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Being an online business owner for over ten years has given me the opportunity to see a multitude of email messages, especially those from autoresponders. And as an owner of an autoresponder service I have seen many messages that can be classified anywhere from a disaster to highly professional. I am not going to get into evaluating the actual content of messages but simply how they look, what image they project and based on my experience of having sent thousands of messages out over the years, some tips to getting more of your messages read.

1. Format This seems to be one of the worst problems. Many people just type up a message, load it in the autoresponder and let it go out. Some of them go out and look like one big paragraph, others have intermittent lines going all the way across the page and automatically wrapping. Others are full of spelling mistakes. They look very unprofessional to say the least. Every autoresponder message series that I make up, and I have over twenty autoresponders working 24 hours a day, is prepared offline in a text program, usually NotePad. I format them to 55 to 60 characters per line including spaces and use a hard return(enter) at the end of each line and paragraph. Then I copy and paste it into my email program and send it to myself. This way I can see what it is going to look like and I can make any adjustments it needs before I load it into my autoresponder. This also gives me a chance to check the spelling.

2. Don’t Yell Typing words or entire phrases in caps has the impact of seeming you are yelling and is used regularly in spam to get your attention. Many of the spam filters use capitalized words and phrases against you and may forward it directly to the junk box. I see caps used the majority of times in the subject line which is probably the worst place since the filters will probably flag it very quickly.

3. Make Sure You Have Links To Your Site And That They Work So many times I see messages where there is a lot of information and I get to the bottom of message and there was no link to the sales page or information site. In addition many links, when clicked went to error pages because the link was not correctly entered, especially those long affiliate links. Remember to test the links. I always check all the links after I email myself the draft message by actually clicking on the links. I even do the link check when I am preparing my weekly newsletter to make sure all the advertiser links work properly.

4. Refer to The Subscribers Request In todays email world, users are getting deluged with email. Many online surfers are out there requesting anything and everything. So when they sign up for your autoresponder info they might forget they requested it hours or days later when they check their email again. A good way to set up your message is to start your initial message with a short statement referring to their request. I usually use something like in the first part of the message: “Hi Joe, thanks for requesting additional information regarding our autoresponder services.” (refer to whatever type info they requested) I think it is even a good practice to have the subject line of the first message refer to their request so that when they are scanning their email, it catches their attention.

I have used something like this: “Hi Joe – Here is the information regarding home business opportunities you requested”. I think also that if you have a series of messages going out over many days, that you should refer to the prior message. Something like “Hi Joe, two days ago I sent you information regarding the benefits of joining xyz business and today I wanted to highlight their great income plan.” It makes very good sense to tie the messages together, I think it is very professional and can have a positive impact. You can even go the extra step of ending a message with something like, “Well that is it for today Joe, my next message will highlight how we can work together to build your monthly income”

5. Use Personalization Tags You will notice in the examples above that I used “Hi Joe”. Most if not all autoresponder services allow you to personalize your messages. Ours for instance has over twenty different tags you can use to personalize messages. The standard ones that I always use are the first name and I always like to put the date at the beginning of the message text. I believe that personalizing the messages will get more of them read and makes it sound more like a human being is contacting them rather than strictly a machine. Of course you have to make sure that you collect their first name when you have them subscribe to your autoresponder so that the first name is in the autoresponder data base so it can be merged into each message.

6. Don’t Write A Book The best way to use an autoresponder is to highlight the benefits of your service, business opportunity, product, book, etc. Don’t try to sell everything from your autoresponder messages. Tease the prospect by giving them a little more in each message so that they will go to your web site and get the details. You want them to click through to your site. Let your site do the actual selling. Nothing turns me off more than receiving a message that is four or five pages long with huge paragraphs and goes on and on. Plus some ISPs restrict the size of emails going through their system so your prospect/subscriber may not even get all of it. Remember that your mailings are a reflection of your professionalism and can go a long way to contributing to your success.

Autoresponder Essentials

Automatic responder is a great marketing tool that you cannot do without. This is a program that automatically responds to request for information from your site visitors or subscribers to your new letter. For example, you have a Web form on your site as asking visitors to subscribe to your newsletter. When they enter their name and email address in the Web form, your autoresponder responds with a reply automatically telling the subscriber he/she had been subscribed.

As you grow your mailing list, the automatic responder becomes very useful because you can then send personalized newsletter to thousands of subscribers at once, without having to do it manually.

Automatic Responder-Why you need one.

Statistics indicate less than 50% of customers will respond to a sale for the first time. Most people need 5 to 7 reminders before a sale is made.

This is due to many reasons. Just imagine yourself going through the mall. There are some things you want to buy but you cannot because…

1. your credit card is already at its limit

2. or you don’t have the time to check the product out

3. or you are not sure how good the product is.

4. or you need to ask friends in order to be sure.

Same thing applies to your customer on the web. With your automatic responder you can send repeated reminders to thousands of your prospective customers automatically explaining the benefits of the product.

Automatic Responder-How does it work?

Your automatic responder may reside in your Web host or service provider’s server . Whether the autoresponder is provided by your host or uploaded by you. One autoresponder should have one email address. Example, newletter@yourdomain.com or name of your product@yourdomain.com or tutorials@yourdomain.com.

Save your information to be saved to your visitor or customer as a text only -document and give it the email address corresponding to the particular autoresponder allocated to this kind of information.

You will then upload your new autoresponder document to your host servers depending on the service provided by your host.

When do you need it?

As soon as your site is up and running and you start growing your email lists. If you intend to give tutorials by email or teach marketing or promotional topics to other Internet users then get your autoresponder as soon as your site is up and running. Very important features of a good autoresponder. Ability to send documents in text or HTML formats.

Accommodate an initial response (e.g. welcome message) and many more follow-ups.

Allow follow-ups to be spread over a time frame.

Personalization of subject and body of message.

There are good automatic responder software for performing all these tasks.

Automatic responder is an important tool any serious online marketer should not do without. You may start mailing your subscribers manually. However, as your list grows, you will soon discover that a lot of your time is taken up doing work that you should have automated.

How To get effective sales copy for your autoresponders

Autoresponders are the greatest sales tool ever invented. They solve the biggest problem in advertising–how to follow-up with interested prospects until they buy.

There are plenty of free or low-cost autoresponder deals available. Multiple autoresponders send ten or more messages automatically. For the person who used to spend their days flipping through a rolodex, this automated selling is a dream come true.

BUT where do you get the sales info to put in your autoresponders. Unless you love to write page after page, filling these labor-savers can be a very tall order.

Here are some strategies for getting good autoresponder copy fast and easy.

Simple 3-letter campaign.

Don’t worry about coming up with ten or twelve quality sales letters when you are starting out. You can greatly increase sales with just a three letter multiple autoresponder. More than three letters may be overkill.

Make your first letter briefly present your offer. It should be designed to get attention and bring in those who tend to quickly make up their minds to buy. That is about 15% of customers.

Your second sales letter should arrive the next day. Make it longer and filled with details. About 70 percent of consumers are folks who need ALL the details before they will purchase.
List your features and connect them with the benefit your customer will get from those features.

Your third sales letter should be scheduled to arrive several days later. Start with “Successful people are busy. I know you probably saw my earlier messages, considered them, but haven’t yet had time to respond.”

Then give them another rundown on your offer. Bring in a fresh angle so it doesn’t seem like they are reading the same letter they saw a few days ago.

Borrow good copy from others.

Because good sales letter copy almost always stresses the concerns of the reader, letters tend to be similar. You may be able to find someone in your industry or a related business that has letters you can adapt for your messages (with the writer’s permission).

Many letters start with something like: Are you so busy working you don’t have time for family and friends? Are you looking for ways to work smarter, faster, with greater profits, while leaving time to have a life?”

This kind of copy can be used to promote a huge number of products and services.

Sending more than three letters.

More than three sales letters tend to get ignored. If you want to send more, have your fourth and fifth letters arrive weeks or months later. Scheduling a new letter to arrive every month can catch a prospect when they’re ready to buy.

But I’m paying for a ten message autoresponder and I WANT to use all the messages, you say. Make messages six through nine read more like a how-to article or ezine. Give readers helpful information while including your sales message in several brief paragraphs.

Email Auto Responder And It’s Important Use For Business

autoresponder-1

Email autoresponders are an excellent marketing tool that very few businesses can afford to be without these days. It is a program that responds automatically to requests for information from visitors to your site or subscribers to your newsletter. For instance, you can place a web form on your website inviting visitors to subscribe to your email newsletter. Whenever someone enters their name and email address into the webs form, the autoresponder will reply automatically to let the person know they are subscribed to your list.

As you continue to grow your email list, your autoresponder becomes even more useful since it will allow you to send out a personalized email newsletter to thousands of subscribers all at the same time, without needing to do this manually.

Why You Need To Have An Autoresponder

Statistics show that fewer than 50% of consumers respond to a sales offer the very first time that they see it. Most sales are not made until people have had 5 to 7 reminders.

There are many reasons for this. Just think about yourself shopping at the mall. There are certain things you would like to purchase but you can’t because…

1. Your credit cards are already maxed out.
2. Or you don’t have enough time to really check out the product
3. Or you aren’t sure if the product is any good or not
4. Or you need to ask your friends or family members first to make sure.

The same thing is true of your online customers. With your autoresponder you can send out repeated messages automatically to thousands of prospective customers that explain all of your product’s benefits.

How Do Autoresponders Work?

Your autoresponder might reside on your service providers’ server or your web host. Whether your host provides the autoresponder or you upload it, it should use one email address. For instance, mynewsletter@yourdomain.com or it could be the name of your product.

Save the information from your customer or visitor in a text only file and provide the corresponding email address to the autoresponder that you have reserved for this type of information.

Then upload the new autoresponder document onto your host server. How this is done will depend on your hosting service.

Why do you need an autoresponder?

As soon as you have your website up and running, you should start to grow your email list. If you are planning on sending out tutorials via email or teaching promotional topics or marketing to other people online, then you need to make sure that you get your autoresponder set up as soon as possible after your website is up and running.

Important features of a quality autoresponder include the following:

Ability to email documents in both HTML and text formats.

Ability to provide an initial response (i.e. welcome message) in addition to numerous follow up messages.

Ability to spread out follow-up messages over an extended period of time.

Ability to personalize the subject line and body of the message.

Good autoresponder software is available that can perform all of those tasks and more. An autoresponder is a very important tool that every serious online marketer needs to take advantage of. You might start out manually emailing your subscribers. However, as your list continues to grow, you will find that lots of your time is being taken by work that can be automated.