Autoresponder Magic

Autoresponders are computer programs or systems that send emails – or a timed series of emails – to your contacts, prospects and clients.

Autoresponders are one of the most powerful yet under-utilised online marketing tools available to small businesses. They allow you to hold “personalised” conversations with hundreds or thousands of individuals, without any effort on your part. As a relationship-building tool, they’re hard to beat.

Autoresponders 101
Autoresponders can send two types of messages – email “followup messages” and “email broadcasts”. “Followup messages” are emails that you load up into a series for sequential delivery to each person who joins your list.

For example, if a prospect requests a PDF Report or White Paper from your website by completing an opt-in form, your autoresponder system will immediately send an email containing a link to the report they requested. One day later, the system automatically sends a “what did you think of the report?” email. Three days after that, an email containing case studies of clients you’ve served is launched.

Your follow-up sequence can be as long as you like and paced at any intervals you like. Most autoresponder systems also have “field merge” options, which allow you to open with personalised salutations such as “Hi John”.

Especially when your product or service is complex, a series of drip-feed emails is a great way to educate your prospects about the solution you offer and how you’re different. In other words, your follow-up messages are functioning in a “pre-sales” role to warm up potential customers before they enquire.

The second type of autoresponder message – the “email broadcast” – is when you compose an email message and send it to your entire list. The humble email newsletter is a well-known example.

By now, you may be starting to sense the power autoresponders put in your hands – to be able to inform, educate, persuade and sell to a potentially unlimited number of prospects and clients in a personalised way, without your direct involvement or ongoing effort.

Selecting the right technology
There are a large number of autoresponder products and systems available and selecting the wrong one is sub-optimal at best and disastrous at worst. One business made the mistake of selecting an unproven supplier and one day the system malfunctioned and emailed every one of their 3,500 subscribers every minute for 3 hours. Needless to say, the business had a lot of hate mail in their inbox the next morning!

That said, there are a number of highly reputable suppliers around and the technology is quite mature.

Here are some questions to ask of any potential supplier:

• How long have you been in business?
• How many clients do you have?
• How do you charge (flat fee or per email?)
Is it a one-off fee or pay-by-the-month?
• What tracking features do you offer?
• Can I import my existing email lists?
• How good is your email deliverability?
• How easy is your system to use?

Tips for maximising your results
So you’ve chosen an autoresponder system – how do you ensure your email campaigns are successful? These tips will help:

1. Get the basics right: send a test email to yourself and check for formatting or spelling mistakes. Also check that the “sender” displays properly to the user – a good format to use is your name followed by your company (e.g. “John Smith | ABC Enterprises”).
2. Write naturally: email is a personal medium, so write as if you’re writing to one person only. The most effective emails tend to contain less “hype” than traditional direct-response web sales letters. Be persuasive, but don’t scream. If recipients start emailing back as if they’ve just received a 1-on-1 email from you, you’ll know you’ve done a good job in this area.
3. Offer value upfront: one of the most valuable commodities in marketing today is “attention”. The onus is on you to prove to your readers you’re worthy of theirs, so ensure you offer good, meaty content and value and don’t simply send out sales pitches in every email.
4. Use personalisation: use personalisation sparingly (for example, in salutations), but don’t overdo it. If you mention the recipient’s name in every paragraph, your emails won’t appear natural.
5. HTML or plain text: most business owners have a preference for graphically-rich HTML emails, but tests have revealed that plain text emails consistently produce better response (perhaps because they look more personal and less “salesy”). A compromise is to send HTML emails that resemble plain text, but with a few embellishments such as bold and italics.
6. Keep it relevant: it pays to remember why users subscribed to your list in the first place and keep the conversation relevant to their initial intent. If your list is about candle making, an email about aromatherapy products is relevant but an email about business coaching is probably too far afield and is likely to trigger complaints and unsubscribe requests.
7. Keep in touch: try to keep your email list “warm” with fresh content at least once every 3 months at the very minimum (once a month or more is preferable). If you neglect your list, don’t be surprised if they don’t recognise you when you eventually resume contact.

Building your email list faster
Simply offering an “email newsletter” on your website and expecting hoards of people to sign up is wishful thinking. Space in your customers’ email inboxes is a scarce resource, so you need to offer plenty of value upfront in order to entice people to join – and stay on – your list.

The easiest way to do this is with a “carrot” such as a report, e-course or downloadable MP3 audio program that recipients can access by joining your list. Concepts that work well are “how to” information and “buyer’s guides” that explain what to look for when purchasing your product or service.

It’s also important to make it as easy as possible for people to sign up. Request a minimum of information upfront (first name and email address are fine) and display a clear privacy policy to reassure people you won’t spam them or sell their personal details.

Advanced autoresponder strategies
Autoresponder strategies can be as sophisticated as you like. For example, when a person on your prospect list makes a purchase, you can automatically remove them from your “prospect” list and add them to your “client” list in order to ensure your emails remain relevant.

With many systems, you can also manage an unlimited number of lists, which allows you to send laser-targeted messages to specific client segments. This not only reduces your unsubscribe rates by ensuring your messages are highly relevant but it increases response at the same time.

Autoresponder etiquette
Anti-spam laws stipulate that you can only send emails to people who specifically request that specific information.

The safest thing is to only send emails to people who specifically “opt in” to your list via a form on your website. It is considered poor form (and is illegal) to add people to your email newsletter if they give you their business card but have not specifically agreed to be added.

Each email should also feature an “unsubscribe” link which allows recipients to easily opt out of your list (almost all systems will include this as a standard feature).

Give autoresponders a try
Autoresponders are an effective and economical way to keep in touch with more prospects and customers in a personalised, relevant and timely fashion. Give them a try and see the results that ongoing drip-feed communication can produce.

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