How To Turn Leads Into Sales With Autoresponders

It is an established fact that autoresponders can boost sales. Customers tend to buy, and buy more, from people they are familiar with. But as the web is a faceless arena, how do you create familiarity then? The answer is an autoresponders. After a customer has answered to your advert or notice on the web, you can create a situation of familiarity automatically with auto responders to convert that initial response to a sale. After all that’s what businesses exist to do.

The safest technique is to follow up the initial enquiry or interest with enticing messages. Customers usually need more information or confidence to buy.

In this regards, you will have to put your autoresponders to work.

This is how it goes:

You set up autorespnders to send three pre-sell messages to the prospective customer who has expressed interest in your product. In the initial follow-up letter, you don’t need to say much else the interest will wane right away. Customers rarely tolerate hard sales approach.

Rather be brief and emphasize the importance, uniqueness or cost effectiveness of your product or service. Remember that, this letter is supposed to encourage the reader to buy without going much into service or product specifications.

On the second day, the autoresponders will have to send a second letter. This one should be explanatory and particularly – particularly – mention why the customer needs to buy and the benefits he will derive from such a purchase. Make sure you have stated the price, quantity, terms of shipping, taxes and after sales support in clear, common English language. Avoid technical jargons which may need a lot of interpretations. You want your clients to buy quickly and not refer to encyclopedias before understanding terms you have used.

The third letter from the autoresponders can be sent about a week or later from the date the second one was sent. In this letter, you suggest to the reader that perhaps he was unable to respond due to busy schedule, meetings, etc. The purpose of tgis letter is to rekindle his interest or remind him of your offer. Now, do not repeat the same things you said in your previous letter. Rather take a different perspective to present your product or service.

If the third letter from the autoresponders fails to yield any response, then stretch the timing of the next letter to a month. If the reader sees your letter regularly and one day decides to purchase the product, you will be the first he turns to as he would have by now accumulated a lot of info about the product to make a decision. Perhaps more importantly, you would have created the familiarity needed by people to build trust and confidence.

It may have to be understood that not all autoresponders can accomplish the task we have enumerated above. The functions we have alluded to in the article can best be handled by a professional auto responder such as the ones found at http://www.aceresponse.com/ These are high grade autoresponders with excellent facilities for designing the letters, setting the timing and even performing other auto pilot duties.

So that is how autoresponders can do the job of a salesman for you – all at the click of a mouse. You don’t need extensive knowledge to be able to put this sales generating method into practice. Neither do you need to know about html. You simple knowledge about websites and email is all you need to get the power out of this tool.

Article was written by Chad Cook

About The Author Chad Cook has been doing email marketing since 2000. You can learn more about his autoresponder Tips & Tricks at: http://www.aceresponse.com/AutoResponder_Tips.pdf For more of Chad's Internet marketing tips, tools, news, articles, and resources, visit: http://www.aceresponse.com/ articles@ultra-webfusion.com

Autoresponder Course : The Automated Marketing Tool

Autoresponders, also known as mailbots, automatic email and email on demand were derived from the very popular fax on demand and designed to automatically respond to any email message it receives with an automatic response. Autoresponder programs vary from software set up to run with your desktop email program and automatically answer your incoming email to a script that runs on your server. The script may run a Web-based autoresponder system that utilizes a web page form, or it may run with your pop email account on your server. It is programmed to automatically send out a predetermined message when a message is received to a specified script address or email address.

In addition to the standard autoresponder systems, there are also autoresponders that can send an unlimited amount of follow-up messages. These follow up messages can be set up to automatically be sent out at predetermined intervals. In other words, you can set up your autoresponder to automatically send out a new message each day for as many days as you would like.

This powerful technology is currently being used by some of the top online marketers to reach thousands of potential customers. As you may know, it may take up to seven contacts with a potential customer before closing a sale. By setting up an autoresponder and offering a free autoresponder course, you can completely automate a portion of your marketing efforts.

The first step in creating an autoresponder course is to decide upon a subject. Your course should focus on a subject in which you have a great deal of knowledge and target your potential customers.

Once you have selected your subject, you'll need to make a list of topics. Each topic will represent one lesson. If you have five topics, then you can offer your visitors a free 5-day course. If you have ten topics, then you can offer your visitors a free 10-day course and so on.

Separate each of your topics into course lessons. Your first lesson should welcome your subscriber to your course and explain a little bit about what they are going to learn, followed by the first lesson.

The key to creating a successful autoresponder course is to provide quality information that will be of interest to your target audience. Each daily topic must contain valuable information or your reader may decide to unsubscribe. In addition, make sure you include information in regard to your course such as the lesson number, lesson title, information about your products or services and highlights of the next lesson.

Your course should identify a problem, provide advice in regard to solving the problem and provide the solution with your products or services. Keep in mind, your course should not be written like a sales letter. It must provide quality information written to teach and inform.

After you've written your course, you'll need to transfer your text into an autoresponder. You can find free follow-up autoresponders here:

http://www.getresponse.com/ and http://www.fastfacts.net/

Sign up for a follow-up autoresponder and follow their instructions in regard to setting it up.

Once you've gotten your autoresponder set up, your final step will be to place your course information on your web site. This will include a description of your course and a mailto link to your autoresponder.

By offering your visitors a free autoresponder course, you are not only providing them with a great service, but you are also automating a portion of your marketing efforts. This form of free advertising can increase your sales considerably.

I hope this helps in your future marketing decisions.

About The Author David Bell http://www.wspromotion.com/ Advertising research and development center

Autoresponders: Ease Your Life

What every small business operator always lacks is time. Sometimes lack of time leads to inefficiency, what in its turn, leads to business failure even if you have plenty of financial resources.

That is why there are so many programs designed to automate every business step starting from sign up process and ending with processing online payments.

Autoresponders play a special part. At the dawn of their usage they greatly assist in solving the most time-consuming business task that is customer support. Nowadays there are other ways of how autoresponder can help with your everyday routine tasks. Below are the most common tasks where autoresponder fully reveal its potential:

1. Customer support;
   
2. Singup/unsubscription procedures;
   
3. Timely delivered emails;
   
4. Electronic materials on request;
   

Response tracking.

The usage of autoresponder as a customer support is based on the topic your customer interests in. Whether it is problems with program installation, billing or general question, it will reply with pre-written answers the same moment email was received from customer.

In very basic way autoresponder can simply notify customer/visitor that his/her inquiry was received and will be answered within 24 hours.

Subscription/unsubscription is also usually required instant notification. The majority of existed mailing scripts have an automatic notification feature, still in its basis it is the same old autoresponder.

Ezine or newsletter subscription is not the only process where autoresponder can give you a hand. They help in many cases with all sorts of email notifications of successful sale, accepted inquiry, thanking for completing the survey and many other cases.

Next way of autoresponder usage proved to earn huge income to many online entrepreneurs. Timely delivered follow up emails that are based on autoresponder are widely recognized as a must-have marketing strategy. The theory behind claims that biggest customer response is gained at 8th contact only. That is why business owners setup a follow up autoresponder sequence that, when signup for, starts emailing pre-written messages on specified time basis - daily, every other day, weekly, biweekly etc, generating the biggest possible response rate on complete autopilot, without any need of owner interference.

Email courses are small variation of previous strategy. They were designed to educate interested people, work the same way as product follow-ups do, still serving as a perfect marketing tool for generating subscribers, customers without any hassle.

Publications on request play another important role. It may be articles, reports, brochures, schemes, ebooks, audio, video files, any electronic media may be emailed in the body of the email message or as an attachment to every person immediately on their request and to an email box they considered to be the fastest to download from, presumably, ISP's.

As strange as it may seem, autoresponder may be used for tracking response rate as well. For instance, by putting slightly different autoresponder email addresses on different web-pages you can easily count how many requests came from each page, testing which web-page generates the biggest interest.

To track ezine advertisement response you will also have to setup a different autoresponders for each ezine you plan to run your advert in. At the end you will see how many people each ezine has sent you and generated the biggest income.

Dominating majority of web-hosting plans, offered today on the Internet market, come with simple, usually unlimited, email autoresponders. That means they can help in 4 main cases that we have discussed above, except for timely delivered emails. That is because they imply one-time reply email, so you can setup (1) customer support emails, (2) subscription notifications to both your subscriber and yourself, (4) publications on request, (5) response tracking, but (3) timely delivered emails like email follow-ups or courses.

In order to offer automatic, say, weekly, email courses you will have to look for:

1. custom autoresponder internet application (script);
   
2. 3rd party autoresponder providers.
   

The rule of thumb is to know your needs and resources. First choice is preferable if you know what FTP and CGI mean or have someone with basic knowledge of how scripts are setup, want to install it once and forever, have time and money to make one-time investment. You can even try to find free script that in some cases may be even quicker to setup than sign up for some 3rd party service.

Autoresponder service, provided by independent Internet company, is easier for new comers as all technical stuff will be hidden, leaving simple web-interface to manage your autoresponders. For such convenience Internet companies will charge you on monthly or yearly basis, although there are free so-called adware autoresponders available.

In general you can find discounted all-in-one services, hosting offers or mailing lists coming with follow-up autoreponders and allowing you to save money.

About The Author Pavel Lenshin is a devoted Internet entrepreneur, founder of ASBONE.com, where you can find everything to make your business prosper. Discounted Internet services, FREE ebooks http://ASBONE.com/ebooks/ FREE reports http://ASBONE.com/reports/ info@asbone.com

Autoresponder Tips

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 (such as Addr.com), you may find that they offer unlimited autoresponders. If so, take advantage of them. These are generally single-message autoresponders.

GetResponse.com 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.Com 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 Claudia Arevalo-Lowe is the webmistress of Internet Tips And Secrets and Surviving Asthma. Visit her site at http://survivingasthma.com

How To Create An Automated Income Producer

One of my favorite net marketing tasks is creating a FREE report or e-course and watching it fill with subscribers on an autoresponder.

You might not realize that this is one of the easiest and best methods of selling your products or affiliate products because you develop a rapport or relationship with your subscribers by giving them quality information. Remember its quality not necessarily quantity that will endear or at least brand yourself as someone they come to know and respect.

So how do you create an e-course that, once its uploaded to your autoresponder, is a forget and walk away list builder?

Here's the way I do it, at least most of the time :o)

1. Pick a subject you know a little about and research it to see if there is a demand or need to know. The best way to research for a subject is to visit the discussion boards or forums. Do a search on Google for the subject, for instance, if you were interested in writing about poodles, you might search for "dog discussion groups". See what people are talking about and what concerns, problems and issues they have with poodles or maybe another type of dog.

Next, after determining their is a need for this information, you can start writing or do a search for other articles, reports on poodles to get ideas and content. You don't want to just copy/paste from an article as that is plagiarism or infringement of copyrights. You can rearrange or change the wording so that it is distinctly different and use that content. Or you can ask the author for permission to use his article, with or without any resource box.

2. Now that you have at least one message or lesson completed, you need to set up your autoresponder. If you don't have one, there are a lot of them online, and I've used many and can tell you that some are good and some Are bad and some so-so. One I use is IsoResponder and it has many good features like a 2,000 subscriber import per day, personalization, tracking how many many opened your email message, a very fast support system and much more.

Basically, you want one that allows unlimited lists, unlimited imports and double opt in subscription (that means the subscriber has to confirm their subscription before they are added. With the CAN-SPAM Act you must be very careful and protect yourself from being accused of spamming. By double opt ins you get the IP # and date they subscribe which will be enough evidence to counter any false accusation.

Because each a/r is set up differently, you will need to read the instructions on how to set it a new list.

Once you a/r has you first message uploaded, with personalization so that the subscribers first name is used in the message, you are ready to begin building your subscriber base.

3. Building Your List

Depending on your a/r you can build your subscriber base in three ways.

Create a form that you insert on your web page. Remember to create the thank you page which the subscriber will be re-directed to automatically after filling in the form. Make it simple, "Thank you for your subscription and look for the first lesson in your email box in the next minute or so" is all you need. Don’t try to sell them or they will probably be turned off and unsubscribe or just ignore your future ads. If the a/r has this feature, use the email link in your signatures, on your web pages, in your ads. The third way is to buy leads and import them into your a/r. This is a great way of quickly building your list, but you need to make sure the leads are fresh, come with an IP # and date of subscription.

I like to create a new lesson or report every day until I have at least 7. If its an e-course then you send out your lessons every day, but if its a report or other message, then space them out to every other day...at least. You don’t want them to think you are hammering them with ads.

4. Your Ads

I like to call my ad in each lesson, This Lesson Is Sponsored By. Most readers aren’t turned off by this one ad as they are with the lesson sprinkled with ads and your affiliate links. Make the sponsor something that is related to your topic. In the case of the poodle e-course you wouldn’t want to sell bird food :o) Dog biscuits, poodle trimming tools, or flea powder would be on target. If you don’t have a product to sell, go to Commission Junction, Linkshare or BeFree.com which lists 100s of affiliate products and its free to join. Or do a search on the search engines.

Keep building your e-courses and reports and watch your sales and income soar!

Copyright 2005 MHG Consulting

About The Author Dan Farrell is the owner of Affiliate Marketing Tips. You can find related articles and a free newsletter here. http://www.1st-affiliate-marketing.biz.

Why AutoResponders can be Legally Required

Do you market your products or services via the Internet to customers in California? Many businesses do, but hardly anyone is aware of a little known law in California that is intended to keep customers from being scammed by unknown website operators.

And one effect of the law is to make it more likely that you will need an autoresponder to comply with your disclosure requirements.

In a nutshell, before selling to California residents you must disclose your real name and address. California buyers are also entitled to receive that information by email, and it must be provided within five days of their request.

Here is what the law says. California Business and Professions Code section 17538(d) states in part:

'A vendor conducting business through the Internet or any other electronic means of communication shall do all of the following when the transaction involves a buyer located in this state:

(1) Before accepting any payment or processing any debit or credit charge or funds transfer, the vendor shall disclose to the buyer in writing or by electronic means of communication, such as e-mail or an on-screen notice, the vendor's return and refund policy, the legal name under which the business is conducted and, except as provided [ in other sections ] the complete street address from which the business is actually conducted.

(2) If the disclosure of the vendor's legal name and address information required by this subdivision is made by on-screen notice, all of the following shall apply:

(A) The disclosure of the legal name and address information shall appear on any of the following: (i) the first screen displayed when the vendor's electronic site is accessed, (ii) on the screen on which goods or services are first offered, (iii) on the screen on which a buyer may place the order for goods or services, (iv) on the screen on which the buyer may enter payment information, such as a credit card account number, or (v) for nonbrowser-based technologies, in a manner that gives the user a reasonable opportunity to review that information. The communication of that disclosure shall not be structured to be smaller or less legible than the text of the offer of the goods or services.

(B) The disclosure of the legal name and address information shall be accompanied by an adjacent statement describing how the buyer may receive the information at the buyer's e-mail address. The vendor shall provide the disclosure information to the buyer at the buyer's e-mail address within five days of receiving the buyer's request.'

The best way to make sure that this disclosure information is provided, and provided in a timely manner, is to setup an autoresponder.

There are good resources available that will help you select the best autoresponder for your needs. One is located at http://affiliatemegaguide.com/autoresponder-review.shtml and the other is at http://autoresponderreview.com

One simple solution is to include an appropriately placed statement that customers can obtain the information about your company by emailing a request to a specified email address. That email address is setup with an autoresponder to automatically return the requested information.

Complying with the law can be easy. Knowing what laws need to be complied with can sometimes be the more difficult task.

Copyright 2004 Brian Kindsvater

About The Author Brian Kindsvater has been marketing online since 1994 and Brian Kindsvater's legal articles can be found at http://lawzilla.com

10 Classic Ways To Successfully Use Autoresponders

1. Use your autoresponders to conduct simple polls.

Your polls can give you valuable information that you can use to make your ezine, site or product better. They can also help you to make decisions concerning making changes to your product, site, or ezine.

You can also make your ezine more interactive by running a poll in each issue and then publishing the results in the following issue.

Using polls in this way will help you to increase your readership as your readers will be interested in seeing the results of the polls you've run.

2. Use your autoresponder to deliver an email course that shares with your visitors the benefits of owning your product.

To create your course, you could use your articles as the main content of your course or you could use them as a guide to making your course.

You could also use questions you get from your visitors and customers to write a course that your visitors would be interested in and that increases your sales.

3. Make a multipart report available by autoresponder that delivers extracts of your informational product.

Your multipart report will lead to more sales of your product as it allows your visitors to try out your product before they buy it.

To make up your multipart report you could use excerpts from a single chapter of your informational product or you could string together excerpts from several different chapters to create your report.

4. Use your autoresponders to deliver training courses.

For instance, you could offer your new affiliates a generic email training course that shows them how to make money promoting affiliate programs.

Your course would not only encourage more people to join your affiliate program but would also increase your profit by elevating the number of your affiliates that effectively promote your products to their visitors or subscribers.

5. Use your autoresponders to publish an ezine.

Autoresponders with a broadcast feature will handle your subscribe and unsubscribe requests, and provide you with an easy way to send out your issues to people that join your list.

Concentrate on making your ezine a valuable source of information for your subscribers. Also add your personality to your ezine by writing articles, adding an editors section, or by giving your views on subjects of interest to your readers.

6. Use your autoresponders to deliver a "rate card" for advertising on your website, or for purchasing advertising in your ezine.

7. Use your autoresponders to deliver sample issues of your ezine.

Providing a sample issue is a simple and effective way to increase your subscriptions by showing your visitors what your ezine is all about.

Your sample issues can also increase the sign ups you get from ezine directories that allow you to submit a sample issue for their visitors to receive by autoresponder.

8. Use autoresponders to create a list that announces when you've written a new article or articles for publication.

Your list will increase the number of ezine publishers and webmasters that publish your articles, and can also help you to increase sign ups to your affiliate program if you let your affiliates use your articles as a promotional tool.

9. Use your autoresponders to announce when your directory is updated.

For instance you could create a list that announces when your article directory is updated with new articles.

You could list the titles of the articles submitted to your site along with the URL where they can be viewed.

Creating a list like this will build up repeat traffic to your site giving you an excellent way to achieve more sales of your products.

10. Use your autoresponders to send out an "evergreen" newsletter.

"Evergreen" newsletters have all their issues already completed. Each new subscriber gets the same first issue, second issue, third issue, etc.,

Publishing an "evergreen" newsletter is a good choice for people that don't have the time to publish an ezine on a regular basis, but that would still like to reap some of the benefits of publishing an ezine.

Publishing your "evergreen" newsletter can be as simple as sending out a valuable tip every week that targets your niche audience such as an informative weekly writing tip if you sold a product aimed at writers.

Keep in mind that your "evergreen" newsletter should not be on a topic where the information you provide your readers could become outdated. Choose a subject where the information you provide your subscribers will continue to be relevant for a long period of time.

About The Author Article by writer, Ken Hill. Ignite Your Sales With Unlimited Follow Up Autoresponders! All in one list builder, follow-up manager, and ezine publishing tool. Pick up your no cost 30 day trial today at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5343