Why You Need an Autoresponder

By Guest Blogger JR Griggs

Whether you are a Blogger, Internet Marketer or a Business, you need an autoresponder. Whenever I mention email autoresponders I always get that weird look from people and the question of why they would need it.

So I want to clear up what it is and why it is needed.

What is an Autoresponder?

First, let me define what an autoresponder is. I use Aweber (affiliate link) to handle my autoresponder service. What this does is allows me to place a form on my site that asks a visitor to give me at least their name and email. This is done normally in exchange for something.

This can be a newsletter, a coupon, a free gift etc… Once they give you the name and email they automatically get sent their gift.

Then that person can start to receive emails that you setup automatically, as many as you want. These emails deliver a message that you feel that person should be receiving to either market or inform. Plus you can send emails to the entire email list that you build when you have announcements or specials etc..

So what can you do with it?

Auto Marketing

First, I like to look at an auto responder as “auto marketing”. For some of you I just said the “M” word! Marketing is not a dirty word! It is all around you, you do it every day!

I recently was told that I should not tell people that I am in marketing because it scares people. If you are scared by marketing, then I can’t help you. It is essential to the survival of any business, and the success of any individual. You have to market yourself throughout your entire life.

With an autoresponder you can set up small email messages that are automatically sent at intervals you determine. These can be used to market your product to the customer or your business.

This person has taken an interest in what you have to offer and now you have a chance to automatically market to them on a daily basis if you wish.

Auto Informing

You can also look at an autoresponder as “auto informing”. Sometimes marketing may not be the right term. Informing may fit better. An autoresponder is a great way to give someone more information about you, your products or your company.

Sometimes that little bit of extra information can go a long way in building trust. An autoresponder can do that for you. One of my business clients is an appliance service. We set up the auto responder to send out 3 initial emails that teach the customer tips on how to maintain their home appliances.

In this case he is not necessarily marketing but is informing the customer in order to build trust.

Auto Retaining

Another great way to use an auto responder is for “auto retaining”. This is the area that most businesses fail at. They spend so much of their efforts trying to bring in new customers. They forget that retaining the current customers is much cheaper.

You can send out short emails thanking them for their loyalty. Offer discounts to customers on the list. Ask for referrals. There are many ways to use an autoresponder to retain current customers.

Auto Communicating

The bottom line is that an autoresponder can “auto communicate” for you. That is the most important thing. It captures leads and communicates whatever message you want to them.

An autoresponder can be the difference between a shopper and a buyer. Once they have filled out that form they have told you that they are interested in a service or product you have.

They willingly gave you their information and if you use it wisely you can gain not just a customer but hopefully a lifetime customer.

The most important thing with the autoresponder is to make sure that you have a call to action at the end of each email. Whether it is to buy something, visit the site or even just to reply to the email.

An autoresponder can be huge for a business or even if you are just trying to get information out!