AWeber.com offers email marketing newsletters and software. They have a bright, simple “Web 2.0″ type of site. We ran it through our standard Website Review test. (Disclosure: 3PF recently signed up with AWeber. This is still an independent review.) Here is the site at the time of the test:

What Does This Website Do?

  1. AWeber Communications provides its customers a way to create an email marketing campaign. The software provided aids small businesses in automating mail follow-up and the delivery of email newsletters.
  2. Provides mass marketing campaign services.
  3. This website deals with creating email marketing software to help small businesses automate email follow up and email newsletter delivery.
  4. The website sells email marketing campaigns. It allows you to target specific consumers and track how your campaigns are performing.
  5. The website allows business to manage their email marketing. By using this service the business is able to reach out to more potential customers via email.
  6. The website allows users to create marketing campaigns. It is geared toward business owners. It allows them to also follow the status of how their campaigning is going.
  7. The website provides a service for businesses, helping them create and send email marketing campaigns and email newsletters etc.
  8. AWeber Communications offers email marketing services for companies looking to automate their online communications services. Examples of services offered include newsletters, sign-up forms, subscriber lists, and automated replies.
  9. This website allows business and website owners to build an e-mail marketing list online so they can send out newsletters or auto responders to keep in touch with customers.
  10. This website provides email support and develops email marketing software which helps small businesses automate email follow up and email newsletter delivery. It works like an auto responder and email management service.

Best Current Feature

  1. The graphics are very clean-cut, giving the site a professional looking appearance. It says a lot about the quality of the services provided.
  2. Though all the features in this website are unique, to me the best current feature is the “Performance Tracking” feature.
  3. The sign up for $1 button is the most appealing part of the website. It lets the consumer know that you can acquire the service at a very reasonable rate in the beginning.
  4. I like that the site is very well put together and easily explains what service you are offering.
  5. Autoresponder Follow-up.
  6. The best feature is the wide range of information related to email marketing and newsletters. It’s also very organized and neat.
  7. There is very useful features on this page that allow the customer to edit and customize their projects. They even have features that allow them to price their marketing campaign. The best feature, though, is the “performance tracking” feature because it allows the user to see their progress.
  8. I’m impressed by the list of services they provide apart from their main focus of creating email marketing campaigns. For example, the Follow Up and the Performance Tracking, and at the bottom the possibility to sign up for a training.
  9. The icons for “Send Email Newsletters,” “Signup Forms With Style,” etc. are eye-catching and very clear in terms of what message they are projecting. In terms of functionality, it is also very helpful that each provides a direct link to “learn more”.
  10. On the main page, the best current feature is the $1.00 trial offer. If you click on the $1.00 trial offer link, it shows that if you’re not happy with Aweber’s service during your month trial period, then you can cancel and get your $1.00 back. To me, this is a good offer.

These comments tell us the site is doing a lot of things very well. It explains clearly what they offer and it does so with an appealing design.

One Thing To Improve

  1. It seems like all the good stuff is hidden (A/B testing, activity tracking, etc.) I have to click around to see it and I wouldn’t have assumed you had all that awesome stuff with those great graphics by looking at the home page.
  2. The page is too long. I don’t like to have to scroll down to get to the bottom.
  3. The ‘See Email Marketing in Action’ web form could have been smaller and maybe up near the top.
  4. The sign in button for the users should be a little more prominent.
  5. I don’t like the page design, it looks very generic, especially the color combination – blue-green. There seem to be 1000s of websites nowadays that use these two colors.
  6. The page could be prefaced at the top by a definition of email marketing, and/or why it is relevant/necessary for a successful modern business.
  7. The only thing I could suggest is maybe a demo login, so potential customers can see how Aweber’s control panel works for creating newsletters or autoresponders, sending them, and managing e-mail lists.
  8. Shift “Find Out How AWeber Works” to top. Change blue background at bottom to increase the contents’ visibility, especially that of twitter etc.
  9. I missed an “About Us” button. Most companies have this nowadays and it’s often the first place I go when visiting a new website/company. The “Who we are” section, is halfway down the page.
  10. I think some customer testimonials would have been good.

Some of the first features users tend to look for when they land on a new site are not as prominent as they could be; the about us page, sign in link and how it works.

The suggestion for a demo login is a great one. Even with the first month discounted to $1.00, minimizing the risk, many customers would really go for a hands-on view to understand the controls and options before making the time and money commitment.

And any website selling services or products should maintain a current testimonial or review/ratings page.

Moving some of the important information to the top of the main page and adding testimonials would tighten up the site, and get it ready for a retest.