Archive for the ‘email marketing’ Category

An email autoresponder (also called auto-reply, auto-responder, mailbot, autobot and email-on-demand) is simply an email program that runs on a computer server connected full-time to the Internet. It gives you an email address that automatically replies to any incoming message with the text of your choosing. This information is delivered anywhere in the world, to any person with email, within seconds, 24 hours a day–7 days a week.

The pre-written message can be a sales letter, vacation reply, a confirmation notice, or a response to a form submission.

Email autoresponders are a very useful email tool because they prevent the repetitive task of manually answering each individual piece of email you receive. They’re convenient, and saves you time. Not only won’t you have to keep manually answering your email, with the same message, you won’t have to stay at your computer to make sure your email is answered in a timely manner. The responder automatically replies to the sender’s email, within minutes.

You can include your autoresponder address on business cards, letterhead, flyers, classified advertising, your email signature line, and anywhere else you can think of.

For example, let’s say you mailed post cards to 1000 people and included your autoresponder address as the primary way for them to learn more information.  You would set your email autoresponder to mail out a letter that describes your product or service, gives a link to your web site, and/or an alternate way to contact you.  This is an excellent way to pre-qualify a lead, as opposed to handing out your primary email address or your phone number.  This way, you’re only spending time on people who act on the information they receive from your autoresponder, which shows they are more than just tire-kickers.

Most services offer what is commonly referred to as “smart”  autoresponders. This means that in addition to the first email your prospect receives, you can set up your account to send them multiple follow-up messages at timed intervals, such as every day or every other day.  This is a powerful tool and has proven to turn tire-kickers into customers if you continue to give them compelling reasons buy your product, visit your site, or use your service.

In the sales industry, it is a generally accepted principle that it takes an average of seven points of contact (the original letter and six follow-ups) to make a sale.  After that average of seven letters, your prospect probably has either made a decision or has removed himself from your autoresponder follow-up system.  Since the average is seven, it stands to reason that if you provide ten letters instead, you have probably squeezed all the productivity out of your autoresponder that you’re going to get.  However, there is no harm in creating more than ten letters, as your prospect can always remove himself from the queue when he’s made a decision.

Another way you might choose to use your email autoresponder is to send training materials or tips to those who request it from your site.  Offering something for free is an excellent way to build a prospect list and gives a compelling reason for someone to give out their email address.

On your web site, you might advertise that the viewer can receive your top 25 web marketing tips, or your top 50 ways to stay healthy, or any kind of information you can think of that is germane to the reason your prospect has come to your site.  You might break down those 25 marketing tips into 3 per email and set up your autoresponder to send out 8 emails over the course of 16 days.  If you’re selling vitamins, you might offer to send a list of every vitamin and mineral, along with what it does and the foods where it’s found.  Then every day for 12 days, the recipient would get these descriptions of two or three vitamins and minerals.  Of course, you would include a link to your web site, an offer to provide more information upon request, and even a testimonial on how wonderful your vitamins are.

The best way to approach how you’re going to formulate your letters is to pretend that you’re talking with a friend about your product/service.  This friend needs some convincing, so you decide that instead of bombarding him with all the information at once, you’re going to give it out in a slow drip.  And with that slow drip, you’re also going to give him some extra information that he can use (tips and tricks, useful information about your industry, or something you think he can use even if he doesn’t become a customer).  Give something for free, weave it into your “sales pitch” and make your prospect feel like he’s gotten something in return for giving you his email address.

In the post card example used above, you may decide not to include anything about your product, service, or business opportunity on your post card.  You could simply mail a postcard that offers a “free course in Internet marketing” or a “free guide to vitamins and minerals” or “a consumer warning on how long distance companies routinely sign you up for their service without your permission.” The list is endless!  Chances are good that whatever you’re selling will have some kind of related information associated with it that you can give out for free that will capture their interest.  All they have to do is send an email and they become your prospect!  Now you weave your product/service/biz opp into your series of autoresponder letters and you have a full-time salesperson working for you at no (or very little) cost!

There are many places on the web that offer email autoresponders for small fees. The “cost” of free autoresponder services is that they usually add a one or two-line advertisement at the top or bottom of all your outgoing messages.  Most free services also offer a paid service that allows you to upgrade to eliminate this ad from your messages.  The paid service also usually comes with more features, such as more flexibility with your list.

Prepare your emails in text format (ASCII).  That means straight text with no bold, underline, or colors.  Format the text to be no wider than 60 characters. This will avoid word-wrapping problems and be easier to view on the receiver’s system.  You can use your word processor, Notepad, or a new email screen to create your emails. You’ll copy and paste the contents into the autoresponder online set-up screen.

You should keep your emails under 10k in size (10240 characters). Even though some autoresponders can handle larger files, some e-mail services block larger files or require downloading as attachments.

Email Autoresponder Resources

Aweber

GetResponse

We talk a lot about email marketing and the ethics of contacting subscribers, but doing it with the right balance can be hard to determine. Knowing how to nurture that list into a group of people who actually enjoy hearing from you over and over, and better yet enjoy buying from you, is the key to online success.

Most of the time, the email campaign (which is really the one thing that makes you the most consistent money online) is shoved off as the end strategy in a promotional campaign.

Many people focus on the design of their websites, the content they’re creating, and other business tasks before considering what they’re going to do with their list once they begin building it.

If you’re wise, you’ll plan your email campaign very near the beginning and build everything else around that. So what goes into these plans? If you’re thinking that you can send out random emails whenever you happen to have time, then you’re mistaken.

Your emails should have a cadence to them, which leaves your subscribers anticipating your emails, and wondering where they are when they’re either late or absent.

The easiest way to do that is to be consistent with your schedule of email delivery. You should pick a schedule – whether once a month, twice a month, weekly, or even daily – and stick to it like glue.

Next, you want to pack your messages with valuable content. This is where people often go wrong. They’re afraid that if they don’t contact them regularly, the subscriber will forget who they are. But instead of planning, they simply send out a non-substantive “filler message.”

Sending your readers quality content makes them feel that they’re on your list for a purpose, and it gives them good reason to stay on out of fear that they might miss something important or vital to their own success.

This doesn’t mean you want to reveal all of your insight and secrets within your email campaign. You want them to buy from you as well – and they won’t if they think they will be getting all of your valuable information for free, or that you’ve already given them everything that they need to know.

Along with being consistent with when you broadcast your email messages, you should also be consistent with the layout. You want them to get used to recognizing your messages, and knowing where to find certain features such as  the main articles or tidbits of information youfind important. It’s similar to how you know exactly where to find your favorite section of the local newspaper.

You should always set the tone of your messages as conversational, just as if you were sitting across the table from your reader or emailing a good friend. Add some character to your messages, which includes using stories, humor, and surprises such as free gifts.

This will go a long way in making your subscribers like you on a personal level, which will make them much more likely to purchase from you, rather than your competition. People buy from those they know, like, and trust. Be yourself in your messages and communicate as you would with any new or respected friend. Your email campaigns will help you build trust for future sales.

Most importantly, you need to get the recipients to open your emails. The only way that you can achieve this is to write ultra-compelling subject lines. The best type of subject line to use is one that provokes curiosity so that they absolutely *must* open it to find out what comes next.

Don’t intentionally mislead them, because there’s really no faster way of getting someone to unsubscribe than to mislead in the subject line. Use common sense and always take note of emails that are effective on you, then add them to a special folder for future reference.