Tuesday, May 13, 2008

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!

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Autoresponders and Spam – What You Need To

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!

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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.

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