How to Be a Smart Marketer and Still Use AWeber

I’ve been an AWeber customer for quite some time. And I deal directly with accounts containing lists between 800 subscribers and 90,000+ subscribers.

I spend quite a lot of time in AWeber. And all in all, it’s a great system.

It makes communicating with your customers drop dead simple for the average business owner out there.

For a few bucks a month, you don’t have to worry about dealing with the ISPs or SPAM complaints or anything like that.

And the metrics tools they make available give you a pretty good idea about what’s going on with your subscribers and your messages.

But once you graduate from Marketing 101 and you start to dig deep into the nitty gritty of boosting your profits, then the problems begin to appear. And those problems can cost your business a whole lot of money in the form of lost revenue.

So in the next few minutes, I’m going to identify the BIGGEST problem, explain why it’s such a problem, and offer a few possible workarounds.

Here’s the big problem with AWeber:

AWeber focuses their whole system on something I don’t care about… at all.

Their entire system is built around lists, when all I care about in my business are my subscribers and my customers.

Let me explain why this is sooooooo wrong from a business perspective.

Here’s a screenshot of the lists in one of my accounts:

So let’s say Susie Q signs up for my prospect list. She receives AWeber’s double opt-in confirmation message. If the email manages to get there and Susie Q ends up clicking on the confirmation link… well, then I’ve got myself a new subscriber.

So then Susie Q decides to buy something and become a customer.

Well, in my book, taking an action like that means Susie Q needs to get moved to a new list where the conversation is now focused for people who are customers.

That’s a very different message and feel than the type of messages I want going to prospects on my list.

So can you do that in AWeber? Can you move Susie Q from your prospect list to a customer list?

Sure you can…

As long as you don’t mind Susie Q getting another confirmation message from AWeber. Just to make sure she really wants to get on the new list.

That’s GAME OVER for me. NO thanks.

Would you want to have to do that if you were the customer? I wouldn’t. Heck, I wouldn’t even understand why I had to give you my information or approval AGAIN… After all, I did it once… and I even gave you my credit card number!

I would be a confused customer.

And what happens when Susie Q decides to buy another product, one that clearly shows me she belongs in my “best customer” list?

Same deal again… another confirmation message gets triggered and sent to Susie Q.

If you’ve used AWeber for any length of time, you’ve run into this problem. And if you call AWeber and ask them how to intelligently move your people from one list to another, they’ll politely let you know that you can’t without triggering another confirmation message. (Kudos to them for actually having real people answer the phone… and do it in a timely manner.)

In my opinion, this huge flaw in AWeber keeps you from effective and smart marketing.

When a system like this gets in the way of smart business, it’s time to find a workaround. Or to leave…

So if you’re ready to graduate to Marketing 202/303/404 and get more return from your marketing dollar, here are some (simple, non-technical) ways to deal with this. None of them are perfect.

1. Use another similar system to market to your customers. If you use 1ShoppingCart.com, this is pretty simple. 1ShoppingCart.com treats all paying customers as double opt-in subscribers. So in your product preferences, you can select an autoresponder for the customer to go into upon purchase. No confirmation required.

2. Tweak your business process and use the Automation Rules.

The only time you can add a subscriber to additional lists in AWeber without triggering a confirmation is to use their Automation rules.

Here’s a screenshot of that screen… you’ll find it under the “My Lists’ tab in the main navigation bar.

Basically, the best you can do is to say something like, if Susie Q signs up for List A, I’d ALSO like her added to list B.

Far from perfect. Because it’s bass ackwards. Technology controlling business decisions.

3. Disguise your covert “list moving” process as some sort of benefit from the customer’s eyes.

Upon ordering, direct your customer to a page to deliver a free, unannounced bonus. Then “disguise” the optin box and have them fill it out to get the bonus. Edit the confirmation message in AWeber to explain that by clicking the (confirmation) link, they’ll be able to download their bonus. Then, by using the Automation rules from the step above, you can remove them from from your prospect list once they’ve completed that process.

There are really a lot of ways you can go with this. Just be creative.

If you didn’t know this problem existed in AWeber, then you’re probably leaving some revenue on the table.

If you do know this problem exists and you haven’t done anything about it… well then you’re definitely leaving money on the table… and why haven’t you done anything about it? Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Bottom line:

In today’s business climate, there is simply no excuse for just talking AT your prospects and customers.

If you’re not marketing to your subscribers and customers based on what they do (their actions) then, in my opinion, you’re nuts. And you’ll lose out to competition who does go the extra mile to figure out how to do that… despite the limits of current technology.

Systems like AWeber are examples of technology controlling the business decision, instead of the other way around.

It’s only a matter of time before that type of thing becomes unacceptable for the masses.

If you’re aiming for the top in terms of your marketing results, that time is NOW.

NOTE: You might ask me why I still use AWeber if I know this problem exists. First, I don’t use AWeber for everything. I use it where it makes sense. You have to admit, it’s a good system for certain things. Second, in the cases where I do use AWeber, I put in a whole lot of extra effort (extra lists, extra tracking, automation rules, parsing etc.) to make a system that allows me to market effectively.

Related posts:

1. Stop Following the Herd: Double Opt-In is Crazy
2. Mr. Marketer, Tear Down this Wall (Or You’re Toast)
3. My 5 Top Email List Building Blunders
4. Which Came First, the Business or the List?
5. 7 Ways to Boost the Results of Your Next Promotion