An
autoresponder is useful for, well, responding
to people who send you inquiries through email.
They are actually more than just merely useful
- they are an essential tool in any webmaster's
toolbox. Used properly, they can enhance your
visitors experience and virtually guarantee
that they will come back time after time. Used
improperly, they annoy people and push them
away from ever coming back. What distinguishes
proper from improper use? People should receive
messages when they would normally expect to
receive messages. Here are some examples:
•
Proper: I expect to get a thank you message
after signing a guestbook. I should only receive
one message. Improper: adding my email to your
mailing list because I sign your guestbook.
•
Proper: I also expect to get a message if I
use a form on a website to send a message to
the webmaster. This verifies to me that it is
indeed more than likely to get to the intended
person. Improper: again, adding my email address
to your mailing list.
•
Proper: If I sign up for your newsletter I expect
a thank you email and, of course, the newsletter.
Improper: Adding my email to anything other
than the mailing list which I asked to be added
to. Also, sending anything other than the newsletter
is generally improper although an occasional
status email is acceptable. Never send separate
advertisements unless it is clearly spelled
out on the newsletter signup page.
•
Proper: Following your written privacy policy
to the letter in regards to how the email address
(and other information) is to be used, and to
summarize that information on the page where
it is asked for. You should also have a link
to the privacy policy on every single page of
your web site. Improper: Not having a written
privacy policy and asking for information. Not
explaining how the information is to be used
on the page where it is asked for. Not following
your written policies.
•
Proper: Including autoresponder links on your
website to deliver articles and information
to an email box. Improper: Using these links
to add email addresses to your mailing list.
•
Proper: If you make articles available for reprint,
it is always a good idea to include autoresponder
links to make it easy for publishers to get
those articles in a suitable format. Improper:
Using these autoresponder links to add people
to your mailing list.
•
Proper: Allow visitors to sign up for an email
course using an autoresponder. Improper: Adding
email addresses obtained in this manner to your
mailing list.
•
Proper: Follow up for an order or other communication.
For example, a "did you receive your order okay?"
message a few days after the order was taken
is excellent customer service. Improper: Sending
more than an acknowledgement and follow up message.
The person ordered something, he did not ask
to be on your mailing, advertisement or nag
list. I am sure you see a major common thread
in all of this - don't add people to your mailing
list unless (a) you tell them you are doing
to, (b) you give them the chance to say "no",
and (c) they explicitly give their permission.
NEVER assume your visitor wants to be added
to your mailing list - make him explicitly ask
by filling out a form, checking a box (off by
default) or some other similar means.
Autoresponders
have some excellent uses:
•
As an acknowledgement or thank you for something.
•
As a way to get something delivered in email
form (reprint publishers love this method of
obtaining articles).
•
As a way to deliver a series of something (like
an email course) to someone. One use of autoresponders
that drives me crazy (and ensures that I will
never return to that site) is common with contests.
Let say I sign up to try and win a million dollars.
I try and of course I don't win. Now I get these
silly reminder messages for the rest of time,
telling me in all manners that I've won, or
almost won, or could win, or might win ... I
usually hit delete a few times, then quickly
unsubscribe. All right, so now you know how
to use and not to use autoresponders. So where
do you get them? They are available all over
the internet. If your site is hosted on a paid
host , you may find that they offer unlimited
autoresponders. If so, take advantage of them.
These are generally single-message autoresponders.
GetResponse
has an excellent autoresponder service. They
offer a limited function free version, and one
of the most functional paid versions that exist.
Their prices are reasonable and the autoresponders
always seem to work perfectly.
AWeber
has another excellent autoresponder service.
Of course, any good guestbook package has the
ability to send a customizable message to the
signer. Good forms packages also include this
ability. Now, what do you put into an autoresponder
messages? Whatever you said or implied you would,
plus some ticklers to try and get your visitors
to come back to your site. Thus, if you send
back a thank you message for signing a guestbook,
you can also include a short list of some of
the other features available on your website.
Perhaps a small article or even a link to a
"free gift" for signing the guestbook.
Remember, don't make the two mistakes of autoresponders.
First, do not waste your opportunity. You are
sending a person a message which he asked for
or expects, so be sure to include more than
just "thanks for signing my gustbook". At least
put the URL of your site, and include a paragraph
about it. Second, do not abuse your opportunity,
as that will just get the message deleted. I've
found it is generally NOT a good idea to put
blatant advertisements in these messages, especially
for pay-to-surf, MLM or affiliates. Why not?
I believe these things are best left to your
website or to a newsletter or ezine specifically
tailored for them. A major exception is in a
newsletter itself, as, like magazines and newspapers,
advertisements are expected in order to cover
the costs of the publication.
In summary, autoresponders are an excellent
tool which all webmasters would be wise to use
to their advantage. Just be sure to use them
properly.
About The Author Richard Lowe Jr. is the
webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This
website includes over 1,000 free articles to
improve your internet profits, enjoyment and
knowledge. Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net
Weekly newsletter: http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm
Analysing
Autoresponders
By
Seamus Dolly
An
autoresponder is an automatic or software-mailing
program. Why would you want that? Because whoever
you are, you don't have enough time, and an
autoresponder will maximise your time potential.
Go to sleep and have a software servant take
care of business. Once configured, it will store,
send and reply. That's just great, but is that
it? No. Depending on the price and particular
program, autoresponders will vary with respect
to function, usability, and features. Free autoresponders
are commonly available but can run in advertisements,
as well as the information that you wish to
send. That is not a completely repulsive concept,
given the price, and as good a way to experiment
with an autoresponder, as any.
Anyone
wishing to access specific information can mail
to a specific autoresponder address, but the
primary difference is that an autoresponder
is not a person, but a delivery mechanism for
a person, with no regard for the location, state
of awareness, or other demeanour of such a person.
That email that you can get with “Dear friend”
as an opening, is likely to be the work of an
autoresponder, where “first name capture” (a
variable, with better ones), has failed to capture
your first name by default. “Friend” is then
chosen as an alternative. You see, a good one
can be set up or configured to react to various
situations. Should you want to publish a newsletter
on frogs, you can choose to load in that information
into your autoresponder. Even better though
is a choice to break your information into parts,
and send it at pre-determined timed intervals.
Part
one immediately, part two in a few days, and
like wise for the rest of the course. It has
even become normal to have autoresponders loaded
with a years worth of information. In other
words, you can load it with an entire course
and forget about it for a year. New subscribers
(or their email addresses ) can be automatically
added to a database, and send the course in
any sequence, but usually starting at the beginning.
An
autoresponder can contain the address of another
autoresponder, and trigger-off its information
and cycle, when mailed to. A different course
on “Interesting Frog Soups”, for example, can
be initiated this way. The possibility and potential
can be almost endless, once you get a feel for
them. An autoresponder address will look similar
to any normal email address except that it might
contain a product/course or site name, instead
of an individual’s name. It will always contain
the “@” symbol, within it, as it is essentially,
mail. Example:
frogsoupcourse@whatever.dotcom. Anti-spam laws
can vary from location to location, but “double
opt-in”, will provide some protection from allegations.
The logic behind this is that I could subscribe
you to something, by having your email address,
and you may have no knowledge of the subscription.
Until you get the course! You might not want
it, and that is more or less spam, or abuse
of your email address. The autoresponder can
send a confirmation email to the address used
for the subscription, and go some way in establishing
that it is really you. While I can have your
email address, it is or should be, unlikely
that I’d know your password to access such a
mailbox. Extra precautions are often taken,
like Time, Date, and I.P. stamping. Anything
really that you think will protect your good
name from allegations, whether false, mistaken,
or deliberate, will be a plus.
Should
you need to experiment, then typing anything
like "free autoresponder" into your favourite
search engine, will give you enough choice at
an universally affordable cost. Upgrading to
a paid version gives more control on its information
and outgoing links, so the rest is down to your
sales copy ability and strategies. A recognised
starting point is to "wrap" sentence length
or basically make them appear visually shorter,
rather than an actual sentence shortening exercise.
Given the amount of information that is currently
in circulation, the reader would have to be
extremely interested in a topic, to maintain
such an interest, which is not always the case.
If it is difficult to read, then all is lost.
Incidentally, books use/used similar techniques
to ease the reading experience, by altering
the distance between words. In other words,
the typical distance between characters would
be increased where applied to the distance between
words. One and a half to twice, would be typical
and if you pick up a book, then you may notice
it. While this is a feature of modern word processors,
a similar result is achieved by wrapping the
sentences, in an autoresponder context.
Reading long sentences with few paragraphs,
is best left to the Medical, Scientific and
Legal communities. Any way that you look at
it, an autoresponder will compliment your time,
marketing and online business.
Seamus Dolly is at http://www.CountControl.com
What
Good Is An AutoResponder?
By
Richard Lowe, Jr.
A
term that confuses just about everyone is "autoresponder".
When I mention that to friends or associates,
they almost always reply with a blank stare,
a "what the heck is that", or "I don't like
those at all". Even though the concept is very
simple, autoresponders are very, very powerful
if properly used.
Okay,
here's the short answer: an autoresponder is
an automatic response. More precisely, they
are an automatic email sent to someone in response
to some action. Still confused? All right, in
their simpliest form an autoresponder is just
an email acknowledging a guestbook signing,
a comment or something like that. I'm sure just
about everyone who has been on the internet
for any amount of time and done anything has
received quite a few of these.
You
can get more complex with autoresponders. A
good autoresponder package will allow you to
send more than one email at specific intervals.
They will even allow those emails to include
custom information such as names, dates, time
and so on. Understand? Now, what the heck are
they good for? Well, every webmaster wants to
get people to not only visit his site, but to
come back time and again. Repeat visitors are
the most valuable visitors. In addition, if
you are selling something, the classic wisdom
is it takes more than one exposure to an ad
to make a purchase - usually the number mentioned
is seven! Those simple thank you messages for
signing a guestbook are actually critically
important. You see, a visitor has stopped by
your site and left you a message. Not only are
you thanking him, but you are doing so later,
after he has left your site. This means he will
be reminded of his visit, and perhaps visit
again.
He
may save the email because he wants to remember
the URL or some other information. If you advertise
something in this thank you message, your visitor
gets to see it. Of course, sending messages
later is even better.
If you can send, say, a message immediately,
one a day later, one a week later and perhaps
one a month later, you are doing great. Don't
overwhelm them, just send them something useful
and remind them of your site or product or whatever.
Oh yeah, always, always give your recipient
a way to opt-out of the stream of messages (unless
you are only sending a single message, of course).
Most
good autoresponder packages will do this for
you. A final note: this is the important part
so listen closely. This is all done AUTOMATICALLY.
This means you, the webmaster, are communicating
constantly with your visitors without lifting
a finger. Whatever message you are attempting
to deliver is made a hundred times more powerful
by these simple techniques.
About The Author Richard Lowe Jr. is the
webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets. This
website includes over 1,000 free articles to
improve your internet profits, enjoyment and
knowledge. Web Site Address: http://www.internet-tips.net
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