If you've ever asked for information online about a product or service, or signed up for an email list or a group membership on the Internet, or you have received a nearly instantaneous response when you email someone from a website, an autoresponder program was responsible for delivering the reply.

To put it in simple terms, an autoresponder is an email based program set up to send out a predetermined message response or series of responses to every email that comes in to a particular address, or in response to input from a form submitted on a website. Some autoresponders, such as email list sign-ups may initially be single shot responses. Others may set up a sequence of responses over days, weeks or months. Nearly every internet business uses autoresponders for a variety of different reasons. Automating jobs that might otherwise take up excessive work hours as well as for building and maintaining customer and lead lists.

The autoresponder can be programmed to send a series of emails on a timed basis to the person who filled out and submitted the form. For example, this type of multiple autoresponder can shoot out an instant response, followed by another email the next day, another 3 days later, another the next week and so on for as long as the owner wishes the messages to keep going out. This can be set up for whatever intervals best suit the goals of the owner.

Autoresponders are the most powerful Internet marketing tools available. They are easy to use, and once they're set up the entire marketing process is automated and instant. When you use autoresponders, your Internet business runs itself 24 hours a day. Launching an effective autoresponder campaign can mean the difference between a struggling business and a wildly successful one.

How do I use an autoresponder to make money?

Almost every business can benefit from employing autoresponders. With a properly set up campaign, a new internet business can be based around an autoresponder program. Just find a product to sell and build an effective set of messages to send out and you can have your own business growing on autopilot within hours.

Your autoresponder can be your own personal money tree. A tool that, if used correctly, can be more effective at making sales than any form of advertising. Internet customers usually want information, and a lot of it, before they buy something. Being able to communicate with your customers repeatedly without having to do repetitious work can send your sales skyrocketing.