SolveYourProblem
Article Series: Opt In Email
Create an Effective Opt-In Email List: Autoresponders
An autoresponder is the dream-come-true
of every business that wants to optimize their return for
the least work. What does an autoresponder do? Exactly what
the name suggests, it automatically responds to opt in forms
completed and programmed or emailed in to it. The largest
time involvement is setting the system up and creating up
to date newsletters and promotions that the autoresponder
will then send out to your mailing list.
First, you offer the public a bonus or free service for
signing up for their newsletter. You can do this through
pop-ups although they are not as effective as they once were
due to the number of systems with pop-up killers.
The respondents sign up for your email list and receive
the free information emails that were previously written
and are ready to go.
Using the autoresponder, and this can be either a program
or a service, the email addresses are programmed in and the
system then begins to send out emails for your in a time
frame that you have designed. This time frame can be as fast
or as slow as your particular offer requires, and can include
everything from sales brochures and special offers to regular
newsletters and holiday emails.
The best part is that each email can be personalized by
the autoresponder to give the recipient that warm, fuzzy
feeling that normally only comes through from a personal
email. Because the autoresponder never sleeps, never forgets,
and keeps a record of what has been sent, new names can be
added in at any time.
Going even a step farther, a custom program of emails can
be designed for respondents depending on how they filled
in the opt-in form. If they change their opt in answers at
a later date, they can be automatically switched to a different
program of emails to take that change into account.
All this serves to increase your contacts with your lead
list with a minimal amount of effort. Since every contact
increases awareness of your company and product, you are,
in effect, building your business twenty-four hours a day.
So, how do you choose an autoresponder program or service?
There are many available on the Internet but before shopping
you will need to know what to consider.
You will want to be able to access your opt-in lead list
from different computers and probably various locations so
software should be web-based.
Bounce back emails will need to be addressed so make sure
the program can handle them. How they do it can be programmed
by you.
Some leads will want email in an HTML format and others
will require text messages so be sure that the program can
do both.
Save yourself a lot of trouble by making sure the program
can handle both subscribe and unsubscribe requests. Programs
that can do this should come with the HTML for needed for
your web site subscribers.
Customization of emails to subscribers should be a mandatory
requirement. Addition of personalization, including name
and other pertinent information, is what will put your email
ahead of others.
Finally, you will to have certain email responses flagged
for sales staff to begin to work with. Having the system
forward emails with specific responses directly to a salesperson
can do this. This is so that contacts can be made and a sale
closed.
Once your system is set up you will need to monitor it for
a time to make sure the parameters are properly adjusted
and that emails are going out, as they should.
Another option is to let a service handle it all. You just
tell them what you want and let them set it all up for you.
You only have to design the newsletters and flyers and provide
the information to the service. Some services will even,
with a bit of information from you and some previous newsletters
for examples, design newsletters and emails for you.
If you decide not to handle the auto response yourself and
go with a service, use the same criteria to choose a service
and you would use to choose a program.
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