analyze the statistics relating to your e-mailing campaigns – opening rate, click rate, transfers, etc.
In recent years, however, Getresponse has changed considerably in focus: the product is now aimed at becoming an all-in-one e-commerce and marketing solution rather than a simple email marketing tool.
As a result, in addition to e-mail marketing, Getresponse now offers e-commerce functions, hosting webinars, referral pages, and automated sales funnels.
Although this user base is not as important as that of certain other email marketing tools (notably Mailchimp), it is important enough to give the assurance that the company is well established and that it is not likely to disappear anytime soon.
Getresponse pricing
There are four Getresponse plans:
- Basic – from $ 15 per month to send an unlimited number of emails to a maximum of 1,000 subscribers.
- Plus – from $ 49 per month for a maximum of 1,000 subscribers
- Professional – from $ 99 per month for a maximum of 1,000 subscribers.
- Max – negotiable.
The more subscribers you add to your list, the more costs increase. At the top of the ladder, you can expect to pay $ 450, $ 499 or $ 580 a month to use Getresponse with a list containing 100,000 subscribers on the “Basic”, “More” and “Professional” plans (respectively).
Regarding the “Max” plan, the exact price depends on the requirements and the size of the list – if you are interested in this plan, you will need to contact Getresponse to schedule a demonstration, discuss your needs and negotiate the price.
In addition to paid plans, a free 30-day trial is also available, which you can access via this link.
There are a number of differences between the “Basic”, “More” and “Professional” plans, but for me the main ones are:
- Automation manufacturer – arguably the most remarkable feature of Getresponse, the automaker (which allows you to build complex depth sequences based on user behavior) is only available from the “More” plan (you can create 5 automations on the Plus plan or an unlimited number on other plans).
- Conversion funnels – you have access to more automated sales funnels as you go up the price scale.
- Webinar – this functionality is not at all available on the “Basic” plan and the number of webinar participants is capped for the “More”, “Professional” and “Enterprise” plans at 100, 300, and 500 respectively.
- Team management – you can only have one user account in the “Basic” formula; however, you have 3 in the “More” formula, 5 in the “Professional” formula, and 10 in the “Enterprise” formula.
- Electronic commerce: the function of recovering abandoned orders is only available from the “More” plan.
Main characteristics of Getresponse
Compared to other email marketing tools, Getresponse has an unusually large set of features, even in its entry-level plan.
Not only does Getresponse provide all the key elements you expect from an e-mail marketing platform – hosting lists, models, automatic responders, analyses, etc., but, as mentioned above, it has recently expanded its set of features to the point of turning into an all-in-one marketing and e-commerce solution.
Let’s take a closer look at its main features for knowledge.
Automatic answering machines
Automatic answering machines are pre-programmed emails sent to your subscribers at the frequency of your choice.
For example, you can configure them so that
- as soon as a person registers for your mailing list, they receive a welcome message
- a week later, it could receive a reduction offer on some of your products or services
- three weeks later, he could be encouraged to follow you on social media.
And so on.
You can send time or action-based messages; time-based options include cycles like the example above, and action-based messages can be triggered by actions or user information, for example:
- opening
- clicks
- subscriptions to specific lists
- changes in contact preferences
- transactions / objectives completed
- birthdays or events
Automation tools
In addition to the basic depths mentioned above, Getresponse offers a more sophisticated option for automatic sequencing of emails. This option is called “Marketing Automation” and is available from the “More” plan.
This function allows you to create automation workflows using a drag and drop type manufacturer – you are essentially configuring an “automation organization chart” which tells Getresponse what to do if a user opens a particular offer, clicks on a certain link, etc.
Getresponse email templates
There are about 115 Getresponse models available – less than some competing email marketing solutions (including Aweber, which offers about 700) – but they are varied in nature and the designs are very modern (and modifiable).
The models of e-mails are grouped into a few categories focused on fundamental objectives (promotion, education, sale, etc.).
The quality of all models is high and I would not hesitate to use them for my email campaigns.
There is, however, one omission that deserves to be noted: the option to define “global” styles for titles and text. As it stands, the model editor does not allow you to define header and paragraph styles that you can reuse throughout a message – which means that you must format the text as you dial the emails, which is a bit painful.
On the other hand, the creator of Getresponse e-mails allows you to make intensive use of web fonts. A very large selection of Google fonts can be used in your e-newsletters – more than any competing tool I have tested to date.
This wide selection of web fonts is great because – given the prevalence of Google fonts in corporate brand strategy these days – it will help many users create e-mailing campaigns that preserve the values of the brand.
It is important to remember that not all email programs support the use of web fonts – you can specify a “backup font” in Getresponse to support them – but in those who do, emails created via Getresponse have the potential to be very beautiful.
Finally, the Getresponse models are all responsible, which means that they automatically adapt to the device on which the electronic newsletter is consulted (mobile, tablet, desktop computer, etc.).
Fractionated tests A / B with Getresponse
The split tests consist of sending variants of your electronic newsletters to certain people on your subscriber list, monitoring the performance of each and sending the “best” version to the rest of your list.
Getresponse allows you to perform fractional tests using up to 5 object headers or content variants. However, you can only use one variable at a time during a split test – for example, you can test two emails with object headers different from each other, but the two versions of the email must contain the same content.
Some other marketing email tools are a little more flexible in this regard, allowing you to test using more variables (e.g. sending time or sender name) or the option to mix variables during tests.
Creator of landing pages
Getresponse offers something very useful that many of its competitors do not have: a landing page creator.
Not only can it be used to create input pages, but you can test the conversion rate of these pages relative to each other in real-time, and deploy the best performer. This can have a hugely positive effect on the number of prospects you capture and improve the scope of your email campaign.
Similar products often require the use of a third-party landing page creation tool, such as Unbounce or Instapage, to obtain this type of functionality. Including the landing page function is therefore a really useful – and economical – element to have in your marketing email toolbox.
However, the creator of landing pages presents some problems that need to be reported.
First, the interface is not particularly intuitive – in fact, it is rather awkward.
Second, you will usually need to create separate versions of your landing pages for desktops and cell phones.
The reference page is therefore in many ways an excellent feature, but it is somewhat disappointed by the interface and especially by the absence of a real banner of cookie consent.
Webinars
Getresponse recently introduced the possibility of organizing webinars on the platform.
Prices are also very competitive compared to established web solutions. Regarding the limits of participants, the “More” plan of Getresponse allows you to organize a webinar with a maximum of 100 participants; the “Professional” plan is limited to 300 and the “Company” plan to 500.
You can also buy the webinar functionality as an extension of the “Basic” plan: $ 40 per month allows you to limit the number of participants to 100, $ 99 per month allows you to limit the number of participants to 500 (note, however, that these extensions are not necessarily available to all users in North America).
The interface and functionality of webinars are really excellent – and have nothing to envy to other dedicated platforms that I have used in the past for online meetings or webinars.
Here are some features of Getresponse webinars that deserve to be reported as being particularly useful:
- the fact that your participants do not need to install software to attend webinars
- one-click recording of your webinar
- screen sharing functionality
- video sharing functionality (YouTube)
- the ability to download Powerpoint presentations to Getresponse for use during a webinar
- free online storage of reading files.
The disadvantages
You can only organize paid webinars with the “Professional” or higher plan.
The limit of 500 participants is the absolute maximum, which may seem quite low. The file storage limits for your registered webinars are not very generous: you have 3 hours of storage on the “More” plan, 6 on the “Professional” plan, and 10 on the “Enterprise” plan. As with the participant ceiling, there seems to be no way to increase this limit.
Despite these limitations, webinar functionality is a very useful function to have in your email marketing arsenal and its inclusion as a function probably gives to the fact that your email list is fully integrated into your webinar tool is a serious asset, and the quality of this functionality is surprisingly high.
Conversion funnels
Another new feature recently introduced by Getresponse is that of “conversion funnels”, which represents a radical change for the product.
Indeed, to some extent, it moves Getresponse from an email marketing platform to something you can use to manage a full e-commerce business.
The idea behind this feature is that you can do the following things without ever leaving the Getresponse environment :
- Create a catalog of products
- Create and run advertising campaigns on Facebook
- Create destination pages
- Add subscribers to an automatic answering machine cycle
- Direct users to sales pages (also created in Getresponse)
- Accept payment for products
- Send abandoned basket emails if necessary
As it stands, this feature is probably better suited to “solopreneurs” or too small businesses that want an all-in-one option to create all the assets they need to create a sales funnel, up to the conversion of subscribers to customers.
Traders with large product catalogs and extensive e-commerce needs are likely to use a dedicated e-commerce platform, such as BigCommerce or Shopify, for the sale part itself.
Applications and integrations
If you want to integrate Getresponse to another platform or tool, there are about 150 integrations to help you do so.
You can use them to connect Getresponse to the most popular e-commerce solutions and content management systems, including Shopify and WordPress, as well as some CRM systems, such as Capsule and Highrise.
There are also a number of useful Google integrations that allow you to import contacts, add Google Analytics tags to an email campaign, and link your reference pages to Google Ads to better measure the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns
Many of these integrations are “official” integrations of Getresponse that work from the start – but you should note that many of them involve the use of a third-party tool like Zapier for connection. (This may entail additional costs).
The other way to integrate Getresponse into another system – assuming you have development skills – is to use its Application Programming Interface. This allows you to send and receive data to and from Getresponse in the manner that suits your application.
Data management and deliverability
Opt-in process
There are two methods for adding subscribers to a mailing list: the single opt-in and the double opt-in.
If you are using a simple opt-in process, the person who registers is added to your mailing list when they press the button on which your registration form is sent. This approach is good for developing a list but can attract false registrations.
With a double opt-in process, the person who registers for your list receives an email containing a confirmation link which they must click before subscribing. This reduces the number of fraudulent registrations, but may also reduce the overall size of your list.
The good news is that Getresponse allows you to use one or other of the opt-in approaches, which is not the case for all competing products. Congratulations to Getresponse for its flexibility on this point.
What is the most advantageous Getresponse plan?
Among the plans under discussion, the “More” plan probably represents the best value for money in the range. Indeed, it unlocks most of Getresponse‘s functionality while remaining at a competitive price.
Two key functions included in this plan, the development of automation and webinars, make the upgrade of the “Basic” plan particularly interesting. (Note, however, that you can only charge webinars if you are on a “Pro” plan).
You can try the “More” plan here.
Data capture and forms
There are two ways to use forms in Getresponse – you can either add an HTML form that you format yourself or design your form in Getresponse (by choosing from a decent range of models and adapting them to design from your site).
If you opt for this last solution, you can add the form to your site using a Javascript code extract to display your form; this form can be presented in a range of different formats (e.g. online, pop-up or slide-up).
You can use HTML forms and those in javascript to enter data in the standard Getresponse fields or, if you prefer, fill out custom fields.
These javascript forms are pretty good. You can create versions for desktops and mobile phones, and you can use a reasonable range of web fonts to style them. You can also activate a CAPTCHA function-blocking spambots, which avoids false registrations.
It is significant, however, that Getresponse does not offer any controls to activate or deactivate pop-up forms on particular devices or individual pages of your site.
Given Google’s approach to pop-up windows on smartphones (which causes sites to be penalized in search results if they display “intrusive interstitials” on mobile devices), c is a little worrying.
One bypass solution is to connect Getresponse to a growth-hacking tool – there are a number of them (Sumo or Privvy being well-known examples). This allows you to deactivate pop-ups for mobile users, as well as to style forms extensively and control the pages on which they appear. But it is not ideal, because it involves an additional cost.
Of course, if you integrate Getresponse into a content management system (CMS) and use a form software package, this problem may not arise. WordPress users can, for example, connect a tool like Gravity Forms (which gives you a lot of control over the appearance of forms) to GetResponse via its API
Data segmentation options
One of the things I like most about Getresponse is how you can send emails to multiple subscriber segments at the same time (or even exclude multiple segments). This is not the case for some of Getresponse‘s main competitors, notably Mailchimp and Aweber.
For example, let’s say you have a list of subscribers in Getresponse that you have divided into four segments:
– Segment A- Segment B- Segment C- Segment D
With Getresponse, it is very easy to send a message to segments A, B and C at once (just check three relevant boxes). You can also send a message to segments B and C and exclude segment D
Not only can you send or exclude messages to multiple segments at the same time, but you can also do the same with individual lists. For example, if you have three separate mailing lists on Getresponse, you can send messages to individuals on all three lists.
This type of flexibility distinguishes Getresponse from its competitors and allows you to maximize the audience for your e-mailing campaign. Among the similar products that I have examined so far, only Campaign Monitor offers a comparable level of flexibility (and at a much higher price).
This flexibility is probably one of the biggest arguments in favor of using Getresponse compared to its main competitor Aweber.
Ease of use/interface
Overall, Getresponse is fairly easy to use. This has not always been the case, but its interface has been revised recently and its menu system is now relatively simple, with key functions easily accessible.
It is quite easy to perform all basic operations in Getresponse: import contacts, create an e-mailing campaign, configure automatic responders and check statistics. In particular, and as mentioned above, the management of the segments is excellent.at
And when it comes to the more advanced functions of Getresponse, like its marketing automation tools, the learning curve is not too steep.
However, the form designer and the tools for creating Getresponse reference pages could benefit from a small revision – unlike most product functions, they have not been much improved in the context of the redesign of the ‘interface. They could be more user-friendly.
In terms of the Getresponse interface compared to that of its competitors, I would say that Campaign Monitor is a little more user-friendly and that the Mailchimp interface has a cleaner design. Aweber‘s interface is probably the closest in terms of look and feel.
Traditionally, Getresponse‘s main lack of friendliness concerned its email editor: it was awkward and buggy.
Getresponse‘s new email creator is much better than his predecessor.
However, the new version of the creator of e-mails has considerably improved things: it has a cleaner and more intuitive drag and drop interface, it does not crash and it is easy to use. It is probably not as good as those offered by some competing applications, but it is perfectly acceptable.
Customer support
Until very recently, Getresponse‘s customer support was one of the most comprehensive among email marketing tools: the company offered telephone assistance, live chat assistance, email assistance and various tutorials and resources online.
Unfortunately, the helpline has been removed (unless you have the company-level “Max” plan). Instead, you should use the live cat (24/7) or email assistance.
And the email assistance provided by Getresponse is available in 8 languages, which is commendable. These are: English, Polish, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Portuguese.
Benefits of using Getresponse
- He is quite friendly.
- As long as you are content with a “Basic” plan, Getresponse is cheaper than many of its main competitors (in some cases, significantly) while offering as much, if not more, functionality than them.
- The discounts you receive when you pay in advance for one or two years of service are extremely generous – you will find it difficult to find similar discounts from major competitors.
- You have really advanced functionality in marketing automation.
- Its flexible approach to data segmentation makes list management very simple – it surpasses many competing products on this point.
- Getresponse’s webline functionality is excellent and a real USP – I haven’t encountered this feature on similar products.
- Its “Funnel Conversion” function is potentially useful for small businesses wishing to manage all aspects of their advertisements on social media, their sales funnels and their e-commerce activity under one roof.
- Its reporting functions are complete.
- Getresponse is transparent about deliverability rates, publishing the numbers on its website and providing deliverability statistics for the electronic newsletters you send.
- All Getresponse plans are provided with a useful (although complicated) destination page creator who makes it easier to test A / B – which could save you a lot of money.
- The personalized DKIM is provided on all fronts.
- Assistance is provided in a large number of languages.
- It fits perfectly with Google Analytics and other measurement tools.
- With the exception of adequate cookie consent functions on its destination pages, it meets the requirements of the GDPR rather well
- You can try all of the Getresponse features for free for 30 days without having to enter the details of your credit card.
Disadvantages of using Getresponse
- Slide-deposit interfaces for creating reference pages and forms are a bit laborious and need to be improved.
- Although you can use the Facebook pixel with the Getresponse reference page function, you cannot do it in a manner consistent with the GDPR
- Improvements could be made to the operation of data capture forms so that users can activate or deactivate them on mobile devices.
- There is a strict limit of 500 webinar participants.
- No telephone assistance is provided (unless you have a “Max” package).
- The split test functionality is limited to the headers and content of the object. It would be good if you could also test the sender and the sending time.
- A large number of integrations for Getresponse involve a third-party synchronization tool like Zapier.
Conclusion of the Getresponse review
Overall, Getresponse is one of the most cost-effective ways to host and communicate with an e-mail database. Its price is competitive in its market, and it is also one of the most interesting products of its kind, insofar as it offers marketing by e-mail, automation, reference pages, electronic commerce. , sales funnels and webinars in one place.
It is difficult to find another competing marketing email solution that offers this “full” proposition, and its free 30-day trial time is also generous.
I was particularly impressed with Getresponse‘s webinar functionality – it is full of functionality and surprisingly good value for what it is.
Some improvements must however be made to Getresponse.
The most important thing that Getresponse should be interested in is probably the introduction of a GDPR-compliant cookie consent mechanism for reference pages.
The interface for the landing pages could also be reviewed – it could be much more user-friendly.
I would also like to introduce more controls for Getresponse data capture forms – you should be able to activate or deactivate them on mobile.
