Could You Save Some Money on Your Aweber Subscription?
| by Paula Brett |I’ve been meaning to post this little bit of information for a while now, but it keeps getting pushed down my list of blog topics…..
Did you know that you could be paying more for your Aweber subscription than you need to?
Did you know that when people unsubscribe from your list(s), Aweber DOES NOT remove them?
Did you know that undeliverable emails – e.g. perhaps someone subscribed and changed their email address – are not automatically removed from your list of subscribers?
Yes, of course, when you send out a broadcast or add an autoresponder message to Aweber, those who have unsubscribed or who have an undeliverable email address are not included in the `send out’ but THEY ARE STILL INCLUDED in your list of subscribers as far as Aweber’s billing is concerned.
You might have 513 subscribers, but 15 have unsubscribed, leaving you with 498 subscribers, but you won’t be paying $19 a month…. no, you will be paying an extra $10…. those 15 unsubscribes are still attributed to your account and therefore your bill, even though they unsubscribed and you can’t send emails to them.
What about if you know you have 5,050 subscribers, but you know that over the past few months, 50 of those on your list have become undeliverable? You will still be paying $69 instead of $49, that’s an extra $20 for having people on your list with undeliverable email addresses.
So here’s where you need to do a bit of housekeeping in your Aweber account - you need to regularly spring clean your lists and rid yourself of all those people that unsubscribe or become `undeliverable’. And here’s how you can do it…
1) Login to your account and choose which list you are going to start with from the drop down menu (if you only have one or two lists, this won’t take too long, but if you have loads, it could take a little while)
Click on the Leads tab
2) Select Unsubscribed Leads from the drop-down menu (it’s the one at the very bottom!)
3) You’ll see a bit of whirring going on and then your unsubscribed details will appear
Simply check the Erase box to check all the boxes, then click Save – that’s it… GONE!
If you’ve got a quite a few unsubscribes that have built up over time, you may have a number of pages with details to erase.
4) To do the same for the undeliverable leads, go back to point 2) and select Undeliverable Leads from the drop down menu and repeat the same process
If you have loads of lists, or indeed a large amount of subscribers and have built up a mass of unsubscribes and undeliverables over a long period of time, an alternative method is to telephone Aweber, or contact their support desk and ask them to remove all your unsubscribes and undeliverables.
Et voila… I hope you’ve saved yourself a bit of cash, and if not, well… it’s something to keep an eye on as you grow your lists.
Edit 21st Aug 2008: To answer the question that John asked in the comments section below:
I contacted Aweber and asked them if they charged on a monthly average subscriber count or the number on a cut-off date?
Their reply was that they billed retroactively (after the fact), on the number of leads in your account when you reach the cut-off number.
Aweber: Backstage, Behind The Scenes
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12 Responses to “Could You Save Some Money on Your Aweber Subscription?”
By Tim Linden
on Aug 6, 2008 | | Reply
Yes – But I’m pretty sure the stats for those subscribers will go away, so make sure you download any reports before purging
By Stuart Turnbull
on Aug 6, 2008 | Follow me on Twitter | Reply
Hi Paula
Thanks for the Aweber advice, being a bit of a ‘newbie’ I didn’t realise it worked like this, although it will be a few more months before I need to worry about it!
Great blog with informative content, cheers!
Regards
Stuart
http://www.printsmakeprofits.com for a simple way to SERIOUS eBay profits.
By Paula Brett
on Aug 6, 2008 | Follow me on Twitter | Reply
Tim: Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Not sure what you mean by the stats going away, they stay unless you physically remove them. But, yes, you are right, you should back everything up on a regular basis.
I did a post about backing up your Aweber stuff here http://paula-brett.com/blog/back-up-or-lose-out/
Stuart: Thanks for your kind comments, I’m glad you’re finding my blog useful
By Georganna Hancock
on Aug 6, 2008 | | Reply
Yes, this is good information to know. Thanks for rooting it out and posting it here, especially the part on what to do to protect yourself from unnecessary charges.
Georganna @ A Writer’s Edge
By Cindy King
on Aug 16, 2008 | | Reply
I posted a link to this in my Sunday Blog Carnival at: http://cindyking.biz/international-marketer-review-blog-carnival-13/ and I stumbled your post.
Stop by to vote on your post as the weekly best article.
By Jackie Pollock
on Aug 16, 2008 | | Reply
Hello Paula
This was something I did not know about on how Aweber works and the necessity to keep cleaning up duties as part of our routines.
Thank you for the info and “helpers” on your Blog!
Jackie Pollock
By Paula Brett
on Aug 16, 2008 | Follow me on Twitter | Reply
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, Jackie – I hope you can save a bit of dosh!
By John W. Furst
on Aug 18, 2008 | | Reply
Basically great tip!
* But that makes house keeping with your stats more complicated.
* You waste time doing that to save a few bucks. You are better off making those $10.00 or $20.00 bucks extra. (Assuming you use AWeber in order to make money. If you are not, then it doesn’t apply)
* You could use AWeber white label which still offer the old price plan $19.50 for 10,000 subscribers. E.g. http://www.automateyourlist.com
Cheers.
P.S. Do you know, if AWeber charges on a monthly avergae subscriber count or the number on a cut-off date? That could affect the housekeeping adversely
By Paula Brett
on Aug 19, 2008 | Follow me on Twitter | Reply
Hi John, thank you for stopping by.
That’s a really good question and I am going to get in touch with Aweber to find out. I’ll let you know what they say.
By Paula Brett
on Aug 21, 2008 | Follow me on Twitter | Reply
I’ve now been in touch with Aweber and they have given me an answer to your P.S., John.
I have added it to the original post as an edit.
Thanks, again, for the great question.
Paula
By Miriam Skellig
on Aug 27, 2008 | | Reply
Really bad idea. You should never remove unsubscribes and is just poor practice. They need to stay there so that you do not make the mistake of emailing them again. If that happens watch how quickly your spam complaint rises. It’s a big no no. Sorry!
By Paula Brett
on Aug 28, 2008 | Follow me on Twitter | Reply
Miriam, thank you so much for your comment.
However, I disagree with you. How would I be able to mistakenly email them again, Aweber wouldn’t include them in my mailings whether I deleted them or not once they’ve unsubscribed. The only way I could email them again was if they signed up again, possibly to another list of mine for another product.
If they signed up again to one of my lists then I’m perfectly within my rights to email them again, as they opted in…. and if they did cry spam then Aweber will cover me as they have proof that they signed up to one of my lists and double opted in.