GetResponse Review: All-in-one Email Solution or Jack-of-all-trades?

There’s word on the street that GetResponse is the simplest email tool available. 

It boasts of pro features like email, webinar hosting, landing pages, and sales funnels.  GetResponse seems to be doing it all!

The company began in 1998 and claims to engage over 1 billion monthly subscribers in 182 countries. What was once an email marketing tool is now an all-in-one marketing solution.

GetResponse goes beyond basic email functionalities. It also has A/B testing, custom landing pages, video email marketing, and e-commerce features. 

The tool offers a lot more functionality at a competitive price. That’s more than market competitors like Mailchimp and Aweber.

GetResponse promises to be an inbound marketing solution that helps you:

• Grow your audience
• Engage with customers
• Sell your knowledge
• Boost your sales

So, is GetResponse all that it’s made out to be?

Let’s find out in this GetResponse Review.

Disclaimer: If you buy something using the links in this article, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. Know that I only promote stuff that I use and trust for the sake of my readers and the reputation of this site.

What Does GetResponse Do?

GetResponse allows you to:

• Create an email list
• Send emails to your subscribers
• Automate your email sequences
• Track and analyze statistics like open rates and click-through-rates
• Create sales funnels
• Host webinars
• Create landing pages and much more!

The Pros and Cons of GetResponse

Here are the pros and cons of GetResponse in short:

GetResponse Pros

1. GetResponse has a simple user interface.
2. It is cheaper than most competitors offering more or less the same functionality as them. You can avail of a free trial for 30 days without ending your credit card details. You can also get a huge discount if you pay for one or two years upfront.
3. GetResponse offers advanced marketing automation features.
4. It offers superior webinar capabilities.
5. It helps businesses manage funnels, ads, and e-commerce with its ‘Conversion Funnel’ feature.
6. GetResponse has comprehensive analysis and reporting features.

GetResponse Cons

1. GetResponse’s drag-and-drop landing page and form creator could use some improvement.
2. There is no phone customer support on plans other than the Max plan.
3. You need to use an external tool (such as Zapier) for most integrations.
4. Users cannot switch on/off data capture forms on chosen devices.
5. Number of webinar attendees is limited to 500.

What You Need To Know Before You Invest in an Email Marketing Tool

 

 

That quote says a lot about why you need to invest in email marketing. You have direct access to one of your subscribers’ most personal spaces – their email inbox.

When someone signs up for your email list, a relationship begins. They have trusted you and want to hear more about your words.

It’s a no-brainer that you need to nurture your email list – with the correct email marketing software.

The number of email users in 2019 was 3.9 billion. This number is set to increase to 4.48 billion in 2024. Imagine the potential! 

If you haven’t added email marketing to your strategy, there’s no better time to start. And if you’re looking for the best email marketing software to invest in, read on.

This review will discuss why you should or should not use GetResponse as your email marketing tool. 

Let’s now look at the features of GetResponse and how it can help you market your business.

GetResponse Features & Benefits

 

In this section, Let’s take a look at the key features GetResponse has to offer.

1. Autoresponders (My Rating: 4.5/5 Stars)

One of the most important features of an email marketing tool is the autoresponder. You can send email sequences to your subscribers at fixed timings/ intervals.

There are many scenarios where you can use an autoresponder. For example, welcome emails after signup or a weekly newsletter.

GetResponse has unparalleled autoresponder functionality at a low rate. It helps you send out:

• Time-based emails (at regular intervals/ on a certain date), and
• Action-based emails (triggered by opens/ clicks/ a completed transaction)

This is one of the best features GetResponse offers, and I’m pretty impressed by it.

2. Marketing Automation (My Rating: 5/5 Stars)

The marketing automation functionality is available for GetResponse’s Plus plan and higher. It allows you to automate your marketing workflows using a drag-and-drop builder. 

You can get it to perform specific tasks based on triggers or user actions (such as clicking a link).

Here’s a video from GetResponse that shows you exactly how this tool works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zQS38A0ieU

It is simple to set up and allows you to design complex workflows easily.

3. Analytics (My Rating: 4.5/5 Stars)

Open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribes show your email campaigns’ success.

Apart from the basics, GetResponse offers advanced metrics and analysis. These help you gauge your marketing campaigns.

• One-click segmentation – segment your list based on reader interaction (clicks, opens, etc.)
• Email ROI – calculate your ROI using email/ landing page tracking codes
• User information – learn about each subscriber (where they’re from, which of your emails they’ve opened, etc.)
• Time-shifting – compare a metric against itself at different time points. Send emails at a time when most of your subscribers are most likely to read them and take action

GetResponse stands out from other competitors like Mailchimp and Aweber with these features.

4. A/B Split Testing (My Rating: 3/5 Stars)

When you split test emails, you get an idea of what your subscribers expect from you. You can improve emails and give your readers more value.

GetResponse allows you to send up to 5 variants of an email to small sets of subscribers on your list. This is more than competitors, who usually offer 2 or 3 variants.

You can then test each email’s performance to see which works best.

Once you’ve selected your best email, you can send that across to the rest of your subscriber list.

GetResponse templates only allow you to vary the subject lines of your emails. So that kind of reduces the possibilities of this feature.

5. Email Templates (My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars)

GetResponse does not offer too many templates like its competitors (Aweber offers 700!). But the 220 available templates are very different from each other.

There are categories of templates according to the goal of each email. That makes them high-quality and easy to customize.

You get a wide range of font options (Google Fonts) for your emails to look unique. You can specify a backup font for email services that do not support certain font styles, which is great.

All GetResponse templates are responsive. They look great on any device (mobile/ tablet/ desktop). You can also preview your email layouts to see how they look.

There is one drawback with the email templates, though.

You cannot set global styles for headings and text. That means you’ll be spending more time formatting your emails.

6. Landing Page Creator (My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars)

Landing pages are crucial if you want visitors to turn into customers.

A full-blown website has too many distractions. A dedicated landing page guides customers and tells them exactly what to do.

A well-designed landing page will focus on one message and have a clear call to action.

GetResponse offers a landing page creator with 180 templates that work on mobile.

GetResponse’s drag-and-drop landing page creator:

The landing page creator allows you to:

• Create high-converting landing pages
• Test the conversions on each page in real-time
• Improve conversions

Most email services need a tool like Unbounce to create landing pages. The extra functionality in GetResponse saves you a lot of money.

You can connect your landing page to a tool like Google Analytics to help you track its performance.

There are a few drawbacks to the landing page creator:

1. The user interface is not intuitive.
2. The landing pages are not responsive. That means you have to create different ones for mobile and desktop.
3. Lack of a clear cookie consent banner that is GDPR compliant.

7. Conversion Funnels (My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars)

‘Conversion funnel’ is a new feature GetResponse offers. The idea is to make GetResponse an all-in-one marketing solution.

With Conversion Funnels, you can:

• Run Facebook ad campaigns
• Create landing pages
• Create e-commerce product catalogs
• Send autoresponders
• Send users to a particular landing page
• Accept payments for products
• Send abandoned cart emails to customers

You can create sales funnels without having to leave the GetResponse platform.

Conversion funnels are an affordable way to manage online sales.  It is best suited for solo business owners or small businesses. Bigger businesses need a dedicated e-commerce platform like Shopify or Bigcommerce.

8. Data Management And Deliverability (My Rating: 4/5 Stars)

GetResponse allows users to use both single and double opt-in for subscribers. That offers users flexibility on how they want subscribers to get added to their email list.

Forms are another important aspect of data management. GetResponse allows you to add an HTML form or design one using the platform.

You can create different versions of these forms for desktop and mobile. You can also use the CAPTCHA feature to prevent spam signups.

GetResponse allows you to send emails to different segments of your list.

There are responses about the email delivery rate for GetResponse. I haven’t had any deliverability issues, so I’m pretty happy.

GetResponse offers custom DKIM, increasing security for senders and recipients of the email.

9. Webinars (My Rating: 4/5 Stars)

One of GetResponse’s more recent features is webinar hosting.

Webinars are a great way to build/ nurture your email list and increase revenue. A webinar hosting platform integrated with your email list can have many benefits.

It is more affordable than other webinar hosting software like GoToWebinar.

GetResponse is comparable to other webinar platforms and delivers a great user experience.

Pros:

• There is no need for the installation of any software for attendees
• One-click webinar recording
• You can share videos on YouTube
• Screen sharing
• You can upload Powerpoint presentations to use during a webinar
• Free online storage

Cons:

• Paid webinars are only available on the Professional plan or higher
• Limited storage

A webinar feature integrated with your email marketing tool is pretty handy. GetResponse thus has an edge over competitors.

10. Apps And Integrations (My Rating: 4/5 Stars)

GetResponse allows you to integrate with over 150 different apps or tools. These include e-commerce platforms, content management solutions, and Google integrations.

But some of these integrations need an external tool like Zapier. You can also use API (Application Programming Interface) to integrate tools in GetResponse.

11. Ease Of Use / Interface (My Rating: 3.5/5 Stars)

GetResponse is a simple and intuitive marketing tool that makes your work quicker. 

Even the more advanced features are easy to learn and get the hang of.

One of the aspects I wish would improve is GetResponse’s landing page creator.

Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor offer a better user experience with their page builders.

Yet, GetResponse is improving. The email creator has been through a makeover, making its user interface cleaner.

12. Customer Support (My Rating: 4/5 Stars)

GetResponse’s customer support used to be above average. It offered phone, chat, email support, and online tutorials.

They’ve stopped phone support now for all plans except the Max plan, which is sad. You can still use email and chat support for your queries, no matter your plan.

GetResponse still leads customer support. It offers English, Polish, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, French, and Portuguese support. Other competitors don’t provide as many channels for support and queries.

The waiting time for chat support is short, and the service is always excellent.

GetResponse’s Pricing Plans

GetResponse offers four pricing plans: Basic, Plus, Professional, and Max.

You can try out any of their plans for free for 30 days without entering your credit card details.

Also, they offer high discounts if you pay for a plan upfront for 12 (-18%) or 24 (-30%) months.

Here’s a list of their pricing plans as mentioned on their site:

Image From GetResponse

The prices shown in the image are for email lists that have 1000 subscribers. The costs increase as your email list size increases. You can calculate the prices by entering your list size on their pricing page.

At most, for a list size of 100,000 subscribers, GetResponse’s prices for their plans will come up to:

• Basic: $450
• Plus: $499
• Professional: $580

You can customize the Max plan and ask them for a quote.

That’s about their pricing. Now, what do each of these plans offer? I’ve broken it down for you here:

All plans cover basic features like:

• hosting/ importing/ growing an email list, 
• access to newsletter themes, 
• autoresponder, 
• responsive email designs, 
• A/B split testing, 
• landing pages, 
• comprehensive segmentation and 
• reporting

Features available for the Plus plan and higher: 

• automation builder, 
• conversion funnels, 
• webinar functionality, 
• number of users (Basic – 1, Plus – 3, Professional – 5), and 
• e-commerce abandoned order recovery

GetResponse’s plans are cheaper than competitors’. Mailchimp’s Premium plan comes up to $733 for 100,000 subscribers.

Also, GetResponse offers significant discounts if you pay upfront for 1 or 2 years. Most competitors do not.

In short, GetResponse offers pretty reasonable pricing plans compared to its competitors.

What Users Are Saying

It wouldn’t be fair if I wrapped up this post without telling you what other users feel about GetResponse. 

I’ve added some screenshots of user reviews from around the web. Please take a look to get a picture of what it’s like to use GetResponse for your business.

There is a mixture of good and bad reviews out there. But keep in mind that GetResponse offers high-end functionalities for a basic cost.

Here are some user reviews:

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So, Should You Choose GetResponse?

Email marketing is a critical aspect of any business’s marketing strategy.

GetResponse is an affordable solution to manage and nurture an email database.

Its price is competitive, and it does have many unique features that its competitors lack.

GetResponse’s annual and 24-month plans are pretty affordable and with tons of value.

The webinar and autoresponder functionalities are what impressed me the most.

Few areas GetResponse could improve upon are its user interface and GDPR compliance.

You can check out GetResponse here to see if it fits well with your business needs!