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Why, What and How to
use Autoresponders
by: Dave Foster
Autoresponders are one
of the most simple to
use yet most effective
promotional tools
created in recent times
and are an essential
requirement for any
online business. You may
hear the terms,
automatic emailer, email
responder, autobot or
mailbot. Whatever the
term, the important
point is that an
autoresponder will
automatically answer
incoming email messages
on your behalf and once
set up, will continue to
do so indefinitely,
without further
intervention from you.
No matter what task an
autoresponder is
performing, the biggest
benefit it offers is
that of saving you time.
Autoresponders never
take a break, they
tirelessly work 24/7 all
year round and for no
extra pay, they very
rarely get sick...(as
long as you have a
reliable service
provider), they never
question your decisions
or the tasks you have
set them and they follow
your instructions to the
letter.
If you've noticed that
I'm using the plural
'autoresponders' that is
because even though you
will opt for one
autoresponder service
provider, every campaign
you run will need a
separate autoresponder
sequence, which is
simply a series of
response messages
concentrating on one
specific issue. For
example; you may have an
autoresponder set up to
welcome new subscribers
to your newsletter and
maybe follow through
with a short series of
related messages. You
will also need to set up
another one to send out
chapters of your
e-course over a
predetermined time span.
You will need yet
another to follow up
with customers who have
bought your ebook or
special report and so
on. Therefore you will
be dealing with one
autoresponder service
provider account with
which you can run
multiple campaigns, each
one being known as an
"autoresponder".
We all realize that the
Internet is growing day
by day and will continue
to do so with thousands
of new users coming
online in a never-ending
stream. This means that
you have an expanding
international
marketplace at your
disposal. Naturally,
competition is
fierce...especially in
certain markets (such as
internet marketing;-).
There are many thousands
of companies vying for
attention and business
so you must do whatever
it takes to get an
"edge". The last thing
you want to happen is
that you gain that edge,
attract hundreds of
visitors to your site
every day and then fail
to capitalize on the
advantage you have
worked hard to win.
Internet companies and
marketers know full-well
that bringing in
visitors is only the
very first step in doing
online business. What
you must do next is
convert visitors into
paying customers. They
know from experience
there is no way they
will convert every
visitor, they also know
that very few visitors
buy anything on their
first visit. It's
statistically proven
that it takes an average
of five to seven visits
before a person will
pull out the plastic and
make a purchase online.
Therefore it follows, to
succeed on the Internet
you have to bring back
those visitors time and
time again until they
like and trust you
enough to do business.
That is where
autoresponders are
indispensable.
Successful online
businesses understand
that to bring back
potential paying
customers they need to
use the autoresponder
process to stay in touch
with visitors. The most
effective technique is
to offer visitors
something as an
incentive to return,
which could be something
like additional
information relating
directly to the site's
theme (niche) in the
form of an ebook or a
free report.
If your website or blog
already contains lots of
useful information
and/or you produce a
regular newsletter, your
offer could be for free
notifications of new
updates or a free
subscription. Anything
of quality will do as
long as it's about, or
closely related to, the
subject in which your
visitors are interested.
Your autoresponder will
generate code for you to
cut and paste into your
website or blog. This
creates a subscription
form that you can place
just below your offer
for visitors to provide
you with their name and
email address. You will
then need to write a
generic response to your
subscribers' requests
and load it into your
autoresponder for
immediate response when
they submit the form.
Something like this may
be appropriate: Hi
(name), and thank you
for requesting more
information about XYZ.
You will receive the
first part of the
mini-course as soon as
you confirm your details
by clicking this special
link http://www.1234abcd
(not a real link) - Your
details will never be
disclosed to anyone else
and you can unsubscribe
at any time
"guaranteed"... Regards,
(your name).
This is what is known as
double opt-in because
your visitor has to
confirm their intention
to be part of your
subscriber list before
then can receive the
first release of
information. The
information, in this
case a mini-course,
would be a series of
say, seven short reports
about the subject in
which your subscriber is
interested, each one
pre-set to be released
by the autoresponder to
your subscriber at
specific intervals after
their first contact
(e.g. Part 1 - released
immediately, Part 2 -
released on day 3, Part
3 - released on day 5,
Part 4 - released on day
7 etc.).
This high level response
will show that you are
serious about providing
quality information in a
professional manner and
will also cement your
relationship with
subscribers who will
feel increasingly more
confident in you as a
person with which they
can do business. The
great advantage of using
this method of contact
and delivery is that is
provides a personal
service to individual
clients on a scale that
would otherwise be
impossible for a solo
operator to achieve.
To most people, customer
service ranks higher
than price point and
other purchasing
factors. Autoresponders
help the individual
business person to
provide that service in
an easy and affordable
way. Although your main
objective in business is
to make sales, your
first priority online
should be to offer
top-flight information
and thus capture as many
names and email
addresses as possible.
This is the absolute
bedrock of any
successful Internet
business.
Put your autoresponders
to work and establish a
sense of total trust
within your
visitors...the sales
will follow. Your
autoresponders will help
to keep your customers
and leads happy and up
to date with your
information. Most of
all, they will feel
special because you are
sharing and taking good
care of them.
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