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There are generally two kinds of autoresponders that most people are familiar with.

The first one is kind of like a "vacation autoresponder" that says "I am out of the office until next Monday. Please contact my assistant if you need to speak with somebody before then".

These are basically just simple autoresponders that reply to emails automatically. In other words, when you send an email to someone that has one of these set up, every email that is sent to that email address triggers a reply.

The other type of autoresponder that we are talking about is the "smart autoresponder". A smart autoresponder is a predefined, preprogrammed, email message that is sent out on a specific schedule based on whenever you set it up to go out to the subscribers on your "opt in" lists.

An autoresponder actually lets you set up multiple campaigns that automatically send out preset emails indefinitely.

For example, in order to find out about any particular product or service in the Internet marketing world, you most likely visited a page that asked you for your email address, and possibly other information like your first name, last name, phone number, etc. In other words, you "opted in" and have basically given the list owner permission to send you email.

You were most likely added to a list - or multiple lists - and were queued to receive a series of pre-written, pre-loaded email sequences. These types of autoresponders are generally designed to help you consume a product, purchase a new product or service, provide value, give sample information, etc. Provided that you see value in whatever that was, the marketer hopes that you ultimately make the decision to purchase the product or service, or whatever it is that is being offered.

The sequence can be as short as one day or it can continue indefinitely depending on the purpose of your autoresponder.

When it comes to autoresponders, you can expect to pay a monthly fee for any reputable services.

With autoresponders, remember you get what you pay for... and you are counting on these services to get your emails delivered. So you don't want to chance it with a free service that has no incentive to keep their list clean - and to get your emails delivered.

Some common uses for an autoresponder:

• Provide new subscribers with your "item of value" that was promised in exchange for their email address (By delivering your item of value this way, you have a better chance of getting a real email address since they won't receive the item with bogus contact information).
• Pre-sell sequence that helps a new subscriber consume the item of value (or a 5-7 day e-course) in order to sell the product or service. Consider giving them snippets of what they can expect to learn in the product when they purchase it. This is great to start building a relationship and condition them to the frequency - and type - of communication. If they don't purchase the product you're offering in your autoresponder sequence, then you may be able to steer them to an affiliate offer.

The best feature of an autoresponder series is that once someone is in it, they're in it until you manually remove them or they unsubscribe. You can add messages at any time and all current subscribers receive them immediately, and they're added tot the sequence so all future subscribers receive them when they reach that point in the series.

To get started using autoresponders, all you really need is the first message! You can add additional messages as you go. So, you don't have to sit down and write/program an entire year's worth of email messages! When you come across something you want to say to that particular segment of your list - or find an evergreen affiliate product or service that you want to market - then simply add the message. From that point forward, anybody that gets to that particular point in your sequence gets the message.

For example, let's say you put something into your sequence on day 37, everybody from this point forward will get that message on the 37th day that they're in your autoresponder.

Author: Heather Seitz

Attention Readers, Publishers, Editors, Bloggers, and Marketers: You may republish or syndicate this article without any charge. The only thing I ask is that you keep the newsletters, article, or blog post exactly as it was written and formatted, with no changes. You must also include full publication attribution and back links as indicated.

This information has been provided by http://www.EmailDelivered.com and written by Heather Seitz. To find out more about email autoresponder, visit http://www.emaildelivered.com/email-delivered/what-is-an-email-autoresponder/. Don’t forget to sign up for the EmailDelivered Pulse newsletter for articles, tips, and recommended resources related to email marketing and email deliverability.

 

April 13, 2011