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Home::Newsletters
Introduction to Autoresponders
Author : jeff carter
If you've reached the point of exhaustion trying to keep up with
answering the mountain of emails that threatens to bury you
alive every single day, you're ready to learn about
autoresponders.
The bad news is that people expect prompt replies to their email
inquiries. However, unless you can figure out how to work
continual twenty-four hour shifts, or hire enough people to
constantly monitor incoming emails (while they're eating up your
revenue), you have a problem. The good news is an autoresponder
is an inexpensive - or even free - method of quickly responding
to emails. What these programs do is automatically respond to
incoming emails as soon as they are received.
Emails are essential to your business for many different
reasons. Most importantly, these invisible email voices give you
their feedback about your website - for free! However, if you
spend all your working hours answering these emails, how are you
supposed to run your business? The answer is simple: use
autoresponders. Autoresponders are programs that automatically
respond to your emails without you so much as having to click on
your mouse.
There are a number of good reasons why you need an autoresponder
besides just answering your email. For example, autoresponders
can be used if you need a way to send information about your
services or products, price lists, or if there are repeated
questions asked across large numbers of emails. Maybe you want
to offer your site visitors a special bonus of some kind, such
as advice or relevant articles. All of this can be handled by an
autoresponder. Additionally, you can advertise your business and
then build stable relationships with your customers by using
autoresponders.
Autoresponder programs vary from software that runs with your
email program to a specialized script that runs on your web
hosting company's server. This kind of script may use a web page
form or simply operate with your email account. This kind of
script is programmed to send out a standardized message whenever
an email is received. The message is sent to a particular script
or email address.
Some autoresponders can do more than simply send out
standardized messages. They can send out an unlimited number of
follow-up messages sent at predetermined interval of time. For
example, you can set your autoresponder to send out a new
message every day for as long a period as you desire.
There are numerous companies who offer autoresponders free of
charge. Your website hosting company often provides
autoresponders as a free service. If this is not the case with
your web hosting company, there are numerous companies who offer
this service for a small fee, or free of charge, providing you
attach an advertisement for their company to your emails.
To personalize your autoresponder messages, you can attach a
signature. Signatures in this case are much like business cards.
You can include your name, company, all your contact numbers and
addresses, and a brief message.
It's a good idea to attach a signature to every email that is
sent out. This works as a repeated reminder of your business
identity every time a customer sees it. The more they look at
your signature, the more likely your company will spring to mind
when your particular service or product is needed.
You can create a standardized signature that every employee in
your business uses, or you can go wild, and let every staff
member create their own personal signature. Of course, like
everything in life, there are some rules and guidelines to
creating a personal signature.
Keep the length of your signature between four to six lines of
text, with no more than 70 characters in a single line. Make
sure that your email program does not cut off your text! The
content should include your name, your company name, your email
address, fax number, and any other contact details, such as 800
numbers. Lastly, always include a short personal message about
your company. It should be a subtle sell of your services or
your products, and possibly your company's reliability and
longevity.
Another specialized use of autoresponders is to create courses
that you can then offer your site visitors for free. You must
choose a topic in which you are an expert and that precisely
targets your potential customers.
Once you have carefully chosen your subject, divide it into a
number of different sub-topics. Then offer your site visitor a
free 10 or 15 day course, each day offering a different
sub-topic. The first topic should always be a welcome message to
your site visitor and an explanation about what is to follow.
Your explanation should be enticing, getting the point across
that you are offering free, quality information that your target
audience will find of great value.
With every lesson, include the number of the lesson, the topic
title, information about your company and its services or
products. At the end, include a few blurbs about the next lesson
to entice the subscriber to continue on.
Make sure each topic is packed with essential and valuable
information, and leaves the visitor lusting to know more.
Otherwise, you may lose them in the very beginning.
Of course, you have to write up your course before you can offer
it. Once you have done this, and gone over the material
carefully, employing a professional writer or editor if
necessary, you must transfer your text to your autoresponder.
There are a number of free autoresponders you can use. Try
http:/www.getresponse.com, or http://www.fastfacts.net. Or go
onto Google and you will find a long list of free autoresponder
companies. Then sign-up for your chosen autoresponder. Once you
do, you will receive instructions as to how to set it up and
transfer your text.
Email is an excellent marketing tool; it is inexpensive and it
is fast. Use it to advertise your business by choosing your
email address carefully. Your website should contain different
email addresses for different contact requests. For example, use
info@yourdomain.com for information requests, or
sales@yourdomain.com for questions about sales. It's a good idea
to set up one for the owner, such as president@yourdomain.com.
This presents your company in a personal, approachable light and
insures that direct contact is provided.
Autoresponders are an effective and powerful marketing tool,
allowing you to make contact with thousands of potential
customers. This is an invaluable asset considering how many
potential customers you usually have contact with before you
make an actual sale. Essentially, an autoresponser allows you to
automate part of your marketing campaign.
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