| Autoresponders & You |
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This week's nxtConcepts/myMarketingGuide.com marketing tip is really easy to implement and costs only a good copywriter's fee. Are you familiar with autoresponders? Probably not. You see autoresponders are the step-children of Internet marketing. When used correctly they are highly effective. Unfortunately, most people overlook them. They are largely ignored as a "technical" detail to web sites and email programs and are usually left with the "default" copy provided by the developers. Sound familiar? Then read on to find out how to implement a great new sales program using tools you probably already have at your finger tips. What are autoresponders? If you have been using email for some time, or if you currently run a website, you'll probably be familiar with autoresponders. Autoresponders are those canned messages that you receive when you email someone. An autoresponder is an automated email program that responds to an incoming email with a message written by you. They are commonly used to automatically reply to people who email you that you have received their message and will get back to them in person. The message can be written once and loaded in the autoresponder and forgotten about. It's as easy as that. Some people use autoresponders for vacation notices, telling their correspondents that they are currently on vacation and will not be responding to the email anytime soon. Other names for autoresponders include: infobots, responders, mailbots, autobots, automailers, or email-on-demand. Why use them? Today's autoresponders have evolved into a successful online marketing tool. Autoresponders are used by thousands of companies to immediately provide information to their prospective customers and then follow-up with them at preset time intervals. Autoresponders are a real time saver. They eliminate the need to manually respond to mundane or routine requests. They also work 24 x 7 x 365 providing immediate gratification for one or multiple recipients. Plus, unlike a website that just displays information, an autoresponder can enable you to collect an email address and name from an interested web visitor for future marketing. Some ways that autoresponders are used: a) Customer Service At a customer service email address to tell customers that their message has been received and someone will get back to them soon. Such messages are important because it reassures customers that their request has arrived at its destination and will be addressed soon. b) Marketing To send prospective customers information like the price list of products, or a FAQ (frequently asked questions) or other static information. People emailing the "price" address will automatically get that message in reply. c) Sales To implement a relationship building sales campaign using multiple emails over a period of time. You could advertise a particular address by which prospects can receive a free sample or offer. The autoresponder then sends 3 follow up emails to the prospects over three successive days. On the fourth day, the message asks the prospect to sign up for the paid service. Successful Marketing with Autoresponders Autoresponders rely on technology for functionality. Luckily autoresponder technology is already built-in to many of the web based software programs you already use. Including email programs like Outlook and websites that use ecommerce. Of course, technology is only one aspect of working with autoresponders. The other critical component is the content. Only by using effective writing techniques to grab the readers attention will you get your message across and move your prospective customers to action. Let's look at a quick example of one type of newsletter sign-up autoresponder. Step 1. A visitor comes to your website and decides to sign-up for your free newsletter. Step 2. That visitor is instantly sent a confirmation email via an autoresponder thanking them for their subscription. This e-mail also includes a discount offer on one of your best-selling products. Step 3. The subscriber orders your product. This purchase triggers another autoresponder, which contains an offer for an add-on to the product they just bought. Step 4. They decide to purchase the add-on, which triggers another autoresponder. And so on ……. Can you believe that this process is 100% automatic? Once you`ve written the autoresponders, you can literally forget about them. With very little effort on your part, you`ve turned a casual visitor to your site into a repeat customer. And you barely had to lift a finger. And don`t limit yourself to just placing marketing messages in your confirmation messages. You can (and should) advertise your product and services just about every time you send a message to your prospects and customers. Remember, once you`ve put an advertising message into your autoresponders, your sales can become "automatic". Putting them to Work Autoresponders are remarkable, versatile programs that do so much more than just automatically answer your email. Need some ideas to put them to work for you? Here's 10: 1. Pick 3 or more articles with a common theme and put them in an autoresponder email series. Announce it on your website as an "email course on the go". 2. Create a fun or trivia quiz, put it up on your site and put the answers in an autoresponder that your visitors can request. This way, you'll know the people who took your quiz. 3. Run a contest on your website, then have your visitors or subscribers send their responses to your autoresponder. This way, you won't have to worry about manually sending them a confirmation receipt. 4. Create a frequently updated autoresponder and let your visitors and/or members know about it. You can put in weekly tips or links to useful resources in the autoresponder and a reminder to the people who request it that you update it every week or on a regular basis (e.g. tell them to request for the same autoresponder again a week from now). You can use this method instead of using autoresponders with limited follow up messages. 5. Put excerpts or free chapters of an e-book, book or paid email course in an autoresponder series, then include your follow up sales letters at the end. 6. If you're selling your own products, put your testimonials on autoresponder, along with the description of your products, an excerpt or a free chapter. This will increase your credibility. 7. Keep track of people who download information from your website by putting download links in an autoresponder. When you promote your free "stuff", you can just promote the autoresponder address. 8. Put links to your hidden pages on autoresponder. A hidden page could be a page where you have logo graphics, text links, images, etc that media or vendors can use. Let people know they can have free access to your private page by requesting the autoresponder. This way, you can have a list of people who are interested in your information. 9. Instant access to special deals Set your autoresponder to send the information about any special deals you are currently offering. 10. Automate a reminder about your service or product 30 days after a visitor has purchased your product or service. This will increase the possibility of repeat sales. You can also use these reminders to promote new products or services. For 10 Writing Tips & A How-To Guide to Writing your own autoresponders, go here... http://www.mymarketingguide.com/component/option,com_docman/task,cat_view/gid,71/Itemid,123/ For 7 eSales Autoresponders delivered to your desktop in 3 days for just $140, go here http://www.mymarketingguide.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=26_36&products_id=60 Brought to you by Samantha Rufo, President of nxtConcepts
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