Promotional Tools - Autoresponders

Do you know what an autoreponder is? It took me a long time to really understand this one -- and maybe some of you are in the same boat. First, I will attempt to explain autoresponders and then I will go through some of the autoreponder services that are available to you.

An autoresponder is simply an automatic response to an email sent to an email address.

Have you ever responded to an ad for a free report and it immediately showed up in your inbox? Well, the form you filled out sent an email to the address that was preset to automatically send the report out as soon as the request was received. The same thing happens with those instantaneous confirmation messages -- and here you thought they just had great customer service! But, it truly is simply an automatic reply. And since these emails are sent, received and replied to faster than you can blink, you can begin to see what wonderful advantages this technology could have in store for you and your business!

You may have also seen a message like: "Sorry, I'm on vacation now, but I'll be back..." Some places refer to this type of message as a vacation response, but it truly is a simple autoresponder.

Simple autoresponder -- one message sent out as an automatic reply to an email message. (Wonderful to use for vacation response, received your email and will get back to you reply, thank you for your order, etc.)

My webhost (Best-Host Website hosting) offers simple autoresponders and detailed instruction on how to use them (plus, they have great technical support!).

If you do an Internet search on autoresponders, you may even find a few free services, but these usually will add an ad at the end of your message.

Before you start your search, if all you want is a simple autoresponder, your ISP or internet service provider may provide such a thing already with your account. I use Yahoo Mail for my personal email and they have an area to set one up.

An autoresponder can be so much more than a vacation response! You can use one to capture leads (leads - names and email addresses of people requesting information or signing up for your report or newsletter), send out multiple day courses, send out special promotions or even send out a newsletter/ezine.

Sure, you can do all of this without an autoresponder, but you would have to send the email individually (This gets mighty tiring after, say, about 20. ) or use the BCC option in your email. But, some email providers see that you sent it via BCC and will label it as spam and your recipient may never see it. And then, if your ISP sees that you are sending too many messages a day, they will shut down your service. Or, if one of those people that you sent a message to decides that it was unsolicited and complains, you could loose your Internet connection altogether, which, of course, means that you'll be out of business.

So, not only is it a ton of work to send your email to a list over 50, but it could actually prove severely injurious to your business.

There is another type of autoresponder called Smart Responders that can prevent all of this. You can import leads that you already have, import purchased leads, manually put in your leads one by one, or provide an email address (like with a simple autoresponder) for lead capture, or even place a sign up form on your website for lead capture (most companies provide a form generator so that all you have to do is copy the html to your web page).

You set up your messages, decide what day (or in how many days) you want your message sent and viola -- you're done! Later, you can take that list and send them all of your promotional messages with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Another nice advantage is the automatic list cleanup. Not only can people automatically sign up, but they can also automatically remove themselves from your list -- a very important benefit to keep you off of a spam list and a requirement for the CAN-SPAM law (the law does not require automatic removal, but that a way is provided to remove that name from your list. Automation is just much less time consuming than manual removal and you'll be sure that it was done before your next message is sent).

Now, all you need is a list of the Smart Responders available to you, their price, and the benefits of each one....

Get Response - Two versions available here (free and a $17.95/mo. pro version). I haven't used this one very much. It seems easy to use, but I haven't tested their support. You can purchase leads from their source and have them added to your list automatically. Otherwise, all leads are double 0pt-in.

Other benefits (of the pro version) include spam check, CAN-SPAM compliance, ability to attach files to your messages, ad tracking, track open rate (how many of each message gets opened), e-mail postcards and more, more, more! If I wasn't already so attached to my other two systems, I would switch everything to this one.

Traffic Wave - This one is my personal favorite. You can try it out for a month for free and they have the best support and training pages. Very easy to use and navigate around. The program is set up so that if you have 3 people under you, then your monthly bill is $0 (otherwise, it's $17.95).

Other benefits is your own FFA page, rotating banner, ad tracking system, spam ch eck, and the ability to make money selling traffic.

The downside? All leads are double opt-in - even if they've been with you for a long time or you purchased them from a reputable company. This is to keep Spam to an all time low. For me, the strengths of this company out-way this one problem.

MailLoop - An automation software for those of you who like to control everything! I purchased the software just to try it out. I LOVE it! It is easy to use and the support is great. They even have video tutorials out for this! It is best to use this software with your ISP's permission - some ISP's will not allow you to use automation software. But if it is cosher with them, this is the best deal for your dollar.

There are more programs and services available than those listed here. These are simply the ones that I know a little bit about from my own research. Whatever company or software program you decide to use, I wish you the best!

Contact Info Sponser Links