If only I had known that autoresponders are a necessity
to your online business when I first ventured online, I
would have saved a lot of time and money. You have to
automate in as many areas as possible and if used
responsibly, autoresponders can be your best friend.
Your customers expect prompt replies to their email
inquiries. But finding the time to answer every inquiry
by hand will quickly eat all your time. The good news
is an autoresponder is an inexpensive - or even free -
method of quickly responding to your customers and
prospects email.
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.
Use your autoresponder to:
1. Publish a newsletter. Your newsletter can keep your
visitors informed about your services or products, while
building your reputation as a credible expert in your
particular business.
2. Publish a newsletter only for your affiliates. Inform
them of current sales you are running and of promotional
material that your affiliates can use to increase their
commissions. Include tips, advice, and techniques that
your affiliates can use to successfully go out and
promote your business.
3. Write reviews. Cover books, software, music, e-books,
movies, etc., and put each review in an autoresponder.
Review your affiliate programs, using a link to your
affiliate's page in your autoresponder.
4. Create mailing lists. Inform subscribers to your
articles when you've written new ones that they may want to
publish in their own newsletter or website.
5. Automate your sales process. Use an ad to insure
repeated exposure of your message. In your ad, put your
autoresponder address where a visitor will be exposed to
numerous marketing materials. This multiplies the chances
of converting visitors into customers. For example, if
you're selling a particular product, put testimonials about
how spectacular it is on your autoresponder, and add a
detailed, enticing description of your product.
6. Distribute advertising rates. Let's say you sell
advertising on your website or in your newsletter. Set
your autoresponder to send the information about rates
and how to place an ad automatically to all prospects
email addresses. Then have your autoresponder follow-up.
It can also send notification of any special deals you
are currently offering.
7. Distribute an email course. Just be sure that
each lesson has quality content - not a sales pitch. Your
content will do the selling for you, and will do it much
more effectively. You can include tips centered on a
different topic for each lesson, illustrating how your
product will benefit the reader. Include the tangible
benefits the visitor will reap by purchasing your product.
Make sure to include a paragraph or two at the end of each
lesson enticing your prospect to consider making a
purchase.
8. Distribute free reports. This gives your visitor an
idea of the type of information you can provide and the
quality of your product or service. Make sure these reports
are not sales letters or you will more than likely lose a
potential customer than gain a sale.
9. Create trivia quizzes on your site and place the
answers in an autoresponder. Your visitor will then be
motivated to request your autoresponder. Or create a
contest and have any visitors that enter send their
responses to your autoresponder. Your autoresponder
can be set-up to send them a confirmation of their entry.
10. Link to hidden pages on your autoresponder. For
example, a hidden page could be your affiliate page that
contains graphics, promotional articles, and text links
that interested affiliates can make use of. Inform visitors
that they may have free access to your affiliate page by
simply requesting your autoresponder. You will then gather
a list of visitors who may be interested in becoming your
affiliates.
11. Use an autoresponder on your order page. Post a request
form for visitors to be notified of special offers or
discounts in the future. This creates a very effective
mailing list that contains the names of people who are
already your customers.
12. Put your links page on your autoresponder. It should
contain up to fifty links that would be of particular
interest to your visitors. Make sure to add your own
promotional copy at the top or bottom of this page.
Now that you have proof that autoresponders can be used
creatively to take you to the TOP, can you see how you
will implement them to benefit your business?
Copyright (c) 2005, Melanie Burns --
All Rights Reserved Worldwide
Melanie Burns, founder of Internet-Business-How-To.com, has passion and dedication to assisting You to make Your Internet Business a Success! Join the weekly "Abundant Success Online" newsletter,mailto:aso-subscribe@internet-business-how-to.com (Permission to reprint this article in its entirety, including byline, is expressly granted.)