Email is the perfect vehicle for following up with clients and prospects, but sending email manually to a list of optin subscribers is not only time consuming, but impractical if your mailing list contains more then a few dozen subscribers. And this is and autoresponder can help.



Autorespondes are a special type of software that lets you create a pre-defined series of email messages that are sent to a subscriber automatically in a predefined sequence.

In most cases they work like this: A visitor to your web site will fill in a web form that offers a free report or newsletter. When they do the autoresponder is triggered and the first message in a series of prewritten messages is sent to the subscriber.

Then other messages are follow-ups are sent sequential, are delivered over the course of the specified amount of time, say five to seven days.

You can see how this would be a huge time saver for the busy, often over worked web based entrepreneur.

But before subscribing to an autoresponder service to take advantage of the time savings and marketing efficiency they offer, here are some details you need to check before you hand over your money.

•Does the autoresponder provider you select offer unlimited autoresponders, campaigns and follow ups? The service you choose needs to let you set up as many campaigns as you wish, thus allowing you full control over your marketing efforts.

•How reliable are the? Do they operate enough servers to ensure that your autoresponders respond quickly. Do they have enoght bandwidth to ensure that there are no bottle necks when sending your email?

•What’s their email deliverability rate? Are they blocked or blacklisted with any major ISP’s?

•Do they offer toll-free customer service? This is a must, especially if you are starting out. Make sure that the autoresponder company offers phone support, so that you can call them if there is a problem or if you just need someone guide you through the process if you’re just getting started.

•Up-to-date technology features: Ensure that the autoresponder provider is up to speed in terms of functionality and that the company is improving its product on a regular basis and adding new features to it.

However, do keep in mind that before you can use your autoresponder, you have to prepare the e-mail message that you wish to have sent automatically when someone opts-in to your mailing list.

These messages can be in a plain text format, or html. Some providers even offer html email templates to make your messages look even more professional. Though, the providers that offer templates usually do charge more.

When building your mailing list, it’s a good idea to divide your subscriber mailing lists into four categories: one master list that contains all your subscribers, one for referral partners, one for customer prospects, one for customers. Once a prospect becomes a customer, then they go into the customer list.

To save yourself a ton of time, make sure that your autoresponder provider allows you to automatically move a prospect from the prospect list to the customer list when they purchase from you. Not all providers offer this "subscribe on unsubscribe" feature, but the larger autoresponder providers like do.

Direct marketing evidence shows that most people will not buy from you they first time they see your product, message, or brand – particularly online. The reason being is that the Internet is very impersonal and so customers tend to only buy from sites they trust and that are familiar.

But by using a "smart autoresponders" as they are often called, you are able to build this trust and familiarity since a prospective buyer can receive from one to an unlimited number of follow up messages from you. Over time the prospect learns to trust you provided you are not just spamming them and instead are providing valuable and helpful information.

The bottom line is that autoresponders can and help you boost your customers’ confidence, trust and reinforce your brand. This will automatically translate into more sales for you and thus, more profit.