E-mail Marketing - Autoresponders For Beginners - Pt 1
Filed under: Internet
Whenever I talk to entrepreneurs who are trying to market their businesses, I am often amazed by how few people use the incredible power of e-mail marketing. Many of them tell me, “Oh my business isn’t suitable for that”, or “Yes, I’ve heard of autoresponders but I don’t really know what they do.”
There seems to be a lot of confusing information around and many businesses, which could be benefiting, just don’t know how to take advantage of one of the most powerful marketing methods ever seen.
So I decided it was time to explain exactly what autoresponders are, how they work and just what they can offer to any business, whether online or offline.
Basics
Firstly, when people come to your website or walk into your store, they don’t always buy first time. Maybe they didn’t have enough money today, or they were in a hurry, or they need to think about it, or they want to shop around first. All you know is they came and they left and they didn’t buy.
Wouldn’t you rather have the chance to maybe ask them why, or offer them a special, or tell them about a product they might not have seen on their first visit? Do you think that might encourage them to come back at a later date?
Secondly, people like receiving communications and that includes your prospects and customers. Rather, I should say, people like receiving communications that they have requested to receive.
You will often hear the term “Opt-in” – this means that someone, a customer or a prospect has opted-in to be on a list and has agreed that you can send him information until he or she says “enough”. This is the exact same principle that direct mail has worked on for most of the last century.
People ‘opt-in’ because they have seen something on your website or in your store that they liked the look of and they said “I want to find out some more, here’s my address so you can send it to me”.
Thirdly, it doesn’t matter what sort of business you’re in; whether you sell e-books on line, or shoes on the high street; whether you offer business consultancy services via your website, or advertise gardening services in your local paper – if a prospective customer says “I’m interested, tell me more” then sending them an e-mail, is the quickest, cheapest, least time consuming way to answer their queries and engage with them.
But let’s take it one step further; imagine if you could automate that to the extent that you didn’t have to personally send out the e-mail and that no matter what time of day, night or weekend, the enquiry came in, your customers could get the information immediately, without you lifting a finger. That is what an autoresponder is designed to do.
In Part 2, we’ll go into more detail about exactly what an autoresponder does and where to get one for your website.
Andrew Grant is a web entrepreneur, life coach and marketing consultant. He has written many articles on self growth and how to build a successful web business. Andrew publishes a FREE fortnightly newsletter, packed with valuable information for growing your wealth and growing your self.
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Tags: autoresponders, e-mail marketing, internet business, making money, online income, online marketing
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