The 7 Best Autoresponder For Affiliate Marketing

In this post, I’ll share the Best Autoresponder for Affiliate Marketing and 6 other alternatives.

I’ll review each autoresponder’s email deliverability, pros, cons, plan construction, free trials, notable features, and my take on them. 

I'll also share what type of affiliate marketer would benefit the most from each autoresponder.

Let’s get into it.

What is an autoresponder and why does an affiliate marketer need it?

“…The money is in the list…”

This is a common saying in all of marketing. The reason they say this is because according to studies most people usually don’t purchase products the first time they see an offer.

According to the marketing rule of 7, in most cases, it takes up to 7 interactions with the brand itself before people decide to part with their money.

This is why most websites always try to find ways to obtain their visitors’ email addresses and build an email list.

Getting a potential customer’s email gives you multiple opportunities to communicate with them which increases the chance of a sale.

So the bigger the email list, the more money you can earn.

An autoresponder is a program of an email marketing service that makes it possible to send out mass emails. It can also generate a set of predetermined responses automatically based on the behavior of the owner of the email address.

This way you can communicate with many potential buyers without emailing them one by one. This saves time that you can use on other parts of your affiliate business.

Not all autoresponders are created equally this is why I’ve made a list with some of the best autoresponders you can use on your affiliate marketing journey.

My Overall Top Picks

Since I value your time I’ll start by mentioning what is considered by millions of affiliate marketers the best overall autoresponder (including pricing) to use.

The Best Autoresponder For Affiliate Marketing Beginners:

It is called Get Response. The reason for this is that it’s an all-in-one email marketing platform that helps with a lot of other affiliate marketing tasks.

If you're a beginner or you just aren't sure which autoresponder to pick I'd recommend Getresponse.

Why GetResponse?  You get advanced features at an affordable price without losing in deliverability. 

It also is geared to selling products by providing services that optimize the conversion rate of your affiliate marketing offers.

The Best Autoresponder for Affiliate Marketing Veterans:

The best autoresponder (excluding pricing) is active campaign.

Why Active Campaign?
Active Campaign is GetResponse on steroids. It focuses not only on email marketing but also selling products. It also has the highest deliverability rate by far and the most advanced features. 

It is however quite expensive (for good reasons). Unless you're a veteran affiliate marketer I don't think you'll get all the value out of it that it offers.

1. Getresponse

Getresponse is by far my favorite autoresponder for affiliate marketing for multiple reasons. The founder Simon Grabowski is clearly very ambitious when it comes to Getresponse.

Over the years, it changed from a simple program that could send a bulk of emails all at once to a SAAS (software as a service) that helps you with facilitating sales from the beginning to the end.

It wouldn’t be strange to call it a Lite version of what Clickfunnels is but with the focus on email marketing.

While I do think they could work a little bit on the overall look of the autoresponder it has all the functions you need to assist you in your affiliate marketing business.

• Landing pages
• Forms
• Surveys
• Marketing automation flowcharts
• A/B testing
• SMS marketing
• Autoresponders
• Conversion funnels
• (Paid) Webinars
• Ecommerce Solutions
• and more.

Most Notable Features

The feature that makes GetResponse stand out the most isn’t necessarily the autoresponder but its conversion funnel feature.

Getresponse has “plug and play” conversion funnels that work immediately after inserting the information of the offer.

No extra thinking is needed. Just insert the information and send people to the page where they can sign up for your email list.

Getresponse Pros

• All-in-one marketing platform
• The conversion funnels
• In-platform e-commerce features
• Services are also available through Paypal and Debit
• Affordable premium plans
• Forever Free package

Getresponse Cons

• The email designer interface looks outdated

Getresponse Plans

Email Marketing: All free tools + AI email generator, Unlimited newsletters, Autoresponders, AI campaign generator, Website and landing pages, Signup forms and popups.

Marketing Automation: All Email Marketing features + Marketing automation, Event-based automation, Webinars, Advanced segmentation, Contact scoring, Sales funnel.

Ecommerce Marketing: Transactional emails, Simple, automated order confirmations, and abandoned cart emails, Ecommerce segmentation, Abandoned cart recovery, Promo codes, Product recommendations, Web push notifications

My Take on Getresponse

I think out of the 7 autoresponders Getresponse is the one that’s most fit for every affiliate marketer who isn’t sure what they need.

It’s beginner-friendly but it offers all the advanced features that an affiliate marketer would want while he’s “maturing” as an affiliate marketer.

I also think it’s a great solution for those who don’t live in parts of the world where using credit cards is a normal occurrence such as many European countries such as The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, etc.

2. Aweber

Aweber is one of the oldest autoresponders that is still around. That being said, it’s everything but outdated.

It constantly comes with updates and has in my opinion the most flexible terms of service out of all the autoresponders on this list.

While some autoresponders don’t allow you to use it for subjects that might be a bit frowned upon by society Aweber seems to be very open to almost all.

It’s a great email marketing solution for people trying to build an affiliate marketing business.

Most Notable Features

Aweber stands out mostly because of its low starting price compared to most autoresponders. While I do think the marketing automation feature is less advanced than for example active campaign or getresponse they provide quality services.

It also has the largest library of templates that you can use for your newsletters. It’s rare for users not to find a template that they’d be satisfied with on Aweber.

Aweber Pros

• Free Plan
• Ease-of-Use
• Affiliate Marketing is permitted on service
• High-quality customer service
• Quality service for a cheap starting price
• Internal check-out functions for e-commerce included
• Visually appealing templates

Aweber Cons

• Aweber doesn’t accept PayPal as a payment method
• No fixed price for the Aweber plans
• It gets expensive very quickly based on the subscriber count
• Unsubscribed members are still counted in the quota

Aweber Plans

Free – Forever free plan for up to 500 subscribers
Lite – Premium plan for sending unlimited emails to 1 list
Plus – Premium plan for sending unlimited emails to unlimited lists
Unlimited – Premium plan for sending unlimited emails to unlimited lists and personalized account management from the AWeber support team

My Take on Aweber

Aweber is great for people starting with affiliate marketing especially if you’re on a budget.

I do think focusing on filtering out who you send to your opt-in pages is going to be a bit more important since removed subscribers still add to your total subscriber count.

I’m not a fan of Aweber only using credit cards as a payment method but that’s mostly because where I’m from people aren’t that big on credit cards in general.

Aweber overall is easy to use. You can set up everything considerably faster even if you have zero experience with autoresponders.

3. Convertkit

Convertkit is known for being a service for content creators which means the focus is mostly on growing an audience.

While it might not be as sales-focused as Getresponse or Aweber it makes up for it in subscriber management.

The advanced segmentation features make it possible to categorize your subscribers better to make emails as personalized as possible while still automating the process.

Convertkit Most Notable Features

One of The most notable features of Convertkit is its tagging system which makes it possible to categorize all your email subscribers. Convertkit is great for creating highly targeted email campaigns.

Convertkit Pros

• In-platform landing pages can be created and used on your website (for free)
• Advanced list management capabilities
• Paid Newsletters capabilities
• Free Plan

Convertkit Cons

• Convertkit gets expensive quick
• A low number of templates

Convertkit Plans

Free – Unlimited landing pages, Unlimited forms, Unlimited broadcasts, Audience tagging and segmentation (No email automation), Sell digital products & subscriptions
Creator – All Free features + Automation featured, an extra team member, and third-party integrations
Creator Pro – All Creator features + Unlimited team members, Newsletter referral system, Subscriber scoring, Advanced Reporting

My Take on Convertkit

Convertkit is mostly for creating audiences and purposefully communicating with them. This is a valuable tool especially if you’re promoting multiple affiliate marketing offers.

Not everyone on your list might be at the same stage of the purchasing process. By being able to categorize them you can edit the types of emails you send to subscribers in each category.

It might not have the best conversion tools to help you seal the deal but it’s still one of the best options when it comes to using an autoresponder for affiliate marketing.

4. Omnisend

Omnisend is a decent option for your affiliate business. Omnisend is only second to GetResponse when it comes to sales-focused email marketing.

It’s made with e-commerce in mind and even provides the capability to create an e-commerce store in-platform that people can visit and payment process features.

Most Notable Features

The most notable features involve ecommerce such as the product picker which will let you insert a product and information in an email with 1 click.

It also comes with advanced segmentation functions that can help with categorizing email subscribers so your email can personalized to a higher degree.

Omnisend Pros

• All-in-one marketing platform
• Omnisend automatically adjusts the billing tier as your list grows or shrinks.
• messages in the last 30 days.
• Free Plan
• Advanced segmentation features
• In-platform e-commerce features

Omnisend Cons

• It gets pricey quick
• The deliverability rate is lower than the other options
• Doesn’t integrate with Google Analytics
• Billing exclusively with credit card

Omnisend Plans

Free – 250 contacts, 500 emails/month, 500 web push notifications/month
Standard – 500 contacts, 6,000 emails/month, Unlimited web push notifications, Success manager (from $400), and 24/7 Priority support
Pro – 2,500 contacts, Unlimited emails, Unlimited web push notifications, Success manager (from $400), 24/7 Priority support, and Advanced reporting.

My Take on Omnisend

I think Omnisend has all the features to make it a good solution for capturing and managing your email list. It also has a lot of features that are geared toward getting sales but there’s one thing that bugs me a little.

The deliverability is a bit lower than some of the other autoresponders.

The difference isn’t that much but I’d get paranoid thinking an email might not have arrived in the inbox of someone that might be a guaranteed sale.

5. Email Octopus

Email Octopus is a great option for people just starting with email marketing. Email Octopus isn’t focused on sales such as GetResponse, Aweber, and Omnisend but it’s still a good option.

Email Octopus has one of the best free plans to save 2,500 subscribers, send out 10,000 emails per month, and even come with limited marketing automation.

According to their terms of service, they also welcome all niches as long as you don’t plan to send spam to email addresses.

Email Octopus Most Notable Features

Email Octopus stands out when it comes to their free plan. I’ve never seen a free option that offers so many features in their free plan although they’re a bit limited.

Email Octopus Pros

• A great free plan
• Affordable
• Beginners friendly
• 24/7 support for both free and paid members

Email Octopus Cons

• Very limited marketing automation
• No A/B Testing
• The tagging system is a bit complex
• Doesn’t accept PayPal or Debit Cards

Email Octopus Plans

Free – 2,500 subscribers, 10,000 emails per month, EmailOctopus branding on emails, Reports available for 30 days, Create up to 3 landing pages and forms, Access for 1 user.

Pro – Full control over your email design, Reports available forever, Unlimited landing pages and forms, unlimited users, and the ability to Cancel at any time.

My Take on Email Octopus

I think Email Octopus is a decent option for beginners because of how beginner-friendly it is. It also has a great free plan. I do think there are some aspects that you’ve to take into account if you choose this autoresponder.

The watermark on the emails with the free plan, the deliverability not being the best, and the marketing automation is a bit too simple.

6. Drip

Drip is more than just a simple email marketing service with an autoresponder.

It comes with management, automation, and e-commerce features that are very popular among owners of e-commerce stores.

It can also be a great option for those with an affiliate marketing business but it’s not for everyone. I’ll go deeper into this in the “my take on Drip” section.

Drip Most Notable Features

The 2 features that make Drip stand out from most of the other responders mentioned are its segmentation features and marketing automation.

The segmentation features allow you to categorize your subscribers into different groups so you can send different types of emails per group.

The marketing automation features make it able to respond to actions your email subscribers take on autopilot. Drip is a great option for people with huge lists and their top priority is automating communication as efficiently as possible.

Drip Pros

• High-quality marketing automation features
• Ecommerce focused
• 14-day free trial

Drip Cons

• Drip is expensive
• Complex interface
• No in-platform landing page builder feature
• Low deliverability

Drip Plans

14-Day Free Trial – Unlimited email sends, Onsite campaigns, Advanced Marketing automation, Email support, Free Migration
Paid Version – Unlimited email sends, Onsite campaigns, Advanced Marketing Automation, Email support, Free Migration

My Take on Drip

Drip is meant for people with e-commerce stores but is also a great option for affiliate marketers promoting their products on blogs, for example.

That being said, Drip isn’t for everyone. If you’re a starting affiliate marketer who does not need advanced marketing automation this might not be the best option.

The paid plan starts at $39/month which might not be worth it if you don’t need the majority of features Drip provides.

Drip however is an amazing asset for advanced affiliate marketers who are trying to scale up their business from 4 figures to the next level while saving time.

The only thing I have a problem with is the average deliverability rate of the autoresponder.

7. Active Campaign

Active campaign is the most expensive solution on this but for a very good reason. It has some of the best marketing automation features I have ever seen.

If you get to the point where you’re focused on scaling your affiliate business and combining that with promoting multiple affiliate products then this is the autoresponder for you.

It also has the highest deliverability rate of all autoresponders mentioned in this post.

Active Campaign Most Notable Features

I have said it before but the most Notable Features of Active Campaign are its marketing automation features.

If you’re trying to build an affiliate business that almost runs on autopilot then Active Campaign would be your best friend.

Active Campaign Pros

• All-in-one marketing platform
• Marketing automation features
• High deliverability rate
• Advanced Reporting

Active Campaign Cons

• Active Campaign is expensive
• Not beginners-friendly
• No forever free plan

Active Campaign Plans

Lite – Email Marketing & Marketing Automation, Personalized Chat & Email Support, Inline Forms, Site & Event Tracking, Automation & Campaign Reports, API & Webhooks, Goals
Plus – Everything in Lite +, Landing Pages, Facebook Custom Audiences & Lead Ads, Facebook Lead Ads, Lead Scoring, Pop-Up and Modal Forms, Conditional Content, WooCommerce,, Shopify & BigCommerce Integrations, Custom Mailserver Domain
Professional – Everything in Plus +, Predictive Sending AI, Split Automation, Salesforce Integration, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Integration, Website & In-Application Messages, Marketing Attribution Reporting, Conversions
Enterprise – Everything in Pro +, Custom Reporting, Custom Objects, Single Sign-On, HIPAA Support, Uptime SLA, Unlimited Email Testing

My Take on Active Campaign

In general, I think Active Campaign is the best autoresponder that’s on the internet but it isn’t for everyone.

The people who’d truly benefit from it are those who have a lot of experience with email marketing and need it specifically for advanced marketing automation features.

Most affiliate marketers that are just starting will just overpay for services they won’t use.

That being said, if you by any chance are in the group of experienced marketers you’ll benefit greatly from Active Campaign.

How to choose an autoresponder

Back in the day, it was simple to choose an autoresponder for your affiliate business but nowadays it almost seems like every week a new one pops up with more features than the other.

This is why before investing in an autoresponder you should take these factors into account.

Your affiliate marketing level
Depending on where you’re on your journey you might not need certain features that you pay extra for.
Terms of Service
Not all autoresponder provide their services to every niche. Examples of niches could be gambling, making money online, adult content, and even affiliate marketing.
Free Trial
There’s no point in paying for something that doesn’t help you as an affiliate marketer. This is why it’s important to try it out before investing money.
Deliverability
If your emails aren’t arriving in people’s inbox they can’t read your offers. This is why you should aim for an autoresponder with the highest deliverability possible while taking other factors into account.
Features
Does the autoresponder have the features needed to support you on your affiliate journey? This is something you should ask yourself before picking one.
Integrations
Can it be used in combination with all your other software? The more integrations are available, the better it is.
Price
Autoresponders range from reasonably affordable to expensive. This is why it’s important to find out if you’ll get your money’s worth out of the autoresponder.

The most expensive autoresponder with the most features might not always be the best option simply because of where you’re on your affiliate journey.
Customer Service
It’s important to have help at hand when you’re dealing with technical and administrative problems that can influence your business.

A great customer service team that can be reached through multiple channels is essential in my opinion.

Autoresponders to avoid as an affiliate marketer

You’ll notice I have excluded some autoresponders that are considered to be among the top autoresponders. The reason for that is that not every Autoresponder accepts affiliate marketing.

At worst, they’ll cancel your subscription without warning just to try to run an affiliate campaign. This is why it’s important to review the terms of service before getting a subscription.

Here’s a list of autoresponders that don’t allow affiliate marketing or cover making money online in general:

• Mailerlite
• Mailchimp
• Brevo ( Formerly known as SendinBlue)
• Sendpulse

Even though I gave you this list I’d recommend when picking an autoresponder (that’s not on this list) to Google “[Autoresponder] + terms and conditions”.

A quick search using ctrl+F combined with the keyword “affiliate marketing” will uncover in seconds if the autoresponder accepts the campaigns you intend to build.

Affiliate Marketing Autoresponder FAQ’s

1. Can you make money without an autoresponder?

Yes. you can earn money without an autoresponder but the time it takes will drop significantly with an autoresponder. You can use that time to work on other parts of your business or just relax.

2. What is the best autoresponder for beginners?

I’d probably go with Getresponse. It might not be the cheapest and it’s also not super expensive. It’s beginner-friendly and you won’t outgrow it in a short time.

3. Do I need an autoresponder right from the start as an affiliate marketer?

No, but I do think capturing emails at the very least can help a lot as a starting affiliate marketer. Most leads need some extra context before purchasing so being able to message them after they leave your content can do a lot especially when you’re trying to make your first few sales.

4. What is the cheapest autoresponder that’s fit for affiliate marketing?

The overall cheapest autoresponder is email octopus. It's a decent option but it lacks some features such as A/B testing which can help with optimizing your campaigns.

5. What is the best autoresponder for an affiliate marketing website?

It depends on where you’re in your affiliate marketing journey. When it comes to features than active campaign is the best autoresponder.

6. What is the best autoresponder for a veteran affiliate marketer?

I’d recommend Active Campaign for the veteran affiliate marketer. In most cases, you’ll have a lot more you need to manage at this stage.

At this point, not only communication but automation will start to get more important. Active Campaign offers both at the highest level.

7. What autoresponder should I pick if I’m not sure about what I need?

In this case, I’d go for Getresponse because it has a lot of advanced features while still being beginner-friendly.

Getresponse offers all of it at an affordable price at an affordable price making it a great pick for both the starter, the intermediate, and the advanced marketer.

8. Which autoresponder doesn’t require credit card payment?

There are a few that accept Paypal such as Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and Mailerlite.

Among the ones that accept affiliate marketing Getresponse is the only one that allows you to pay with Paypal and even debit cards through Ideal.

Summary

All of the autoresponders can be used for affiliate marketing but 2 options separate themselves from the rest. 

Active Campaign and GetResponse. 

They both have a high deliverability rate compared to the rest of the autoresponders and are all-in-one sales-oriented marketing solutions. 

Getresponse is more suitable for beginners and people who don’t know exactly which autoresponder to pick.  

This is because it offers advanced features while being beginner-friendly and affordable.

Active Campaign is meant for veteran marketers and can be seen as an expanded version of GetResponse. It has more advanced features and can support bigger businesses, especially with marketing automation. 

It is also a lot more expensive so I wouldn’t recommend beginners to invest in it.

That’s all for today.

If you have any experience with one of these autoresponders or affiliate marketing through email in general I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

See you at my next post!