Who Could Possibly Need A Doodad Called An Autoresponder

A term that confuses just about everyone new to Internet Marketing and home based business is "autoresponder". When I mention the term to friends or associates, they almost always reply with a blank stare, "what the heck is that" or "I really don't like those at all". In all fairness, those same people said the same thing about e-mail 25 years ago. Even though the concept is very simple, autoresponders are very, very powerful if properly used.

Okay, here's the short answer: an autoresponder is an automatic response mechanism for e-mail. More precisely, they are the mechanism that sends an automatic, relevant e-mail to someone in response to some specific action.

Still confused? Okay, in their simplest form an autoresponder is just an e-mail acknowledging a newsletter signup, a post to a forum or an explanation of a product that someone requested. I'm sure just about everyone who has been on the internet for any amount of time and done anything online has received quite a few of these. Anytime you make a purchase online, you receive a receipt via e-mail with all of the details of your purchase. An autoresponder sent that. It's like robotic e-mail with a pretty good brain (logic.)

You can get much more complex with autoresponders. A good autoresponder package will allow you to send more than one e-mail at specific intervals to select recipients. They will even allow those e-mails to include custom information such as the recipients?name, dates, time or a variety of other customized information. Specific responses can be sent for specific inquiries by autoresponders. Many are even smart enough to know not to send the same message to any recipient more than once, regardless of how many lists they may be subscribed to. However, the most common use is to respond to rote inquiries over and over and over, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no human intervention.

Understand? Now, what the heck else are they good for?

Well, every webmaster wants to get people to not only visit his site, but to come back time and again. Repeat visitors are the most prized visitors. In addition, if you are marketing a product or service, the traditional wisdom is, it takes more than one exposure to an ad to produce a sale - usually the number agreed on is seven!

Those simple thank you messages for subscribing to a newsletter are, in fact, critically significant. You see, a visitor has stopped by your site and left you a message. Not only are you thanking him, but you are doing so later, after he has left your site. This means he will be reminded of his visit, and conceivably visit again. He may save the e-mail because he wants to remember the URL or some other information. If you advertise something in this thank you message, your visitor gets to see it.

Of course, sending a series of messages after the fact, over a period of time, is even better. If you can send, say, a message immediately, one a day later, one a week later and perhaps one a month later, you are reaching out to that individual maybe four times in a month which is great. Don't overwhelm them though, just send them something useful and valuable and remind them of your site or product or service. After three or four well timed and value-added messages, that person is likely to remember you and your product. If done correctly, they will remember you in a good light. If not, they'll opt-out of your list and possibly even blacklist you. That would be a bad thing.

Oh yeah, always, ALWAYS give your recipient a way to opt-out of the stream of messages in every single e-mail (unless you are only sending a single message, of course). Most good autoresponder packages will do this for you.

Autoresponders come in a variety of flavors, though they all perform the same basic task. You can buy an autoresponder package to run on your own web site or you can subscribe to one of the good autoresponder services available on the Internet. They differ slightly in cost, features and limits, but they all perform the basic tasks.

Some web hosting providers even provide some autoresponder functionality as part of their monthly charge. That can be a good way to get your feet wet, but eventually, you'll want to subscribe to a full-featured autoresponder that you have maximum control of.

Whatever you do, never lose sight of the fact that you owe a high degree of privacy to your list members. Never abuse your privilege to communicate with them, always offer an easy, one-click unsubscribe function in every message you send and never share your list with anybody. If you want to joint venture with another business, you mail their offer to your list. Never give them access to your list.

Make sure you are aware of, and understand, the anti-spamming laws that are in place. Violating any anti-spam measure can get you blacklisted, shut down by your ISP or worse. Just practice the Golden Rule - Never do anything unto your e-mail list that you would not want done unto you.

A final note: this is the critical part so listen closely. All this neat autoresponder magic is done AUTOMATICALLY. This means you, the webmaster, are communicating constantly with your customers, prospects and visitors without lifting a finger. Whatever message you are attempting to deliver is made a hundred times more powerful when you apply the timing and personalization features found in these simple techniques. But that doesn't relieve you of your customer care responsibilities. Always maintain the highest level of support and your list will never be aware that most of their e-mail messages are automated.

Don Resh is CEO of WebForce, Inc. A more detailed bio is available at:WebForceSolutionsBizBuildSoftwareTurboMaxSoftware

Hot Topics In Email Marketing

    Are Autoresponders Essential For Email Marketing Success?

    Email Marketing is very much dependent on a reliable autoresponder service that can manage your mailing list and the messages that you send to subscribers and customers. As your list grows it becomes ...

    The 3 Things To Avoid When Emailing Your List

    When you decide to have an opt-in list, it is not just a matter of sending your subscribers your promotional newsletters or catalogs. There are many things to consider in avoiding many complications. ...

    15 Creative and Profitable Ways to Use Autoresponders

    An interested visitor who has been strolling through your site has finally come to just what she is looking for and is about to make a purchase. It's a sunny afternoon, and her cat, who happens to be ...

    The Best Kept Secret of Email Marketers

    Copyright 2006 Karin Manning

    A popular way for companies to communicate directly with consumers today is to use email. Email serves a variety of functions including sales promotions and being a mean...

    How Autoresponders Boost Business

    Since you're reading this article, you probably know what an autoresponder is, but aren't quite sure what all the fuss is about. If you aren't sure what an autoresponder is, well in short it's a way t...

    How To Grow A Massive Opt-in List Almost Overnight

    It's a known fact, the more traffic you drive to your site, the more subscribers you will get to your opt-in or mailing list. This means your visitors will be more willing to receive your promotional ...

    Opt-in lists, beyond an asset, your life-blood for your business.

    What folks don't understand is that online marketing does not have to be very complicated. It just needs the right stuff to keep you going.

    For instance the use of mailing list, in particular opt...

    Forget About Making A Sale, Get The Email!

    Time is a very precious thing and there is a very good chance not everyone who passes by your virtual store's and websites has enough time to fully appreciate what you have to offer.

    Instead of wast...

    Why Are People Unsubscribing From My List?

    This is a question many online marketers who own their own list, particularly those relatively inexperienced marketers, ask themselves on a regular basis. No-one wants to see people unsubscribing from...

    Ten Secret To Direct Mail Lead Generation Success

    There are several effective ways to cultivate and encourage leads and a lot of methods and systems you can implement to gauge the efficiency of your lead generation and endorsing programs.

    A good d...

    How Autoresponders Boost Business

    Since you're reading this article, you probably know what an autoresponder is, but aren't quite sure what all the fuss is about. If you aren't sure what an autoresponder is, well in short it's a way t...

    Email Marketing Services-Marketing Solution Of The Future

    Since the introduction of the World Wide Web companies have been exploring new, innovative ways to use it in their marketing efforts. The advent of the internet has led to email marketing services tak...

Most Recent Email Marketing Supplements

Newly Popular Business Articles

    Make Your Money Count: The Advantages Of Forex Trading

    Forex currency trading is quickly become the most popular method of investing in a particular global market. Forex trading is basically the buying and selling of currency in order to make a profit, bu...

    Key to a Successful eBay Business!

    We all know that in Ebay, it is all about selling in volumes. We need traffic, and traffic is marketing. Marketing is an art. It's a science. It will help if you remember that you do not sell a produc...

    The Top Ten Ways to Attract Buyers, Not Just Visitors to your Web Site

    Have you put a lot of effort, time, and money into your site and are frustrated with low sales?

    If you are like many professionals out there, you know your subject; you are excellent at your c...

    How Good a Deal Is Your Banks Mortgage Insurance Plan?

    When you go to the bank to get a mortgage, you'll inevitably be asked to take out mortgage insurance. The idea behind mortgage insurance is simply that if something happens to you or your spouse then ...

    Want To Achieve Success In Home Business, Follow These 7 Steps Now

    Prior to starting your home business, do adequate research to find the common mistakes made by others and learn to avoid the same mistakes. By doing this, the chances of failing in your home-based bus...

    Trading Psychology: Mistakes in a Trading Environment

    When it comes to trading, one of the most neglected subjects are those dealing with trading psychology. Most traders spend days, months and even years trying to find the right system. But having a sys...

    30+ Ways to earn money online

    1. Content writer for you best subjects, if you like something then you can write about it and there are always some one on the internet wanting to higher a content writer for your subjects, start by ...

    Debt Consolidation Tips

    When a person seeks out a loan, he aims for the minimum rate of interest. The rate of interest he decides on will be fixed for the entire duration of his payment plan, so he must choose wisely the fir...

    A beginners Guide To Making Money Online

    Copyright 2006 Anwar Ahmed Ally

    Okay, you're reading this because you want to make money online. You are fairly new to this, so you want some assistance. Well, you're reading the right article. I ...

    Program Yourself For Success

    The purpose of the night tapes is multifold. One purpose is to have something for your mind to listen to over and over to get a certain message across. The tapes have all been written using the patter...

Interesting Today:

Most Recent Business Blogs:

Releated to Business:

Email Marketing Links: