Very often, someone would ask me. I see there is an auto responder in my Cpanel or my web host has an auto responder included. Why would I pay to use something like Aweber?

Simply because they are not the same type of auto responders. Typcially, there are two types. One is ‘smart’ sequential auto responder and the other behaves like an auto reply.

With Aweber, you can calculate the timing. If you set a message to go out the 3rd day after they join your mailing list, it figures that date out no matter when they join. Or, you can set a mailing to go out at a specific date/time you choose. While the last is not technically an auto responder feature but it is one of the many features they have.

The auto responder that is in your cPanel or comes with your web host, is more like a ‘kick back’ auto responder. For example. You send it an email, it immediately sends back a response. Think of it like a vacation responder. It cannot do anything beyond that.

Having said that, some web hosts do supply a sequential auto responder but you have to really weigh the benefits. Many times this means sending emails out using your own IP/domain and you can very easily get into hot soup sending bulk mail from your own web site. Do check with your host and their terms if you decide to go down this route.