How Aweber Ruined My Day

If you have your customer database in autoresponders, be very careful. I was using AWeber, an autoresponder company, to build my customer list. I had their opt-in forms on my websites, and all my leads and customers went into their system. Things were going great - my business was growing, revenues were rising, and everything was looking good. Then, I attended an Armand Morin seminar, where I learned about co-registration. Co-registration is where a person is shown a page, and they can choose one or more newsletters or eZines, and subscribe to them all with one click. It sounded like a great idea, so I signed up, and learned how to import them into AWeber. I had read the terms and conditions carefully, and knew it was prohibited to import purchased leads, or FFA, but didn't see the part where aweber forbid the use of co-registration. I happily imported my co-registration leads for days, and my list began growing faster than ever before. Many of the new leads signed up for my offers - everything was looking great! Then, Aweber phoned me. And told me about their co-registration policy. They explained the policy, and then said "we are terminating your account", and they hung up. Boy, was I devastated. I mean, my entire customer list - gone. You see, Aweber doesn't allow you to export your customer information, or save it in any way - it all stays on their servers. And when they locked me out, there was no way to get the data. After nearly having a breakdown, I gathered myself and called Aweber back. I explained my situation, and my need to get access to my customer information. Justin Premick, the aweber person who answered the phone, was extremely helpful. He explained the policy, and said it was irreversible, nothing could be done. But he could help. He could export all the information I had in the system, and send it to me as downloadable links. I was saved! Justin and aweber had come through - not in the way I had hoped, but at least they had given me access to everything I had built in the last years. While I probably will never use aweber again, I did appreciate their willingness to help me out, and give me the information to restart my business again. And for that, I am extremely thankful.