For example, message 1 may be sent immediately, message 2 may go a day later, message 3 a further day after that etc. You load your messages into the responder once and then just let it do the follow up for you.

Email addresses can be input manually, via a form on a website, or by sending a blank email to the autoresponder address. If you put email addresses in manually then it is absolutely essential that you have the recipient?s permission – otherwise you are spamming.

Autoresponders work well because they allow you to communicate with your opt-in subscribers several times. This allows you to build a relationship and it takes you out of the one chance to make a good impression (sale) arena which has many advantages.

One of the main advantages is that you don’t need to make ludicrous over-hyped claims ? just establish rapport with your subscribers and give them the actual facts they need to make a decision.

A lot of research has been done into this field and it has been found that people rarely buy anything at the first time of asking. You will often hear that 7 autoresponder messages is the ideal number ? but it will vary depending on the product or service that you’re promoting.

One of the key things to remember is that you don’t need to dive straight in and push your product in the very first message. In fact this is a bad thing to do.

Perhaps you’ve heard of AIDA? It stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action and is an often quoted mnemonic in the field of advertising. It can be used as an aid for most advertising and marketing campaigns and it can certainly be applied to autoresponder messages.

Attention

Grab your prospect’s attention using a very simple webpage which has an eyecatching graphic, a few bullet points outlining your service, opportunity or product and a signup form for them to enter their e-mail address in order to receive your autoresponder messages.

You can encourage them to sign up by giving away a free e-book or a special report. Keep the page simple and uncluttered and design it so that your prospect doesn’t have to scroll down in order to complete the sign up form.

Interest

To a certain extent you also have your subscriber’s interest ? but don’t rest on your laurels. Your first autoresponder message should be a fuller explanation of what you’re offering your subscribers. By which I mean the benefits that you’re offering them ? not the details of the product or service itself. Ask yourself what problems your target audience may have ? then provide the answer to those problems ? in general terms.

At this stage you don’t have to tell them exactly how you will solve their problems, it’s enough that you know what their problems are and that you have some proven method of addressing them. Because of some standard pleasantries that need to go in the first email, this interest phase will probably need 2 messages to cover it.

Use bullet points and lists to list the problems as these are easy for people to read quickly.

Desire

Having built some empathy with your prospect by demonstrating that you understand their problems, you now need to generate some desire for your product by providing some more detail of exactly how it will solve these.

No doubt your product has many desirable features which pick off your prospect’s problems one at a time. Don’t try to address them all in one e-mail, you’ll just confuse your subscriber (and quite possibly yourself).

Focus on one or two key points (problems) in each message and show how your product will make their problems disappear . This will take 3 or 4 messages for most products.

Action

Finally you need to tell the prospect what you want them to do. It’s not enough to provide your name, phone number and a link to your website. Tell them exactly what you want them to do, e.g.:

Click here to visit the website and place your order
Phone me now to discuss your needs
Send an email to sales@yourwebaddress for a full quotation
Fill in the form and send it to ?

This should come in by message 7 at the latest. You could probably introduce it at the end of message 5 or 6 if you like.

Whenever you decide to issue your call to action, always follow up a week later with a gentle reminder ? just in case they meant to take action and forgot, or life got in the way, or they lost their internet connection, or their mother-in-law visited or any of the other reasons that could have put your offer out of their mind for just long enough for it to become overlooked.

Most people will go through your series of messages, come out the other side and not buy. That’s life ? it’s just a numbers game. However, you can skew the odds in your favour by using the broadcast function of your autoresponder to follow up whenever you have a product update, a new product, a special offer etc.

Follow up with your list at least once every 3 months ? it’s the follow up that makes autoresponders such powerful sales machines.

Better yet, publish your own ezine and supply your clients with useful information on a regular basis – even when you don’t have anything to sell them. It’ll build trust and make them more likely to buy when the time is right.

Hamish Hayward
Free Autoresponder……
Click the link to learn more about autoresponders and get access to a free autoresponder.

Do you also know you could write a newsletter or email broadcasts with important announcements and send it out to thousands of people in an instant without spamming anyone. Did your web designer tell you the method to do it or provide the software for it?

The most neglected aspect of millions of websites is an effective strategy to capture the details of the visitors and following up with them frequently and convert them to sales.

With spam laws getting tougher, spamming bulk email lists is no more the option. The emails list providers harvest the mail ids and put out attractive ads of millions of email ids which if you use will get you on the wrong side of your customer as well as your hosting service provider. Further uninvited emails invoke a feeling of anger in the receiver and there is not even a remote possibility that they would ever become your customer.

The key is your Optin list. Optin list is simply a list of web site visitor who has filled in a form at your site and opted to receive information from you.

Building your optin list involves two steps. 1. Having a website. 2. An Autoresponder

Now you have learned to drive in traffic to your website. What happens to all that traffic? They just do a bit of window shopping and move on even if they are interested as they may have other work to be attended to.

This is where, if you have a form asking them to leave their name and email ID in return for a subscription to an ezine or a free ebook, comes in handy. They leave their details which is effectively giving you permission to mail them further. This is the beginning of your optin list. Over a period of time as you drive traffic to your site, you build up a list of thousands of targeted prospects. Note the word targeted as they have left their details due their interest in your product/service or business.

Now this form is sent to an external remotely hosted autoresponder or your own autoresonder system (ready software are available for this) which immediately sends out a predrafted thank you letter acknowledging his interest with the details of the download of your free eBook or confirming the subscription to the ezine or both.

There are personalization features build into any good autoresponder software which would automatically pick up the first name of your prospect that has opted in. This helps in building a personal relationship and actually increases the sales you make.

You can set up your autoresponder with pre drafted emails packed with information on your products, announcements, special offers or anything of interest to your customer you can think of. This makes your sales process a 24/7 system projecting a professional image.

These letters having been prewritten can be few in numbers or go up to even hundred letters. You have the convenience of specifying the interval in which they should be sent by the autoresponder.

Research has conclusively established that you need a minimum of 7 follow ups for a conversion.

Now you have a fully automated system which takes care of your follow up without you having to lift a finger or even touch your keyboard.

You also have the facility of sending special broadcasts or announcement in between your automated series. The broadcast feature can also be used to mail your ezines or mini free eBooks, ebrochures or product catalogues.

The most important thing to remember in this is your letters have to be absolutely professionally written and highly powerful to induce conversion to sales. If they are boring or sloppy they would just opt out of the system by sending an unsubscribe return mail to your autoresponder and you have lost the prospect forever.

It is best to have the letters professionally written if you think your writing is not powerful enough.

So now you know all about it, I am sure you can initiate some massive action to make your website a cash magnet.

R.G. Srinivasan is a Certified Trainer, Writer and author of eBooks with more than two decades of managerial experience. He is featured as an expert author by leading content syndication sites. You can view his home-business resources blog at http://www.home-businessresources.blogspot.com for online marketing tips, resources, opportunities and online promotional strategies.

My therapist says that journaling about my problems will bring clarity and understanding. I hope she?s right. I guess the best place for me to start is to outline how this sordid affair ever began in the first place. If I get emotional, please forgive me. I really cared for my old flame and my heart is still a little tender. I just don?t understand how any of this happened. I never signed up for the pain and tears my old flame left me with. I never signed up for being dumped by an auto-responder email newsletter. But let?s go back eight months so I can tell you how this auto-responder and I first met.

Back in May, a friend of mine told me about a great self-development book she was reading. She couldn?t stop talking about it; every time I saw my friend she talked and talked about the book. She kept on telling me I would really like it. After days and days of hearing about the book I went online and bought it. What do you know, my friend was right! I really liked the book. Within the first few chapters I was putting the methods into practice and seeing great results.

After reading about a quarter of the book I wanted to know more about the author and his company so I followed the URL on the back of the book to the author?s website. There was a ton of information about the book as well as highlights of courses and seminars that were being offered at different locations around the world. It seemed that the company was offering seminar versions of what was covered in the book for those who either had ADD or were short on time and where unable to read the 400-plus-page book. I didn?t really pay much attention to all the information about the courses and seminars since I already had the book and didn?t mind the lengthy read. I did notice an e-newsletter signup box on the homepage, though. ?Why not?? I thought. Maybe I would find out more ways to apply the principles in the book.

Soon I was receiving e-newsletters every Wednesday. I was right! Each email newsletter outlined different methods from the book. There were lots of real life application examples and testimonials from people who had also applied the principles. Oh sure, there were ads mentioning the courses and seminars, but I didn?t mind. Within a few weeks I was looking forward to getting my weekly e-zine. It was official. This e-newsletter and I were going steady.

A few weeks later, Wednesday came and I didn?t get an email newsletter from my flame. I was perplexed. Those weekly e-zines were really helping me as I studied the book. I did not want to miss any of the valuable information so I went back to the website and signed up again. Just like when I signed up the first time, the signup form asked me for my name. I was already signed up under the name Joan and wanted to see if my original signup was still out there. I knew the only way I could track my signups was to choose another name. I picked an alternate name, went ahead and signed up, and eagerly awaited the next e-newsletter.

Soon I was back on track and receiving the weekly e-zine. I could tell my second signup had worked because my alternate name was being used. It was kind of funny and I wondered if anyone ever looked at the names on that email newsletter list. I guess I will never know, but at least it gave me a bit of a giggle every time I open my weekly e-newsletters and read the opening salutation of ?Dear Squidlips.?

A few weeks after my Squidlips signup, I started to get strange feelings of d?j? vu as I was reading my weekly newsletter. Had I seen this email before? I located my book folder in my email client and looked through all the email newsletters I had received from this company. I could not believe it. These e-newsletters were set up on an auto-responder service! My weekly Dear Squidlips emails had started back at the beginning of a series of email messages. I WAS having d?j? vu; I was reading emails I had already received!

Now my knickers were in a twist. This was not a weekly e-zine! This was a series of promo messages! What was the deal? I had experienced flings with auto-responders before. I knew the drill. I had been on ?five day e-courses? and known all along that the messages were sitting in some database waiting for me to signup. I knew when I subscribed it would trigger a series of messages to get delivered to me in a certain sequence. Heck, I even used email auto-responders with my own business. What I had not expected was to get into an auto-responder fling when I signed up for a weekly e-newsletter. I thought this email newsletter and I had made a commitment. I thought we were going steady.

After a sleepless night of tears and accepting that I was having a relationship with a database, I decided to stay on the list. Weekly e-newsletters kept on coming addressed to Squidlips. After a while I forgot about the auto-responder factor and started to enjoy the content in the auto-responder e-zines. Deep down I knew I was having a fling but I didn?t care. I was still reading the 400-plus-page book and I thought the articles in the e-newsletters really enhanced my reading.

Months went by. This was getting to be quite the auto-responder fling! Email message after email message appeared week after week addressed to Squidlips. But then, one day the tone of the email newsletter seemed a little different. The email message basically said I was being dumped. Well, it didn?t say the word ?dumped.? It said since I had not bought anything that the newsletters were promoting, this would be the last e-newsletter I would be receiving. Translation: ?We have tried and tried to get you to buy a course or seminar and we don?t know any other way to convince you to buy something and we have given up, so get lost?loser.? By the time I finished reading the e-zine I was in tears. It was probably my own fault, but I had grown attached to these emails and I really looked forward to getting them.

For days I was in a funk. I cried, ripped the down feathers out of my designer pillows, and got really depressed. Day after day I visited deeper and deeper recesses of my being that I did not even know existed. The depression grew worse and worse. I wondered if that auto-responder e-zine, or whatever it was, knew I had paid $40 for their book. I laid awake, night after night, asking the Universe why this company had a weekly e-newsletter signup form in their homepage that was really a series of canned emails tailored to promote their products. Weeks went by and the confusion remained. Would I ever recover from being dumped by this auto-responder?

When I was able to leave the house without fainting, I booked a few sessions with my therapist. Maybe she could help me realized why I was so hurt. It took a lot of deep breathing, but I soon found the root cause of my pain. At first it was hard for me to wrap my head around the truth, but I think my depression was triggered by this company ?unsubscribing me? from their e-newsletter list. I thought the way this opt-in email newsletter stuff worked was that I got to do the dumping. I thought I got to ?unsubscribe? when I wanted the love affair to be over.

In the past my auto-responder affairs have ended and my life went on without much longing for the arms of my absent email lover. I admit for a few days I would miss getting the emails, but let?s face it, when the affair started I knew it would be no different than the summer I had that hot and heavy romance with Melvin from Cleveland. All summer I knew come Labor Day, Melvin would leave his grandmother?s house (which happened to be across the street from mine), go back to Cleveland, and I would never see him again. I knew most likely he wouldn?t even write me. We didn?t care what was going to happen when school started; Melvin and I smooched every minute of every day and made the most of that summer.

Most of my auto-responder email affairs have been exactly the same as my summer with Melvin. Hot and heavy for a while, lots of frequent in-your-face contact, and then nothing. Sometimes some of my auto-responder lovers have encouraged me to signup for their regular email list because they wanted to continue our relationship with something more formal and real-time. Some just stop emailing and I never heard from them again. Regardless, I knew from the beginning that the email relationship was a ?Melvin?; I knew the email relationship was a short-term fling.

It had been months since this all happened and I thought I was over my old e-newsletter flame. That auto-responder that masqueraded as a going steady e-newsletter relationship was tucked away in my past. I really thought the flame had been snuffed out months ago. I remembered that last email; how could I forget it? The company had been clear and had had no qualms about telling me I was being un-subscribed for lack of purchase. But then, as I mentioned at this beginning of this journal entry, out of the blue, I got a lone message from the company. I?ll admit my heart sang a bit when I saw the email message sitting in my in-box. I thought the company had experienced a change of heart and really did love me. I thought my email flame wanted me back.

I was wrong. The email was worse than my last Dear Squidlips email (that should have read ?Dear John?). I guess the company thought they would try to get me to buy something from a company they were ?recommending? since they had not experienced any luck with me buying something from them.

I?m happy to report that earlier today, I un-subscribed myself from their newsletter list. I didn?t want to get my heart broken again so I took matters into my own hands and dumped the company from my in-box. When I un-subscribed from the list, I was asked why I was leaving. I was happy to answer the question:

?Summer was great, Melvin, but school is about to start and you need to go back to Cleveland.?

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Earn good karma, forward this article to everyone you know who has an email address.

Copyright Joan Pasay – 2005

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.

Chris Geldof

Chris Geldof is owner and publisher of the free special report How To Build Your Own Profitable Opt In List. Get this report for free at http://www.reach-for-money.com

Use Sequential (Email) AutoResponders

You can automatically and almost effortlessly stay in touch with your prospects and customers for as long as you like using Sequential autoresponders. Almost effortlessly means, you do have to create some messages to send to your prospects, or at least have them created for you. All you have to do then is load your email autoresponder with your messages, set the delivery schedule, and voila; you’re on your way to increased sales and profits.

Sequential autoresponders allow you to send a series of timed messages to your prospects and customers at set intervals. It’s been proven that it takes approximately 7 contacts with your prospect before he/she will buy from you. This information has been re-hashed and regurgitated so much that it’s a wonder many people don’t know this already. At any rate, it’s true.

Online, sequential autoresponders allow you to do this effortlessly, effectively and automatically. I like the word automatic. That means I don’t have to touch it. I Set It And Forget It! … And so can you. All you have to do is get your hands on a good autoresponder! There are many autoresponder services available on the Internet today, even my own, but more on that later.

Keep in mind, there are NO envelope, stamp, and envelope-stuffing costs associated with using sequential autoresponders, and no advertising costs. These costs can get outrageously high if you’re running a sizeable campaign. With sequential autoresponders, you only have a nominal monthly service fee. If you’ve got a good product and marketing campaign, your sales will more than pay the measly cost of your autoresponder service, many times over.

Do Not SPAM Your Prospects!!!

Give, teach, and/or train your prospects with good quality content or just some product/service updates. It’s okay to make offers inside your messages, but I would not do it in every single message. Why? Because, personally I hate being on lists that just promote – promote – promote! You can get promoted to anywhere online, so why would you want to see it in every single email message you get? There are some others that would dispute this, but it’s your call. I know, I, tend to stay subscribed to the lists that don’t view me as simply another $dollar!

…So, what I am saying is, GIVE your prospects/customers something. Don’t just take – take – take. Even if what you’re giving is just Good-old, Rock-Solid information and advice, give it to them and make it as clear and as concise as possible.

Call Them to Action!

I know I just told you not to take-take-take from your prospects and customers, but I also told you, it’s okay to make offers too – Heck! – that’s the purpose of your autoresponder anyway – to make you money! You decide how often you want to make product/service offers. You can always ask your prospects to click through on a link, to call you, or email you to take advantage of your special offer at the end of each message; however, don’t try to sell them a different product every time you contact them, unless this is the nature of your business.

Again, give your prospects and customers good information they can sink their teeth into, or maybe even give them some freebies (good ones) then, ask them to click through to your website or affiliate link, or ask them to fill out a form, email you, or call your office.

Happy E-mailing!

Ettione is the Automation King, specializing in E-Business Automation. Visit his website at http://www.prowebware.com/listmanagement.html to learn more about Effortless, Email Marketing using AutoResponders.

Each of these is a different version of what we commonly call an autoresponder. An autoresponder is simply that, a computer program that automatically answers email sent to it. This simple definition, however, belies a world of difference between the different types of autoresponders in use today.

The first auto responders were incorporated into mail transfer agents or email providers. When they could not deliver a piece of email, they would send an autoresponse to you letting you know as much. These types of emails were helpful, but not particularly sophisticated.

That has all changed radically in recent years, as autoresponders have been incorporated into the marketing strategies of many companies. Today autoresponders are used by companies to immediately give feedback and information to prospective clients. This might include sending an autoresponse to email inquiries which include pricing information, more details about a product, and a timeline for when they can expect someone from the company to get back with them.

These ?client touches? are a valuable commodity in the world of marketing because they improve conversion rates in the purchase of goods by keeping the product or service in the mind of the purchaser for a bit longer, as well as provide the company with an additional opportunity to provide the potential customer with more information on the product.

Autoresponders are setup primarily in one of two ways, with an outsourced ASP model, and a server-side model. The Outsourced ASP model involves the company or provider who would like to incorporate an autoresponder into their business model contracting with an outside provider. The outside provider will then typically provide the user with access to a web-based control panel. From there the company or individual can dictate exactly what they would like the autoresponder to say to each email received as well as how to deal with different types of emails and other variations. For these services, the company typically pays a monthly fee to the autoresponder provider.

The second category of autoresponders is server-side. Server-side autoresponders simply refers to programs that instead of paying for someone to implement for you on a monthly basis, a company can install the system on their own server and run it for themselves. While this process is typically not as simple as purchasing a program out of a box and uploading to the server, it has become significantly simpler in recent years.

Timothy Boser recommends that you visit http://www.getresponse.com for more information on autoresponders.

To compete in today’s global marketplace you need to stand out from the crowd – be better than your competitors, be faster than your competitors and, more importantly -

BE MORE MEMORABLE THAN YOUR COMPETITORS!

Your success in business depends upon your ability to change?plus your ability to capture the email addresses of your website visitors.

Customers in 2006 are more demanding, more intelligent, and have more choices than ever before when it comes to where they spend their money and how often they spend it. Wouldn’t you rather it was your business and not your competitor’s?

You need to work smarter, not harder, and devote your time and energy on the things that count….

Building greater customer loyalty that will grow your business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week…even while you sleep.

Become important in your global marketplace and you will be rewarded by being at the forefront of your customers’ minds and receiving endless referrals to your business.

Create a memorable experience in the minds of your prospects and customers and you will benefit for a lifetime.

If you want to make a second, third, fifth and twelfth sale you must create an incredible customer service experience that your customers will talk about forever.

The quality of your customer service will be remembered long after the price they paid is forgotten.

If you want to drastically increase your number of visitors to customers and your customers to ongoing repeat customers you need to make contact with them as often as possible.

Marketing gurus tell us that if you are not in touch with your customers every six weeks they’re not really your customers, but people who your competitors are continually trying to lure away from you and your business.

WHOSE POCKETS DO YOU WANT YOUR CUSTOMERS TO FILL…YOURS OR YOUR COMPETITORS?

Create a point of difference that is so original that sets you apart from your competitors your customers wouldn’t dream of doing business with anyone else.

If your customers don’t see you as being different from your competition they will always make their buying decision based on price alone

Send The Right Message To Your Marketplace!

Follow up is one of the most critical elements of any business. It is vital to follow up at all times: your prospects, your customers, your affiliates.

Did you know on average it takes 7-12 follow ups for a person to buy from you so you MUST contact them regularly on an ongoing basis.

Look at these alarming statistics provided by the National Sales Association:

2% of sales are made on 1st contact.

3% of sales are made on 2nd contact.

5% of sales are made on 3rd contact.

10% of sales are made on 4th contact.

80% OF SALES ARE MADE ON 5TH-12TH CONTACT.

The difficulty is that the average internet marketer does not know how to use an autoreponder effectively. The most effective way how to use an autoresponder is to make sure it grows your bottom line.

The three effective ways to use an autoresponder in your follow up marketing are:

(1) PROSPECTS

Offer a free report, training course, ebook or newsletter so you can keep contact with those who don’t buy on the first visit.

(2) CUSTOMERS

By keeping in constant touch with your customers you’ll create so many happy and satisfied customers they will refer you to their friends. Happy customers are informed customers, less likely to ask for a refund and more likely to buy from you again.

(3) AFFILIATES

If you want income-producing affiliates you must give them the latest tips, techniques, training and motivation with constant follow up.

Once your business grows there’s no way you can follow up with your prospects, customers and affiliates by hand so you MUST set up your automated system from the beginning or as soon as you can. Every website owner must learn how to use an autoresponder. If you don?t, your competition is eating away at your profits.

*****ONCE IT’S SET UP IT RUNS WITH NO FURTHER INPUT FROM YOU*****

Thankfully in recent times companies have become aware of how important client follow up is and they have created autoresponders (automatic messages/emails) for this purpose to put your business on autopilot.

TIP: Avoid using free autoresponders as they usually include advertising for other people’s products (sidetracking people away from your offer and helping you to look unprofessional. Remember, in business how you are perceived by your customers means everything!)

Once your system is in place you fill it with the emails that will go out automatically once someone subscribes or is subscribed automatically!

SAMPLE FOR PROSPECTS:-

Message (1) Free information you promised (immediate delivery)

Message (2) More great information about the initial product (one day after message 1)

Message (3) Mix in information about your product with free information (one day after message 2)

Message (4) Start to sell your product while giving more information (one day after message 3)

Message (5) More free information and how they will benefit from buying your product or service (one day after message 4).

SAMPLE FOR CUSTOMERS:-

Message (1) Thank them for their order and let them know they can contact you if they need any help (immediate delivery)

Message (2) Thank them again and give them a free bonus (one day after message 1)

Message (3) Send a short note to say you are offering them another free bonus and ask how they are enjoying the product (seven days after message (2)

Message (4) Send a short note saying you hope they are enjoying the product and that you thought they might be interested a complimentary product….(seven days to one month after message (1)

Learning how to use an autoresponder in your business is absolutely critical to your success online. Many website visitors do not buy the first time around. They may be busy with other projects or have no money. If you don?t have an autoresponder, how many sales have your competitors had that should have been yours?

Copyright 2006 Karin Manning

Karin Manning is the author of The Ultimate Campfire Kitchen and Camping Guide and uses autoresponders every day to grow her business. To access your free one hour autoresponse seminar video today go straight to http://www.aweber.com/?211583

*Automatically Send E-mails

When you have an email autoresponder, it sends an e-mail immediately to any individual that clicks yes to receiving e-mails and additional information from your company. Since the autoresponder automatically does this it eliminates any problems by human error like forgetting to send an e-mail, typing the address wrong, waiting too long, and other similar errors. The autoresponder sends an e-mail immediately to the address that was given, and it frees up your time to focus on other things, knowing your customers and potential customers are receiving the information they need.

*Saves Time

Since your autoresponder has been sending out e-mails and generating interest you know that when you receive an e-mail from a potential or past customer that they are primed up enough about the product or service and already have a interest without you having to sell them on it. Therefore, you receive customers when they are ready to talk which increases your success rate, and you won?t waste time on customers who are not interested. Not to mention the amount of time you’ll save by not having to personally send e-mails over and over and over again.

*Reminders

Of course if you are using an autoresponder you are sending out e-mails to your customers about a variety of products and services in the normal series of 7 e-mails. However, if you really want to boost customer loyalty to your products don?t forget to send out an eighth e-mail that reminds the recipient about your product and that they still have time to buy. This e-mail should only be a reminder and nothing pushy. It should only be sent to those individuals who did not already sign up for your product or service.

*Stay in Touch

Another way to keep your customer loyalty and keep them buying from you is to stay in touch. No, this does not mean you should send them e-mails every week. If you do this you risk annoying a lot of subscribers and ultimately getting unsubscribe requests. Instead, simply keep in touch every month or so with new offers and products. Your target market can?t buy from you if they do not know what you are offering. Also, in these e-mails be sure to offer discounts and bonuses. When you do this you give people yet another incentive to do business with you!

Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can increase search engine traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

When you start an online business and your business begins to grow, you may find that using an autoresponder is essential.

Most successful online marketers look for ways to save time with multiple marketing tasks. Like thank you letters, newsletters, information on a product, orders, training courses, etc.

To save countless hours with these tasks, they will use an autoresponder to effectively handle all of their email campaigns.

There are several types of autoresponders one can use for their business. Choosing the right autoresponder depends on your current need and the type of email campaigns you will be implementing.

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Paid Autoresponder Services:

Using this type of autoresponder is done through the Internet with a web-based company, which host your mail list on their server. You simply upload your prewritten mailings and choose the days you want them sent out. It is simple to set up and for the most part, they are considered very reliable.

There is a monthly fee, but you will find more features using this type of service than you will with some other autoresponders.

You will want to look for a web-based autoresponder that has the features to fit your business needs. Here are a few features to look for:

Unlimited Autoresonders: Lets you create as many mailing campaigns as you want.

List Management: You want an autoresponder that captures the name and email address and stores the contact information for you.

Unlimited Follow Up: A good autoresponder will have unlimited follow-ups you can use for your mailing list.

Tracking Features: Lets you know which mailing campaign gets the best response.

Unlimited Message Length: No limits on the length of your mailings.

Time/Date Features: To be able to set specific days for a multi promotion series/messages that you want sent to your mailing list.

Broadcast: Enables you to send out a message instantly to your entire mail list.

Personalize: This feature allows you to set your autoresponder to put your recipients name in the body of your email, as well as in the subject line.

Customer Support: Provides ongoing support by phone, email or fax.

Unsubscribe Management: This feature will automatically unsubscribe your viewer if they decide to be taken off your mail list.

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Free Autoresponders Services:

Free autoresponder services work similar to a paid service but have fewer features. It’s important to understand that most of these services will place their advertisements in your messages.

Even though some companies may limit how many advertisements are used in your mailings, you may want to consider how professional your messages are going look.

Also consider that some free autoresponder services are sending your replies with 3rd party advertisements as well.

If you feel that this type of service would fit your business needs, look for companies that limit the amount of ads and do not allow 3rd party advertisements. You can go to any major search engine to perform a search for one that may work for you.

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Web Host Autoresponders:

If you are using a paid web host for your website, you will most likely find that they offer you a free autoresponder.

A web host autoresponder has limited features, as they only provide the basic autoresponder function of sending one reply to a message sent.

There are no follow-up messages that can be sent and you do not have the option to capture the list of names that replied to your autoresponder.

This is not to say that there are no benefits with this type of mailing program. You can use it for people who request information, a copy of an article, thank you messages, etc.

If you have a mailing that only needs to go out once without a follow-up, than using a web host autoresponder may work for you.

Check with your current web host to see what options they offer. If it doesn?t fit the business needs you have, move on to an autoresponder that will.

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Software Autoresponders:

This form of an autoresponder is a software that you purchase and install on your computer.

The software will give you more flexibility than a web host autoresponder, but you need to understand its advantages and disadvantages.

Set up is basically easy and there are no monthly fees to pay.

With this software you will have many options to make your business work on autopilot. From unlimited follow up replies, time/date delay features, capturing the list of names that replied to your autoresponder and building a client database.

The drawbacks in using this type of software are; you need to be connected to the Internet for it to work. If one were to send an email to your autoresponder address and you were not online, they would not receive your autoresponder message until you were connected. One solution to this problem is having a T1, DSL or Cable line and leaving your system on.

Understand that it would be up to you to maintain your list of addresses and back up your files on a regular basis.

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CGI Script Autoresponders:

CGI script autoresponders can be extremely reliable and effective providing you have total understanding of a few basic principles of installing one.

This type of autoresponder is installed on your web host server (rather than on your own computer) and you need to know the ins and outs of installing the script.

Before you buy a CGI Script, check to see that your current web host server meets the requirements that are needed to run the software. This step is a must or you can be wasting your time and money.

Another possible drawback to using this type of autoresponder is going to be the reliability of your current web host server. Do they have little to no down time? If your web host server is down, so is your autoresponder.

Some of the advantages of in using a CGI script is there are no monthly fees and you don?t have to worry about maintaining and backing up files. Your web host server will take care of this task along with your website files.

Most scripts have added features you can implement to save you time. List management, date/time delay, unlimited follow-ups, text recognition and many more.

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by – John Kovacs Copyright 2003-2005

John Kovacs is the CEO and founder of ?A Home Business Opportunity?. His website mainly focuses on supplying free marketing tips, resources and support for home startup businesses and Internet marketing. To get a step-by-step guide in building an online business, visit http://www.ahomebusinessopportunity.net.

It can be simple to set up and use an autoresponder, unless of course, like me, you set up a message when you’re over tired, late at night, and forget to tell the autoresponder what message to start at and what message to stop at while running a test. I actually did this and sent 491 blank email messages to our personal email account! Needless to say, I clogged up our account and had to delete each message individually. Very time consuming and frustrating to say the least but it never happened a second time. And, it has given us something to laugh about from time to time.

There are many advantages to having e-mail autoresponders such as:

• Give your visitors an easy way to receive a printer friendly version of your sites main sales messages.

• Send a several part e-mail course (the free email course can be a powerful incentive for your visitors to leave their email addresses which also builds your subscriber list.

• Send repeated messages to your visitors with reminders of what you sell and what its benefits are.

• Collects addresses for your e-mail ezine which will give you periodic access to your site’s visitors. You can sell advertising in your ezine or just use it to promote your products and services.

There are two main types of autoresponders. They each have their pros and cons.

Autoresponder services:

Autoresponder services are web based services that allow you to send a series of emails to a visitor who has either requested the email through a web-based form on you site (the service provides the html code for your site to use) or who has sent an email to a specific address the service has provided you to use. The primary advantage of such services is that they are very easy to set up, and are very reliable. In addition, they are host independent. This means that your web host doesn’t have to allow you to run any particular services on your site to have access to all that an e-mail autoresponder can provide.

Autoresponder programs (or scripts):

The other choice for an autoresponder is to purchase (or lease) a program or a script (usually written in perl, requiring CGI access on your server.) Several of these are available. They offer the potential for lower cost, especially if you have multiple web sites to support. (But be careful to check the license agreement. Some license agreements require an additional fee if you are going to use the program or script on more than one site at the same time. These types of autoresponders also allow, potentially at least, for increased flexibility. Some are quite powerful in their own right, while perl scripts can generally be modified to suit your needs for a fee.

Whatever your choice or needs Email Autoresponders most definately play an important role in your success as an internet marketer.

If you’re in need of a Host with unlimited autoresponders or tired of bad service from your present one I highly recommend the following. It’s only a dollar for a 2 week trial and provides Free leads & a business opportunity too!

http://www.wwkiosk.com/members/esys

For More Motivational Articles, Sales & Marketing Tips, Send a blank e-mail to: articles@freesupersponders.com

About The Author

Diane Walker is the Publisher of Marketers In Motion A weekly newsletter with resources, articles, helpful tips, trivia and humor. For more information visit: http://mim.s5.com or Subscribe at 59ramb@bellsouth.net. Write subscribe in subject line.