Auto Responders – The Key to Email Marketing

One of the most important functions of auto responders is as a marketing tool for businesses.  When used appropriately, the benefits of these automatic responses to customer inquiries are enormous.  Saving businesses time and money, creating a relationship between businesses and customers, and keeping businesses consistently in customers’ minds are just a few of these benefits.

Information and Advertising

It is important to remember that customers must not view auto responders as spam.  In order to ensure this, businesses must give customers valuable, accurate information that the customers requested.  In return, the customers accept that the company will contact them.  However, just collecting e-mail addresses will not provide these same benefits: people will view any contact by an unknown company as spam and will ignore it.  Thus, an important balance must be struck between advertising and providing information.

Customer Permission

One of the most important aspects of using auto responders is that the consumer willingly provides his or her e-mail address.  This willing desire to open a relationship by the consumer must be exploited by businesses, and auto responders allow this to happen.  Marketing experts always say that the “money is in the list,” but this is not necessarily true.  A list of unwilling recipients who delete each e-mail unread means nothing.  Therefore, the money is in the relationship with the list.  Since these customers willingly give their e-mail address, they are starting a relationship, and a relationship that begins with the customer is the most productive kind.

Time and Money

Auto responders save businesses time and money.  Time is money for a business, and money is the lifeblood of a successful company.  These programs replace hours of tedious copying of e-mail addresses from lists, and they eliminate the need to send countless e-mails.  Instead, a program sends the e-mails automatically from its bank of addresses that it collects and updates automatically.  These e-mails cost nothing to send and are a back door into a customer’s mind, replacing costly television ads or postage.

Automatic Series

Another key benefit of auto responders is that they are sent whenever you want whether you are in the office or not.  These programs do not forget to follow up with customers: they automatically send follow-ups if they are programmed to do so.  Studies have shown that consumers must hear something six or seven times before they act and buy.  Auto responders can be programmed to send these seven messages at periodic intervals and to note responses and further interest.  With these programs, never again will a potential customer be lost because of a failure to follow-up.

Ultimately, auto responders are the key to e-mail marketing.  They are quick, easy, and reliable, saving businesses time and money.  Furthermore, they compile lists of potential customers, who voluntarily put themselves on these lists.  One interested customer is worth a thousand uninterested ones.  The world of e-mail marketing has changed forever, and it is important for your business to stay up to date with these important marketing strategies.