An autoresponder is a product that gives immediate gratification to both the Internet marketer and to the subscriber. For the Internet marketer, it gives them the ability to be able to contact an individual immediately after they fill out the form on the website. This gives the impression of you being on the ball because of the e-mail being delivered immediately and it also helps you to strike while the iron is hot and get your message in front of them before they go off to another similar website. For the subscriber, it gives them the ability to hear about your product or to learn about you personally without having to take any further steps. The e-mail is in their inbox and they can look at it at their leisure.

For this reason, many people consider autoresponders to be a short-term tactic. The fact of the matter is, however, that it can be a part of your long-term business practices if you do a few things correctly. Of course, the short-term benefits are easy to recognize whenever it comes to the instant delivery of the first message but the long-term benefits may be a bit more difficult to distinguish.

First of all, you need to take into consideration the 20/80 rule. This is the understanding that 20% of the individuals that you contact will make up 80% of your profits. This is especially the case of those that have become customers and are no longer just potential clients. A good auto responders company will make provision for you to be able to move individuals around from list to list. Once an individual signs up for your product and subsequently joins your existing customer list, they should be removed from the potential customer pool. You can then get busy selling them any backend products that you have in place and since they are already customers, many of them will continue to purchase from you.

An autoresponder is also just the first part of the contact with these individuals. Many of the reputable autoresponder companies also give you the ability to contact them in a broadcast message whenever you want. Although it is good to allow the initial autoresponder series to run, you can then move them into a completed list and e-mail those individuals on a regular basis. In this way, you are using your auto responder software as a newsletter software.