What an E-mail Autoresponder can do for Your Business

Some things seem like they are more work and take more time than they are worth. I thought that one of those “things” was keeping in touch and responding to all the emails that ask questions, ask for quotes, basically asking to do business with me.

But trying to keep up can become overwhelming. And people have become conditioned to expect a response within minutes. When that doesn’t happen they get irritated.

Then you check your email box and you see other businesses that seem to be on top of it, how do they do it? Some businesses send me their specials like clockwork. Other businesses reply to my emails almost instantly.

Marketing studies indicate that people need 5 to 7 exposures before they make a buying decision. By following-up with your prospects and customers, you can increase the likelihood of “closing the sale.” Prospects become customers and your current customers buy from you again.

However, following-up requires you to keep track of who you’ve contacted and when. Creating a tracking system can be challenging, and keeping up with your follow-ups can be tedious. Now that you have or are going to have a business web site an auto-responder can automate all of those tedious chores.

Auto-responders are a powerful marketing and customer service tool. Customers opt-in to your list and become your subscribers, thus giving you permission to contact them via email. Autoresponders let you send follow-up emails on a persistent basis, so it doesn’t matter how many “follow-ups” your subscriber needs before they are ready to buy.

Autoresponders give you the advantage of communicating with your prospects while building a relationship with them. You build brand awareness and build credibility, confidence, and trust. And the best part is that it’s done automatically once you get your autoresponder set up, and auto-responders work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

With autoresponders you don’t have to personally figure out who is and who isn’t a good prospect. The autoresponder will continue to send emails to your subscribers and if your subscriber chooses to unsubscribe, the auto-responder will unsubscribe them for you. The responsibility lies with the subscriber, not with you.

Now, completely relying on autoresponders for follow-up, however, is not always in your or your customer’s best interest. There are times when it’s best to call your prospect or send them something in the mail. So be sure to evaluate when it’s best to use an auto-responder and when it’s not.

Here are a few ideas for how you can use auto-responder emails. Use your imagination to think of other creative ways to communicate with your subscribers:

  • Send follow-up sales messages.
  • Send more information about your product. Giving your customers the information they need to make a buy decision
  • Send a free report.
  • Give your customers free information so you’ll be seen as an expert in your field.

Choosing an Autoresponder

There are both paid and free auto-responder services. The price will determine the amount of support you get, so it may be better to go with a paid service if you feel you need technical support. Do a search on auto-responders and check out their features, or get recommendations from your business support team, or other business owners.

Here are some features your autoresponder of choice should allow you to do:

  • Personalize messages with your subscriber’s name and other information.
  • Send an unlimited number of e-mail messages.
  • Pre-load a series of messages to be sent out at predetermined intervals.
  • Broadcast a general message to your list.

Autoresponders can help improve your success and professional image significantly. Use your imagination when it comes to using autoresponder. Ultimately autoresponders will save you time, increase your effectiveness, keep you in touch with your subscribers, and ultimately increase your profits.

Related posts:

  1. What is an Autoresponder?

Filed under: AutoResponer

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