Now, before I start of with my woes, I would just like to say that AutoResponse Plus, when installed under ultimate conditions, is a superb software. Before I switched to Aweber, I was using AutoResponse Plus for a year without a single twitch. Mmmm… maybe just one or two but never something that was major enough to be a big problem.

It’s definitely one of the better followup autoresponder scripts. Very powerful indeed. In addition to several of the more common autoresponder features such as:

  • Unlimited followup autoresponders
    You can create unlimited lists, with unlimited followups.

  • HTML, multipart and text format
    You can send out your broadcasts and followups in the above formats. The only thing that’s missing is a WYSIWYG editor. You will need to paste raw HTML, which can be a pain when you need to change just one word in your messages.

  • Subscribe and unsubscribe via email

Nothing out of the ordinary. Here are some of ARP’s features  that I REALLY like

  • Advanced subscriber filter.
    You can filter your subscribers using just about any data that you find important, for example: list they are subscribed to, subscription format, date of subscription, status of subscriber, IP address, where they subscribed from, which messages they have received ….

  • Allows the subscription and unsubscription of subscibers remotely.
    With this feature, you can add and remove a subscriber from a list using a remote script. For example, I had itworking with my membership script. Each time I get a member, they are automatically added into the member list in ARP. And the would start getting the member followups.

  • Headers and footers.
    You can set your own headers and footers for each list. And when you send a broadcast, you can select from any of the headers and footers.

  • Advanced tracking.
    Not only can you track open rates and clickthroughs, you can also track where your subscribers come from. And not just that, you can set a different thank you URLs to forward each one to upon successful subscription.

  • Flexible actions.
    You can make subscriber from list A to be added to list B or list B AND C at the completion of his followups in A. Or have him removed from A when he signs up to B. Or have him loop again through the list A messages. Why you would want to be able to do all this, I don’t know. But it’s great to know that you can do it.

So, in short, AutoResponse Plus is a pretty cool software …. when it works.

A few months before my switch, I began to notice various problems. It all began when my broadcasts were not sending. A few hundred would be sent without a problem and then it would stall. I would re-start the broadcast and it would get to a bit more than the previous broadcast and then again it would stall.

And then finally, when I finally managed to send my broadcasts to all my subscribers, I noticed that my open rate remained at 0. Which was impossible, since I subscribed myself to my lists with different email addresses.

A problem with the tracking script was probably the reason but then it got me thinking. How many of my subscribers ARE getting my messages. There was no easy way in ARP to check the likelihood of my messages making it through the spam filters.

And then, the biggy. My web host had to disable ARP because

it is causing the server a heavy threat and has ultimately crashed Mysql and cPanel server’s. We had to take necessary steps to stop this crash so we have disable the scripts.

What???!!!

What could that possibly mean? I’ve been running it for a year now and then this? So, I wrote to support and here’s what they had to say:

The server mysql process had crashed and cpanel service was interupted and inconvenienced the other clients on the server. The cpanel on the server had to be upgraded and then the process was restored.

The ARP process was in danger of crashing the site and server. This is no fault of your own.

Specifically, AutoResponse Plus (ARP) was increasing the load when its cron function was executed and this nearly resulted in crashing the entire server. This is not your fault at all. It’s a problem that is a nuance of AutoResponse Plus.

When we previously informed the script’s author of this problem 2 years ago, he immediately declined to address it, blaming it on various web hosts and their server configuration/policies — rather than admitting there was a problem. We were then promptly removed from his list of ‘preferred’ installers, presumably because he did not wish for us to comment on the unstable nature of ARP3.

ARP3 runs wonderfully with a few lists/groups (less filters to run, ie, fewer processes to increase the load). However, in my own personal experience with using ARP3 for 5 years, the longer you run it, the more unstable and slower it becomes. This is a widespread phenomenon So it’s not related to anything other than the way the script was coded to begin with.

Hmmm… I did notice that my web host and several other web host were removed from ARP’s preferred web host list. The only web host left (the last time I checked) was ThirdSphere hosting.

I don’t know whether what my web host claims is true or not but they have been of a great help to me in my many years hosted with them. They’ve gone beyond the call of duty many times, just so I can stick to my addiction of doing things myself.

So, should I switch host or autoresponder script? Script, of course. I searched the net for another script and then started thinking, what if other scripts have similar problems and I only find out about it a year down the road?  

Do I really want to go through all this again? Finding a script, installing it, making it work and then it does this to me?

Perhaps it would be easier to just sign up with an autoresponder service.  Much easier.

 

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