Improper Uses of Autoresponders
Autoresponders are wonderful! They can be used fora variety of things, but there are several ways that autoresponders should not be used. Using autoresponders in improper ways will make things a bit more difficult for other people, and it could make things really bad for you!
Having one autoresponder respond to another autoresponder creates chaos, and in some cases, it can overload servers. This happens when you sign up for something, using your autoresponder email address. You sign up, and a message is sent to someone else’s autoresponder, which responds to your autoresponder, which responds to that autoresponder – and this continues on and on untilit is manually stopped and straightened out.
Some people use their autoresponder address on purpose when they sign up for discussion lists. In effect, this causes an their autoresponder message to be sent to the entire list, or to one person on the list, each time a person sends a real message to the discussion list. Needless to say, discussion listmembers and owners frown on this practice, and the autoresponder owner gets banned.
Avoid these problems and use your autoresponder in ways that it was meant to be used. Do not use the autoresponder irresponsibly! Not only will you create problems for others, but you may find that you get reported for spam!
Monday 23 June 2008
How Important are Autoresponders to Internet Marketing?
How Important are Autoresponders to Internet Marketing?
Internet Marketing and autoresponders essentially go hand-in-hand. In today’s online business world, you simply cannot succeed at Internet marketing without the use of autoresponders. Autoresponders are used to achieve many of the marketing tasks that are essential to a successful online business.
Internet marketing can be very time consuming. Whether you do affiliate marketing or market your own products, an autoresponder is a big part of your marketing arsenal. Autoresponders are used to keepin contact with your past customers, and to develop a relationship with potential customers.
An autoresponder can be used to deliver sales messages to your opt-in customer list. It can be used to deliver email courses, to send reminders, and even to help you build an opt-in list if you don’t already have one. There are many creative ways you can use your autoresponder to make more sales and to build customer relations.
Any successful marketer will tell you that there are two tools that are vital to any type of online marketing – an opt-in list and an autoresponder. In fact, most marketers will agree that you could take away all of their other marketing tools, but they would fight to the death to keep the list and the autoresponder!
Internet Marketing and autoresponders essentially go hand-in-hand. In today’s online business world, you simply cannot succeed at Internet marketing without the use of autoresponders. Autoresponders are used to achieve many of the marketing tasks that are essential to a successful online business.
Internet marketing can be very time consuming. Whether you do affiliate marketing or market your own products, an autoresponder is a big part of your marketing arsenal. Autoresponders are used to keepin contact with your past customers, and to develop a relationship with potential customers.
An autoresponder can be used to deliver sales messages to your opt-in customer list. It can be used to deliver email courses, to send reminders, and even to help you build an opt-in list if you don’t already have one. There are many creative ways you can use your autoresponder to make more sales and to build customer relations.
Any successful marketer will tell you that there are two tools that are vital to any type of online marketing – an opt-in list and an autoresponder. In fact, most marketers will agree that you could take away all of their other marketing tools, but they would fight to the death to keep the list and the autoresponder!
Getting Your Autoresponder Messages Through The Spam Filters
Getting Your Autoresponder Messages Through The Spam Filters
In light of the spam problem, most email clients nowhave spam filters installed. These filters catch spamemail and either move it to a ‘spam folder’ or automatically delete it. After spending a great deal of time laboring over your series of autoresponder messages, it would be a shame to find out that the majority of the messages that are sent out end up in the spam folder, or are automatically deleted as spam!
You can avoid this in two ways. First, when anyone signs up to receive information from your autoresponder, have them automatically redirected to a page that gives them instructions for ‘white listing’ you. Email clients have an actual white list where the owner of the email client can add specific addresses that should never be considered spam.
The other way to make sure that your autoresponder messages get through the spam filters is to check them using one of the various spam checkers that are available online. These programs are often web based, and free to use. They check your message for words or phrases that commonly trigger spam filters in email clients. Don’t send out any autoresponder messages without doing a spam check first!
In light of the spam problem, most email clients nowhave spam filters installed. These filters catch spamemail and either move it to a ‘spam folder’ or automatically delete it. After spending a great deal of time laboring over your series of autoresponder messages, it would be a shame to find out that the majority of the messages that are sent out end up in the spam folder, or are automatically deleted as spam!
You can avoid this in two ways. First, when anyone signs up to receive information from your autoresponder, have them automatically redirected to a page that gives them instructions for ‘white listing’ you. Email clients have an actual white list where the owner of the email client can add specific addresses that should never be considered spam.
The other way to make sure that your autoresponder messages get through the spam filters is to check them using one of the various spam checkers that are available online. These programs are often web based, and free to use. They check your message for words or phrases that commonly trigger spam filters in email clients. Don’t send out any autoresponder messages without doing a spam check first!
Formatting Autoresponder Messages
Formatting Autoresponder Messages
Have you received emails that were all broken up?
These emails have one or two words on one line,
then eight or ten words on the next line. In some
cases, one word begins on one line and ends on the
next. These emails are very hard to read, and they
appear to be very unprofessional. Is this what you
want your autoresponder email messages to look
like?
If not, you need to learn how to format your
messages. Start by reading the instructions for your
specific autoresponder. Each one operates a bit
differently in the way that it handles text. For
instance, some autoresponder messages will be
messed up if you do put a ‘hard line break’ at the
end of each line, while others will be messed up if
you don’t! Find out what the right option is for your
autoresponder!
Because each email client is different, you should
not allow any line in your message to exceed 65
characters. This will help prevent lines from breaking
up, and it is achieved by hitting the ‘enter’ key at
the end of each sixty-five character line. The best
way to be sure that your autoresponder messages
are delivered in the correct format is to send them
to yourself, before you send them to your list!
Have you received emails that were all broken up?
These emails have one or two words on one line,
then eight or ten words on the next line. In some
cases, one word begins on one line and ends on the
next. These emails are very hard to read, and they
appear to be very unprofessional. Is this what you
want your autoresponder email messages to look
like?
If not, you need to learn how to format your
messages. Start by reading the instructions for your
specific autoresponder. Each one operates a bit
differently in the way that it handles text. For
instance, some autoresponder messages will be
messed up if you do put a ‘hard line break’ at the
end of each line, while others will be messed up if
you don’t! Find out what the right option is for your
autoresponder!
Because each email client is different, you should
not allow any line in your message to exceed 65
characters. This will help prevent lines from breaking
up, and it is achieved by hitting the ‘enter’ key at
the end of each sixty-five character line. The best
way to be sure that your autoresponder messages
are delivered in the correct format is to send them
to yourself, before you send them to your list!
Build Interest With Autoresponder Messages
Build Interest With Autoresponder Messages
If you are using your autoresponder to sell a product or service, you must be very careful as to how you approach your potential customer. Few people like a hard sale, and marketers have known for years that in most cases, a prospect must hear your message an average of seven times before they will make a purchase. How do you accomplish this with autoresponders?
It’s really quite simple, and in fact, the autoresponders make getting the message to your potential customers those seven times possible. On the Internet, without the use of autoresponders, you probably could not achieve that. Too often, marketers make the mistake of literally slamming the potential customer with a hard sales pitch with the first autoresponder message – this won’t work.
You build interest slowly. Start with an informative message – a message that educates the reader in some way on the topic that your product or service is related to. At the bottom of the message, include a link to the sales page for your product. Use that first message to focus on the problem that your product or service can solve, with just a hint of the solution.
Build up from there, moving into how your product or service can solve a problem, and then with the next message, ease into the benefits of your product – giving the reader more actual information with each and every message. Your final message should be the sale pitch – not your first one! With each message, make sure that you are giving the customer information pertaining to the topic – free information! This is what will keep them interested in what you have to say.
This type of marketing is an art. It may take time to get it exactly right. Use the examples that other marketers have set for you. Pay attention to the messages that you receive from other marketers. Start a ‘swap’ file, and keep those messages. Use some of the better sales copy for your own autoresponder messages – just make sure that yours doesn’t turn out to be an exact copy of someone else’s sales message!
Remember not to start with a hard sale. Build your potential customers interest. Keep building on what the problem is, and how your product or service can solve that problem or fill that need. If you are doing this right, by the time the potential customer reads the last message in that series, they will be convinced enough to make a purchase!
If you are using your autoresponder to sell a product or service, you must be very careful as to how you approach your potential customer. Few people like a hard sale, and marketers have known for years that in most cases, a prospect must hear your message an average of seven times before they will make a purchase. How do you accomplish this with autoresponders?
It’s really quite simple, and in fact, the autoresponders make getting the message to your potential customers those seven times possible. On the Internet, without the use of autoresponders, you probably could not achieve that. Too often, marketers make the mistake of literally slamming the potential customer with a hard sales pitch with the first autoresponder message – this won’t work.
You build interest slowly. Start with an informative message – a message that educates the reader in some way on the topic that your product or service is related to. At the bottom of the message, include a link to the sales page for your product. Use that first message to focus on the problem that your product or service can solve, with just a hint of the solution.
Build up from there, moving into how your product or service can solve a problem, and then with the next message, ease into the benefits of your product – giving the reader more actual information with each and every message. Your final message should be the sale pitch – not your first one! With each message, make sure that you are giving the customer information pertaining to the topic – free information! This is what will keep them interested in what you have to say.
This type of marketing is an art. It may take time to get it exactly right. Use the examples that other marketers have set for you. Pay attention to the messages that you receive from other marketers. Start a ‘swap’ file, and keep those messages. Use some of the better sales copy for your own autoresponder messages – just make sure that yours doesn’t turn out to be an exact copy of someone else’s sales message!
Remember not to start with a hard sale. Build your potential customers interest. Keep building on what the problem is, and how your product or service can solve that problem or fill that need. If you are doing this right, by the time the potential customer reads the last message in that series, they will be convinced enough to make a purchase!
Autoresponders – The More You Know, The More Effective They Are
Autoresponders – The More You Know, The More Effective They Are
If you have signed up with an autoresponder service, you need to take the time to read the instructions to learn how to use the service – before you load the first word of your first message! Not knowing how to use the service will lead to many mistakes, and your customers and potential customers will most likely see every mistake you make!
As soon as you have complete the sign up process, load one email address into the autoresponders mailing list – yours. If there is a manual or help file for your autoresponder, read every word of it, and really learn how to use all of the features of the autoresponder.
Work with it, sending messages to your own address, until you know your autoresponder service inside and out! This may take a little time, but after a few hours or so, you should know all that there is to know, and you will be able to set your autoresponders up much more effectively in the future. Taking the time to learn now, will not only save time in the future, it may also help you tweak and tune your autoresponder messages and tracking in a way that increases your responses!
If you have signed up with an autoresponder service, you need to take the time to read the instructions to learn how to use the service – before you load the first word of your first message! Not knowing how to use the service will lead to many mistakes, and your customers and potential customers will most likely see every mistake you make!
As soon as you have complete the sign up process, load one email address into the autoresponders mailing list – yours. If there is a manual or help file for your autoresponder, read every word of it, and really learn how to use all of the features of the autoresponder.
Work with it, sending messages to your own address, until you know your autoresponder service inside and out! This may take a little time, but after a few hours or so, you should know all that there is to know, and you will be able to set your autoresponders up much more effectively in the future. Taking the time to learn now, will not only save time in the future, it may also help you tweak and tune your autoresponder messages and tracking in a way that increases your responses!
Autoresponders and Spam
Autoresponders and Spam – What You Need To Know
There are laws against sending spam. There are even laws that you must adhere to when you send out email that was requested. No matter what type of email you are sending out, the chances are good that the anti-spam laws apply to you in some way.
In order to be in compliance with the anti-spam laws in various states in the US, each commercial email that you send must include your name or business name, your street address, city, state, zip code, and phone number. You must also include instructions that will allow the recipient to remove themselves from your mailing list. If you fail to do any of this, you are essentially breaking the law in various states – no matter what state or country you live in!
Protect yourself from spam complaints in any way that you can. Make sure that when a customer requests any type of information from you that an email is sent requesting confirmation before any other email is sent. If someone is placing an order from you, include a check box on the order form, asking for permission to send them periodic emails.Never use your autoresponder to send unsolicited commercial email!
There are laws against sending spam. There are even laws that you must adhere to when you send out email that was requested. No matter what type of email you are sending out, the chances are good that the anti-spam laws apply to you in some way.
In order to be in compliance with the anti-spam laws in various states in the US, each commercial email that you send must include your name or business name, your street address, city, state, zip code, and phone number. You must also include instructions that will allow the recipient to remove themselves from your mailing list. If you fail to do any of this, you are essentially breaking the law in various states – no matter what state or country you live in!
Protect yourself from spam complaints in any way that you can. Make sure that when a customer requests any type of information from you that an email is sent requesting confirmation before any other email is sent. If someone is placing an order from you, include a check box on the order form, asking for permission to send them periodic emails.Never use your autoresponder to send unsolicited commercial email!
Autoresponders and Shopping Cart Integration
Autoresponders and Shopping Cart Integration
When people place orders through your website, it is always a good idea to immediately acknowledge the purchase. One way to do this is with the use of an autoresponder that can be integrated with your shopping cart. In fact, many shopping carts that are available today have their own autoresponders built into the system.
When you set up your autoresponder to send a message to someone that has placed an order, there are several things that should be included in the message. This is an opportunity to ‘speak’ to your customer, and to let them know about other deals that you have or special items that you have available. You should not miss this opportunity.
Do not try to get your ‘thank you’ sales message on the same autoresponder as the customers email receipt. Putting the sales message on an email that is automatically sent to grant the customer access to their purchase is also a bad idea – that would go better with the receipt. Make sure your ‘thank you’ sales message is a message that is sent out all by itself, so your customer can focus solely on that!
Thank the customer for their recent purchase. Tell them how much their purchase will help them, and then tell them about other available products that work well with the one that they just purchased, or that are similar to the one that they just purchased in some way. For instance hair conditioner works with hair shampoo. Vacuum cleaner bags or carpet powder works well with vacuum cleaners. Just let them know about the various products that you offer that will compliment their purchase in some way.
The important thing is to not let your customer get away without further contact! Think about being in a brick and mortar store. When you go up to the counter to pay, there are many items there for sale. These items are meant to be picked up as last minute purchases, or impulsive purchases. Your ‘thank you’ sales letter serves the same purpose.
Don’t make the mistake of bombarding your customer! You can usually send them periodic information about your specials after they have made a purchase through you, but emailing them on a daily basis with your offers is not good business! Use your autoresponder responsibly! Make sure that your autoresponder is set up to handle automatic remove requests, and make sure that the information that you are sending your customers is of value to them.
When people place orders through your website, it is always a good idea to immediately acknowledge the purchase. One way to do this is with the use of an autoresponder that can be integrated with your shopping cart. In fact, many shopping carts that are available today have their own autoresponders built into the system.
When you set up your autoresponder to send a message to someone that has placed an order, there are several things that should be included in the message. This is an opportunity to ‘speak’ to your customer, and to let them know about other deals that you have or special items that you have available. You should not miss this opportunity.
Do not try to get your ‘thank you’ sales message on the same autoresponder as the customers email receipt. Putting the sales message on an email that is automatically sent to grant the customer access to their purchase is also a bad idea – that would go better with the receipt. Make sure your ‘thank you’ sales message is a message that is sent out all by itself, so your customer can focus solely on that!
Thank the customer for their recent purchase. Tell them how much their purchase will help them, and then tell them about other available products that work well with the one that they just purchased, or that are similar to the one that they just purchased in some way. For instance hair conditioner works with hair shampoo. Vacuum cleaner bags or carpet powder works well with vacuum cleaners. Just let them know about the various products that you offer that will compliment their purchase in some way.
The important thing is to not let your customer get away without further contact! Think about being in a brick and mortar store. When you go up to the counter to pay, there are many items there for sale. These items are meant to be picked up as last minute purchases, or impulsive purchases. Your ‘thank you’ sales letter serves the same purpose.
Don’t make the mistake of bombarding your customer! You can usually send them periodic information about your specials after they have made a purchase through you, but emailing them on a daily basis with your offers is not good business! Use your autoresponder responsibly! Make sure that your autoresponder is set up to handle automatic remove requests, and make sure that the information that you are sending your customers is of value to them.
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