AWeber Email Marketing Review 2020. Is Aweber Worth It?

AWeber: Recommended for SMB’s & Startups Wanting Good Automation, Tagging, Segmentation + Excellent Customer Service & Deliverability.

AWeber is one of the oldest and most mature email marketing services, first established in 1998.  AWeber’s focus on email deliverability, customer service, and marketing automation all at a great price point make it a solid choice for startups and small to medium businesses. Still, for eCommerce & Enterprises, it is surprisingly lacking.

The Review Process

We have tested 30 of the most popular email marketing software vendors out of a list of over 100.  We have compared over 80 key features and benefits to be able to make a solid and fair comparison. In total, over 2,400 data points have been compiled over our months of testing.  For further details on what we tested, jump to the Main Email Marketing Testing & Comparison Page. 

AWeber Pricing

There are two types of pricing models in the email marketing industry.

1. Per Contact Pricing means you are charged for storage of a number of contacts; this model usually includes unlimited email sends.
2. Per Email Pricing – this model usually means that you can have an unlimited number of contacts, but you pay per thousand email sends.

All email marketing vendors also offer multiple tiers of service, a basic tier providing email messaging, autoresponders, and segmentation.  More advanced tiers usually provide more in-depth services such as email marketing automation, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Funnels, Payment Gateways, and landing pages.

When it comes to pricing, AWeber is there with the leaders.  They came third in our study.  The heatmap below shows their position relative to over service providers.

Competitor Pricing Table – All Email Marketing Services

Value Ratings
Value	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆
Model	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Contact	Email	Email
Free-Tier	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	6K/m - $0	9K/m - $0
#Contacts
500	$7.49	$15	$13	$19	$17	$25	$15	$9	$30	$79	30K/m - $9.65	40K/m - $25
2,500	$15	$25	$30	$29	$38	$49	$50	$39	$50	$147	60K/m - $18.95	60K/m - $39
10,000	$39	$65	$76	$69	$81	$119	$99	$111	$110	$297	150K/m - $69	120K/m - $67
25,000	$112	$145	$144	$149	$191	$166	$219	$179	$199	$497	450K/m - $230	350K/m - $173
50,0000	$172	$250	$237	$392	$295	$316	$299	$239	$379	$599=< 125K
Unlimited	$2,999									$99 per extra 100K
Cost per Contact (cents)	0.39	0.65	0.74	0.69	0.81	1	1	1.11	0.67	2.97	NA	NA
	Visit SendX Services	Visit GetResponse	Visit Benchmark	Visit AWeber Services	Visit ConstantContact	Visit ConvertKit	Visit Mailchimp	Visit ActiveCampaign	Visit iContact Services	Visit Ontraport	Visit MailJet Services	Visit SendinBlue

Unlike most email service providers, Aweber does not offer complicated tiers of service.  There is simply one service, and this includes:

• Email Marketing Automation
• Unlimited Email Sends
• Segmentation, Tagging, Autoresponders
• Signup Forms, Email Templates & Stock Photos
• Email to RSS, Facebook & Twitter
• 945 integrations to other platforms

Things to Know About AWebers Pricing

Surprisingly though, there is an added analytics charge of $19 per month, but this is included in the prices shown on the website.

Also, another thing to note is that is you have multiple lists, and you have the same contact on two of those lists you will be charged for two subscribers.  The pricing model is based on subscribers to lists, not the number of unique contacts.  To ensure you do not have this duplication, maintain only one list per business, and use tagging to separate your customers into different segments.

AWeber Email Marketing & Automation Features

Like all of the services reviewed, Aweber offers a selection of predesigned email templates and a good selection of high-quality images for use in your email campaigns.  The email design process is also fully drag-and-drop, making crafting your message a breeze.

In fact, AWeber has a huge collection with 700+ newsletter templates and 6,000+  licensed images, which will ensure your emails will look professional and unique.  They will also host your uploaded images.

AWeber also has the largest collection of predesigned email capture forms with over 1,000 different designs, which are also fully customizable. The types of form on offer are Inline, Pop-Over, Lightbox, and Pop-Up.  The only thing missing is an Exit Intent form.

Most software providers offer Autoresponders, Email Sequencing, Customer Tagging, and Segmentation.  What separates Aweber is the ease of implementation and the levels of automation available.  The video below will give you a good idea of how easy this process is.

AWeber Segmentation & Tagging Video

ScreenShot of How I Use AWeber Automation

Simple sequential automation and tag-based triggers are all covered in Aweber’s core service, as you can see above.

Is AWeber Falling Behind On Machine Learning?

We see a very strong trend in the industry towards machine learning to improve email services.  Take for example the excellent new innovations by GetResponse which enables you to target each individual contact with an email delivered at the usual time they open emails, so if your contact reads their emails at 6:30 am weekdays, the email will be delivered then, so it is at the top of the inbox  You can also deliver the email at, for example, 9 am in every timezone, it is called “Time Travel” by GetResponse. ActiveCampaign and SendX also have similar functionality.

So the answer is yes, AWeber is falling behind in innovative uses of AI and machine learning.

AWeber Reporting & Analytics

AWeber has a solid set of basic reporting and analytics.  You will have the ability to analyze and improve your campaigns with reporting that allows you to compare open rates, undeliverable, unsubscribes clicks over time, and more.  You can also seamlessly segment your list based on the responses or actions against your email.

It is also a breeze to list unsubscribes or undeliverables a swiftly remove the contact from your database using Bulk Delete.

However, to suggest AWeber have any kind of advanced reporting or analytics would be incorrect.  The reporting is very static and lacks the ability to configure even basic dates; for example, if you want to view performance over more than one year, it is impossible.

AWeber is clearly aimed at small businesses, but as you grow, I am not sure this level of reporting will grow with you.  It may be something you are willing to accept in exchange for their low pricing and the simplicity of use.

[Related Post – Compare All Email Marketing Services Side By Side]

Of course, you can also see list growth, unsubscribes, and even social shares.  Finally and importantly, A/B Testing, the ability to test the email performance with different subject lines and content, is included in the service.

Visit AWeber

Advanced Email Features

AWeber RSS to Email

Email to RSS is a simple yet effective way to streamline the communication process with your audience.  You can set it up so that when you publish a new article on your website in a specific category, the email service will be notified and can build a customized email and send it to your audience, without you having to do anything.  This is a huge timesaver.

Surprisingly, not all email newsletter providers offer this service.  To view the other vendors offering this service, check out our Email Service Master Comparison Table.

Email to Facebook

As with the RSS function, you can quickly and effectively integrate the AWeber mailing engine into Facebook.  Any broadcast email you setup can with a single click also send an update to a Facebook page.

Email to Twitter

A nice addition is the ability to be able to send an automatic update to your twitter profile from a broadcast message.  It is these little process improvement that saves time and effort.

AWeber’s Lack of Advanced Features for Enterprise & Ecommerce

AWeber is clearly not aiming at enterprise customers.  There is no possibility to host multiple accounts to enable better workflow and collaboration in the marketing department.

There is also no mechanism for customer relationship management (CRM) or lead capture available.  So if you are part of a larger team, you will want to consider GetResponse or Ontraport.  GetResponse has a great price point and a complete set of features.

One saving grace for AWeber here is the SalesForce.com integration.  SalesForce.com is the industry leader when it comes to CRM, so being able to integrate your marketing department’s contact list to the Salesforce ecosystem can be critical for enterprise customers. AWeber has developed its own integrated service to enable the seamless passage of customer data, messaging, collaboration, and messaging between the services.

Out of all tests, only three software vendors offer a fully integrated site chat function, AWeber is not one of them.

AWeber Has Serious Integrations

AWeber does not have native landing pages, payment processors, or eCommerce functionality like our review winning GetResponse, but it does have a set of integrations that enable this functionality.

AWeber’s strategy is not to build a completely integrated solution themselves, but to build integrations to a huge network of 3rd parties.  This is the saving grace of AWeber because, with over 950 integrations, you are guaranteed to have the ability to integrate with practically ever serious service out there.  In addition to that, they have a Zapier integration, which enables another 1,500 services.  So you can rest assures all the usual payment processors and eCommerce services are covered including:

• Paypal
• Stripe
• Shopify
• Square
• WooCommerce

Security & Certifications

At this stage in the development of the internet, cybersecurity is of utmost importance.  High profile data leaks and hacks are resulting in large fines to businesses that do not adequately protect their customer’s data.

Email Service Provider Security Compliance Table

Ease of Use & Customer Ratings

Using as many independent sources as possible, we have rated the services provided.

AWeber scores highly in customer service and customer satisfaction.  Whatever problem you may be facing the talented and passionate support team is available instantly, the support service is easy to navigate and use.

AWeber Review Summary

AWeber offers a good core set of email marketing automation tools, and what it does not provide natively is covered with a massive collection of 950+ integrations.  Its customers are extremely happy and are willing to pay a little more to get the highest levels of customer service and personal support.

Visit AWeber

[Related Post – Compare All Email Marketing Services Side By Side]

AWeber Email Marketing – Full Features Data Sheet

Email Service Provider
Value for Money	☆☆☆☆☆
Features	☆☆
Deliverability	☆☆☆☆☆
Ease of Use	☆☆☆☆
Client Satisfaction	☆☆☆☆☆
Support	☆☆☆☆☆
Total Stars	26
Price Model	Contact
Free Option	No
500 Contacts	$19
2,500 Contacts	$29
10,000 Contacts	$69
25,000 Contacts	$149
50,0000 Contacts	$392
Unlimited Contacts
Cost per Contact (cents)	0.69
Primary Features eMail
eMail Templates	✔
eMail Images	✔
Email Form Templates	✔
Drag & Drop Email Design	✔
Autoresponders	✔
Marketing Automation	✔
Individual Customer Automation	✔
Customer Tagging & Segmentation	✔
Intelligent Timing Delivery
Time Travel (Global 9am Delivery)
Basic Email Analytics	✔
Powerful Email Analytics
A/B Testing	✔
SPAM Scoring	✔
Advanced Features
Webinar Integration	✔
Hosting Webinar & Recording
Email from RSS Feeds	✔
SMS Marketing
Automatic Product Recommendations
Site Chat CRM Integration
Membership Site Service
Team / Enterprise Functions
Multiple User Accounts
Sales Team Lead Distribution
Salesforce Service Integration	✔ (i)
Primary Features Funnels
Surveys/Polls
Sales/Lead Funnels
Landing Pages
Exit Popups
Primary Features Sales & Payments
eCommerce Integrations
Full Payment Gateways
Abandoned Cart Integration
Win Back / Bounce Back
Payment Mgt
Discount Coupons
Referral Program Mgt
CRM & Remarketing
CRM & Deal Management
Cross Platform Journey Tracking
Activity Scoring
Integrations
3rd Party Integrations	948
Zapier App Integration	✔
Deliverability	☆☆☆☆☆
Security & Certifications
GDPR Compliant	✔
SSL TLS Encryption	✔
EU-US Privacy Shield	✔
Ease of Use	☆☆☆☆
Customer Satisfaction	☆☆☆☆
Customer Twitter Sentiment	☆☆☆☆☆
Support (Chat, Email, Phone)	Phone, Chat, Email
Support Times	24/7
Response Time	Immediate
Customer Support	☆☆☆☆☆
Visit the Vendor	Visit AWeber Services

How We Rated the Service