We’re happy that email marketing is naturally green. On the other hand, almost 10,000 pieces of postal mail advertisements are printed, shipped, delivered and disposed of every 3 seconds just in the U.S. Email marketing is already a step in the right direction for helping our planet. This Earth Day, we wanted to go over [...]

The Fall Potluck is a Thanksgiving tradition here at AWeber, and this year the culinary contributions were more plentiful than ever! It took three maple syrup glazed turkeys, several bowls of yams and mashed potatoes, a big crock pot of bacon mac and cheese, heaps of cranberry sauce and an overflowing dessert table to feed [...]

Congratulations to Anthony Acquaviva, currently named the AWesomest team member at AWeber by popular vote. Anthony’s been working here for almost 1 year now and digging every minute of it. When he is not fully immersed in AWeber goodness, he spends time with his lovely wife and neurotic Shi Tzu. He also likes to solve [...]

Every month, all of AWeber votes for one employee who is truly awesome and best exemplifies one (or all) of our Core Values. September’s AWesome Award winner is a familiar face on the blog. You’ve probably seen her name attached to many of the posts here as well as in some of your email updates. [...]

The team’s fundraising efforts, including a three-week bake sale and a full company match, yielded a total of $5,700 and the Game Changers team finished in the Top 25 fundraisers nationwide! Overall, the fourth annual Extra Life event raised more than $1.1 million – more than the event’s first three years combined. Get details and [...]

Here at AWeber we try to have as much fun as we can in proportion to the hard work that we do. You may have heard some of this fun in our voices when you call in (or you may have heard some of the fun in the background – sorry!). The culture we have [...]

As email marketers, you work all kinds of hours.

Some of you market as your 9-5 gig, some of you spend your weekends writing messages and for some of you, email marketing is something you’re constantly managing.

Which means you need our Customer Solutions Team to be available as much as possible. After all, their help has delighted thousands of customers and is a strong point of AWeber pride.

And we wish we could support you every day. We really do. But wishing does no good, with our fairy godmother on vacation and all.

So we’re just going to make it happen without her.

Because You Need Our Love, 7 Days a Week

And currently, you only get it for six days of those days.

Starting next weekend, June 4 & 5, 2011 you’ll be able to get answers and advice from us on Sundays, too. You can get in touch with us during these hours (Eastern Standard Time):

After that, you’ll never have to go a day without talking to us again! (Lucky you. )

Here’s How To Get In Touch

LiveChat

Available every day during the hours listed above. You’ll instant message back and forth with an email specialist, who will be able to send you links to helpful articles or instructions. Just click the green LiveChat button on the AWeber site.

Phone

Monday through Friday, call in and we’ll talk you through whatever problem needs solving. We’re available toll-free in the US at +1 877-293-2371. Outside the US, you can reach us at +1 215-825-2196.

Email

Email us at any time; we’ll just respond during business hours. For email support, just fill out this contact form.

We’re Happy to Hear From You!

As an email service provider, we succeed when we help our customers succeed.

So if there’s anything we can do to help, just ask! We’ll be happy to help.

And if you know any email marketers who could use a service with weekend support, you know who to suggest!

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Since Sean last posted about our Core Values on AWeber’s ten year anniversary, a lot has changed.

Among other things, we moved into a brand new office, hired even more talented individuals, focused on giving back and worked hard to foster a sense of true community at work through various events and opportunities for recognition of jobs well done.

Yet even though AWeber is constantly evolving, one thing remains the same: our Core Values define the AWeber family. Only they’ve changed a little too, so we want to share them with you and give AWeber employees the chance to explain why they really sum up what makes AWeber an awesome place to work.

AWeber’s Core Values

1. Foster Respect and Cooperation.
2. Listen to What People Say About Us. Invite Feedback.
3. Learn. Educate. Innovate.
4. Don’t Take Ourselves Too Seriously; Have Fun.
5. Create Remarkable Experiences.

Paul Jacobsen

“Regardless of your position here, everybody is treated equally and anybody is easily approachable, much like the Golden Rule. Everybody here follows this particular value naturally. When you work with people that example this, it sets a comfortable environment and tasks get done more efficiently and productively.”

Jay Moore

“Knowing that I can depend on my fellow team members allows us to work as a more cohesive unit; a shining example of cooperation.”

Bill Eshbach

“After many years, I came to the realization I don’t know it all. I don’t have all of the answers. As a result, I have to ask others for input…and without cooperation, I would be an island. I am not. And, no one should be.”

Karl Holman

“While we can’t accommodate every request, at least we can continually encourage our customers to speak out. Of course, while the compliments are better and far outweigh the complaints or suggestions, all forms of feedback should not only be encouraged, but also welcomed as valuable learning tools and blueprints for our future success.”

Robert Murphy

“I feel that the greatest value to a customer is acknowledging that they are as much part of the organization as I am.”

Feedback can also come from interested and engaged employees. Input from team members is incredibly valuable and an instrument of our success.

Chris Hoover

“I implement this by listening to our co-workers. As I talk with them about my ideas, or about ideas/issues they are dealing with, I try to encourage and foster discussion on these issues. As the issues and ideas are fleshed out, I try to see where/how I can help implement the solution in our databases.”

Dan Deming

“When managing one of the development teams here at AWeber, I always keep in mind the proverb that ends ‘Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’. When another team member here asks me a question, I will not only give him the answer, but point out how he could have located the answer himself using the resources available to him. I view the many different types of questions that are escalated to me from the different departments I interact with as an education opportunity and am always pleasantly surprised at everyone’s willingness to learn.”

Lindsay Valente

“This Core Value means a lot to me personally because I believe that education is extremely important in the success of our company, our customers, and each individual AWeber team member. I find personal success in educating people and giving them the tools they need to execute their goals.”

Ethan McCreadie

“I remember, when I was a child, hearing adults say that they had never stopped learning, and not believing them. If you keep learning, I wondered, why are we only required to go to school until twelfth grade? Now I get it though. One of the things I love about working here is that in exploring new and potential technologies, I am constantly learning.”

Tracey Churray

“We always manage to have fun at work. Right now, the Customer Solutions Department is playing Bingo by completing every day tasks – just to make it fun.”

Erin Carney

“If people can smile, laugh at, or just be entertained by anything I do, I’m happy. And if all else fails, it’s never too late to break out the radio and start a dance party!”

Kelly Madden

“Working in such an open company allows us to be ourselves and show some of our unique aspects that make us, us. We play hard, but we work even harder. Not everyday is a smooth day here, but what I do know is that I leave with a smile each day. We are able to lift spirits, which in turn allows us to help customers in a friendly, positive manner. When you work for a company that wants you to have fun, that shows us that we are valued as not only employees, but as people.”

Jordan Bernstein

“By helping keep our systems running smoothly, and ensuring the systems in our office and data center are running well, my team is able to make everyone’s experience better and in turn get the job done more efficiently. Of course, only when everything’s working right!!! But that’s why we do what we do…the ultimate goal to reach exceedingly higher levels of service and reliability, which in turn results in a better experience for both customers and employees.”

Ben Krein

“The world of a SysAdmin is all about dealing with computers & networking – makes it hard to relate to experiences. But then, that’s kind of how we do make remarkable experiences: we keep things working so people don’t have to think about it (at least that’s our goal). The remarkable experience we offer others is one of reliability and confidence in the tools they need to use everyday. And if something does break, we offer the knowledge and time to make it right.”

Jeff Spencer

“To me, I guess it means going the extra distance in order to ensure that a customer has a positive experience with us. By positive experience, I don’t just mean solving the issue that that particular customer contacted us about, but also making sure that they receive quick, competent, and friendly assistance that they normally would not receive elsewhere. The truth is that pretty much everyone who works here is remarkable and remarkable people will always create remarkable experiences.”

Understanding What We’re All About

Our dedication to providing amazing service has been solid since day one, but without a strong team, AWeber would not be the incredible company that it is today. We continue to progress as a forward thinking company because we constantly reevaluate our Core Values.

Each one of us has a copy within arm’s reach that serves as an everyday reminder that we are a unique company. We want everyone who interacts with us to feel our commitment to their individual success, and we hope that hearing straight from some of these passionate employees gives you a better idea of how things work here at AWeber!

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Glance away from the computer screen for a second and look out the window at a tree. (Now glance back.)

96 million of those are cut down every year in the US alone solely for the production of “junk” (postal marketing) mail.

By using our email service to market, our customers protect those trees. This Earth Day, we’d like to applaud them.

And we’d especially like to celebrate a few of those customers who go above and beyond with their own green business initiatives.

Living the Green

At EcoPlusHome, Bryan Kenny and his family are inciting buzz about renewable energy. For the full year of 2010, they demonstrated self-sustainability by living in a house that only used energy from renewable resources.

EPH sends newsletters about sustainable home opportunities, media coverage and government advances on the energy situation. With support from New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham and Bosch, they’re “saving the planet – one home at a time!”

Check Into Eco Consciousness

And over at Environmentally Friendly Hotels, Kit Cassingham is creating a directory of earth-conscious hotels and resorts. Travelers can search for hotels by region to discover just how environmentally friendly their practices are.

“Lodging properties are huge consumers of resources — electricity, water, chemicals, toiletries, and even food,” Kit says. “It seems to have become a symbol of luxury and care to throw things away, be it water or packaging. By choosing a green hotel you can help cut that consumption and help change the attitudes of hotel management about the luxury of waste.”

Kit uses email to connect with the hotels featured on the site, updating them on the site’s policies, asking for their input and encouraging them to pass the word to other hotels.

So far, EFH has been featured on MSNBC, Newsweek and The New York Times, among other media outlets, and we wish it well as it continues to grow.

It Starts With AWareness

Here at AWeber, we also like to be green. Of course we do the standard recycling (so far no one has tripped on the piles of cardboard boxes we collect), but we also choose to work in an office space designed to be green.

We use daylight harvesting to conserve energy, our floors are made of highly renewable bamboo and we’ve installed skylights for plenty of natural light.

And, of course, we run our marketing through email.

How Green Can You Get?

No matter what the industry, there are ways your business can help the planet.

And once you’ve built an email community, you have people who can support you in your efforts.

What ways, tiny or tremendous, have you been saving the earth? How would you recommend other small businesses get started?

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This is a story of growth and success, of how one man’s project became a business powered by a team 63 strong.

This story shows how a start-up business can go from one computer to a large, modern office; from a few contacts to 100,000 customers.

How do you get there, you’re wondering?

You start with inspiration. You factor in friends, affiliates and customers who help you grow. (And whom we’re very grateful for.) And you work hard.

See for yourself.

Act I: AWeber, 1998

The scene: An apartment in Dover, Pennsylvania. Enter Tom Kulzer, college student-turned-salesman, who trips over his bicycle and crams himself between the wall and the bed, facing his computer in the corner.

1998

1998

Tom checks out the site he’s put together and finds a dozen new orders in his email. “I’m going to have to expand this operation,” he thinks.

So he starts expanding…

2002

2004

Customers start email marketing and watch their businesses grow. Many start referring AWeber to others. Affiliates and other supporters spread the word, and the company continues to grow…

2006

2007

As new features are added and customers continue to refer others, more team members are needed. To make room for them all, AWeber moves into a large, airy space with plenty of room for growth.

Act II: AWeber, 2011. 100,000 Customers Later

Scene: A small business complex nestled amid trees in Huntingdon Valley, PA. The building with the AWeber sign has over 50 cars in the parking lot, plus a few bicycles. On the loading dock in back, a few team members eat their lunch in the sun and play ring toss.

Through the glass walls, observers can see developers, designers and marketers click-clacking away in a square path of offices. Unseen are the friends of AWeber who write, tweet and talk the company up across the globe.

In the center of it all, a hive of desks and computers buzzes with activity. The customer solutions team is busy addressing the needs of 100,000 customers.

Over the thrum of voices, some snippets stand out that highlight just how much AWeber has to offer in 2011:

Act III: The Future of AWeber

Scene: The curtain is drawn across a dark stage. Much bustling and preparation can be heard behind the scenes. But for now, observers can only wonder what they’ll see.

Behind that curtain, you can bet we’re making plans. We’re creating some of the most show-stopping numbers of all.

To our customers, affiliates and supporters, we are thankful for you. And we hope you’ll be with us to watch that curtain to rise. Care to join us for the show?

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