The ABC’s of Autoresponders

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The most important tool for any business?

Of course, I’m talking about autoresponders. Autoresponders allow you to communicate

consistently and regularly with your readers Used to their full potential, they will help you turn

visitors into subscribers, subscribers into customers, and customers into evangelists

And this all happens on autopilot!

You just set up a series of emails (an “autoresponder series”) and the

software will merrily pump out your messages at a pre-arranged time or

with a set frequency (every other day, day 2 three days after day 1,

etc.)

And that’s it really, simple!

Here’s an example from my Women’s Way To Wealth “Kick Start

Your Home Business” autoresponder series

Keep it simple with tried and tested systems

Two of the most popular autoresponders are Aweber and Icontact I personally use Aweber (have done from day 1) and I love

its flexibility Icontact offers an almost identical service which I find

slightly clunkier for set-up and list management, but the email templates are wonderful and allow even the smallest business to send out eye-catching and professional looking emails

Both Aweber and Icontact charge ($19 a month last time I checked, after the $1 trial has finished) so you may like to try the excellent free service from

MailChimp

If you’re just starting out Mail Chimp has everything you need to

get started, and it’s free for the first 2000 subscribers

Getting the most from your autoresponder

Whichever system you use, the key to autoresponders is getting your message right

There are a number of approaches to take and I would suggest you try all of them

All of the autoresponder companies allow you to split test your messages, so you can choose to send message A to one group and message B to another, and see how the responses vary

Then, do more of whichever one works

Again, not rocket science but it does take some thought and a bit of work

on the front end

The ultimate Autoresponders series?

I have always used the approach of asking people to opt-in to my list in exchange for an e-series

Make your series as long or short as you like, 5-day, 6-week or 12-step email series

Rather than start with a blank piece of paper, which can be quite daunting, I suggest taking an article you’ve written, or an e-book, and split the main points into 4,6 or 12 steps

Then make each step or chapter the subject for one day’s emailThat way, subscribers will eagerly await the next instalment to

complete the training or series

Or try this instead?

Another option which I’ve used successfully on my blogs is to take a piece of paper and write down 10 reasons why someone should buy from you

Have a real brainstorming session and come up with 10 real benefits (not features) for how what you offer will help someone or offer real value

If you can, bounce your 10 benefits off a friend or colleague and see if they’re strong selling points

Or try this instead?

Then turn each benefit into a short, pithy, email Give each one a bold and compelling subject line and hey

presto, you have a strong and compelling autoresponder series

Make sure every email contains links to your site, not your homepage every time but to articles and blog posts relevant to the benefit you’re selling

That way, every email your readers receive will give them another

reason to visit your site and see first-hand the value you bring

Provide enough value and you’ll soon build some serious traffic and your subscribers will take your site

viral

An hour’s work for years of benefit

So, go and make yourself a coffee and start scribbling down ideas and benefits on a piece of paper

If the list evolves over time, just add another email to the autoresponder series

Your readers will love it if you’re providing real valueOnce the series is set-up you can move on to other things and let the

autoresponder system do the work It will keep pumping out your emails forever and many people make

money on autopilot from having a great autoresponder series

Take your autoresponder series to the next level

If you want to take things up a level you can look at including affiliate

links in your autoresponder messages

That way you can make money from early on, even as you build your

traffic

However, make sure you include useful information and not just a

series of sales emails

That will kill your traffic faster than anything

Another option is to create a longer-term series by providing a

regular newsletter

This is a major commitment though so don’t start it unless you’re

absolutely committed to it, and sure you can continue with it for the long-

term

Otherwise, again, you can lose credibility if you promise your

readers something and fail to deliver

Have you found this article useful? Please share it with others (thank

you!)

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