Lately, a lot of new software has been popping up for Internet Marketers. Most of these scripts perform the same task: they add subscribers to your Autoresponder List on “Auto-Pilot”. But the problem is, most of them are doing it the wrong way. Here’s an important question before buying that software script or shopping cart.
When I first started marketing, I understood the value of building an email list with all my buyers on it. So I went on a hunt to find shopping cart software that integrated with an AutoResponder and added my buyers automatically to a list. Back then (circa 2008) I found DLGuard which prompted me to purchase a subscription with GetResponse. Sam Stephens at DLGuard was doing something very few other shopping carts were doing…he was adding customer names, emails and IP addresses to my GetResponse Autoresponder on autopilot via GetResponses API.
API You Say? What’s That?
According to LooselyCoupled, an API is a published specification that describes how other software programs can access the functions of an automated service. APIs are important enablers of interoperability between web services, provided they are written to allow for loose coupling.
In other words, GetResponse publishes certain commands that shopping carts (and other software) can use to add customers to their autoresponder. GetResponse is one of the few companies that do this, by the way. You can add names, emails, timestamps and IP Addresses. There’s more API commands and features…but let’s keep it simple for now.
So Sam made sure that every time a sale was made via DLGuard, the customer’s actual name, email and IP address was added to the GetResponse database. Since I have double optin enabled, the customer can confirm their addition to my list and I’m fully protected with any AutoResponder service since I have their double-optin verification, their name, their email and most importantly, their originating IP address.
In the world of email marketing, the subscriber’s signup IP Address is very important.
When GetResponse, Aweber or any other Autoresponder company starts looking at your subscribers, they want to see a unique email address for each subscriber.
Autoresponder companies do not want to see one IP address for every subscriber on your list.
One IP? That’s impossible, right? Actually, no. It’s very possible and a lot of scripts these days are guilty of this problem.
An Example of Poor List Building Software
Take Viral Connector by Dan Raine, for example (sorry Dan!). Viral Connector (a WordPress Plugin) automatically adds Facebook subscribers to GetResponse or Aweber. The problem is, Dan’s not using the GetResponse API. Instead, Viral Connector sends an email to a list in the form of listname@getresponse.com via your website. When GetResponse receives the email, guess what IP Address is associated with it? That’s right, the IP address of your website because your website sent the email with the subscriber data. So you end up building a list of 10,000 people with ONE IP ADDRESS…your website’s.
Not very natural, eh? Aweber, in particular, does not like this. In fact, they’ve suspended accounts that were improperly adding subscribers to their lists using the same IP. They find this practice very suspicious. As a workaround, Aweber introduced Email Parsers and GetResponse offers an API.
Protect Your Email List
So the next time you buy a shopping cart script, service or anything that integrates with an AutoResponder, make sure you ask the programmer if the script is properly adding IP addresses to your AutoResponder database via an API. This will keep your relationship with your AutoResponder Email Provider rock-solid and help prevent Aweber bans.
What I’m Using Today to Build My Email List
For the record, I no longer use DLGuard because it doesn’t offer Upsells and various other features. I now use Nanacast with GetResponse. Nanacast not only uses the GetResponse API, they also allow you to move subscribers and unsubscribers between lists on demand. So if a customer requests a refund or cancels a service, I can refund them and immediately move them from the buyer list to the winback list on true “AutoPilot”. Thanks, Josh! If you’re a beginner that can’t afford Nanacast, check out DLGuard. Sam won’t let you down.
Final Note on AutoResponder Web Forms
One last thing, nearly all AutoResponders offer a web form of some kind. These web forms always capture the IP Address correctly. So don’t worry about that part. This post is to warn you about 3rd party scripts and shopping cart services that are still emailing subscriptions.
If you know of any software or service that’s still adding subscriptions via email, please post in the comments below.