This is the third article in our series. In the first one I gave a quick overview of what an autoresponder is and I shared a couple examples of how I use them.  The second article was about using autoresponders to deliver good customer service.

In this article I’ll give you steps for planning a full size campaign.  In my opinion this is the best way to use an autoresponder to boost your digi-scrap sales.  You can follow these easy steps for a product or service launch, a new designer program, book sales, basically any type of marketing projects.  Although you can use some of the freebie autoresponders for this type of campaign, I don’t recommend it.  To give it the professional touch you really want to portray to your customers, you need a higher level tool.

There are many different autoresponder services available online today, I highly recommend you use AWEBER for your heavy duty autoresponder needs. The services are robust and they are priced right for even the smallest of budgets! In an upcoming article in this series you’ll see me demo the AWEBER autoresponder too. It’s just awesome! Whether you choose this particular product or another one, you’ll need to make sure you can 1) create opt-in forms to put on your sebsite and 2) automate sending messages to your leads, on a pre-determined schedule.

My Favorite Way to Use Autoresponder Tools

Marketing products, building buzz, or running contests is made easier using an autoresponder. People who opt-in receive regularly scheduled emails with your information in it for how ever often you schedule the set of mailings. Send a series of messages as part of a new product launch or when announcing new designers to your store. Schedule a set of messages to go out with clues for a contest you are running, along with sales adds for the newest services or products you are providing. Announce a new service you’re offering to prospective customers and use a series of mailings to pull them into a sale.  Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head.  I’m sure you can think of even more.

Set the Stage for Success

Let’s talk about the steps to take in such emailing campaigns.  First you’ll need to create an opt-in form. This is simply a form you place on your website that has text blocks in it to collect prospective clients email addresses. Each time a person fills it out and hits the send button, they are indicating to you that they want to receive additional information from you about…. well whatever it is you have to offer. They confirm their address and agree to receive ongoing emails from you. This is one of the first steps to something called “permission marketing.” Obviously if they are giving you permission to send them emails - it’s important for you to respect that opportunity! NEVER give away or sell your list! NEVER spam your customers. If you don’t have something of worth to say, then skip sending out that email! Once you have permission to market to this person do it right.

Build a Good Follow Up Program

The secret to making an autoresponder work well for your business is to structure a series of follow up messages.  And you do this as part of your Pre-launch campaign. Marketers the world over use follow up autoresponders to increase sales. But, many struggle to write a compelling message series. Don’t let that keep you from your share of the profits! Follow the instructions below and you’ll soon be following up with finesse. The steps I’m outlining here are for announcing a new designer and her products. Use can actually use this same formula for any type of ongoing campaign.  Tweak it as necessary to meet your needs.

Message One - Big Benefits and/or Grand Announcement:

In a campaign such as this one - the purpose of your first message is to get some excitement going and peak the interest of your reader. Keep this message short. In this email just take a moment to flesh out a handful of your biggest benefits. To start building buzz for a new designer and product line might go something like this:

“{name}, We’ve got a new designer in the house! Suzzie Que is a talented designer from the Green Garden State of Such-a-Place-USA is joining the AB company in just 2 weeks! She creates the easiest quick page templates found on the web today! It won’t take you two hours or more to create your layouts anymore! Using her templates assures you a perfectly coordinated layout in half the time.  15-20 minutes tops!”

Message Two - Establish a Need:

Use your second message to explain why your product is necessary or in demand. First, lay out the situation leading to a need for your product. Then, show that your product will meet that need. For instance:

“Digi-Scrappers across the web are spending hours to create their pages. Leaving books incomplete for months and sometimes never shared with anyone. But, not those who use Suzzie Que Quick Pages! They’ve created beautiful layouts, themed books, and knock-out projects in half the time and with great results! In just a few days you’ll be able to get your hands on these quick pages right from our AB company store!”

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Message Three - Detail Clips:

In your third message, show the customer how they will go about actually using your product/service. Detail any tools or supporting material that you provide. Offer them clips of information telling them specifically what to do.  Still using a campaing to introduce a new designer… part of this message might read something like this:

“These quick pages are a cinch to use: Simply attach the included papers with the click of a button, creating a beautiful background. Add one or more of the kit’s terrific elements where the place markers are. Include your photos and in just a few minutes you have a perfect color coordinated layout.”

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Message 4 - The Wildcard:

Customize message four for your unique product. Try one of these ideas:
– Have a customer case study? This is a great place for it.
– Selling complimentary products? Detail one of them here.
– Selling a real-world product? Explain shipping / tracking now.
– Have a bricks and mortar office? Invite the prospect to visit. Include directions.
– Since your designer is a part of the product brand - Include their bio here.

Message 5 - Second Splash:

Set the message to go out the same day you launch the new product or add the designers products in the store. Let the message serve as the ribbon-cutting ceremony, grand opening, or big announcement saying the products/services are now available for purchase. If you are offering any special sales deal for the people on this list - now is the time to tell them about the special. And example of the text that you might include for this part of your message:

“… and we’re offering everyone in our Early Bird Announcements group, a 5% discount on all the Suzzie Que products this week only. Use coupon code xyz to take advantage of this offer!”"… Suzzie has agreed to give a class (and a free example product) to everyone joining our cyber crop this Friday!…”

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Message 6 - Questions? Comments?:

Your prospective customer may be waiting to purchase because you still haven’t answered some question or concerns they have.  By using an email in your followup series to ask them what’s on their mind - you can speed the sales cycle to a close.

Start the sixth message by asking your prospect if they have any questions. Give them several ways to reach you (or the designer in this case), and include links to tutorials specific to the product. Take the rest of the sixth message to answer some of the questions your prospects ask most often already or you suspect might be on their mind.

For instance:

“Are you excited about the speed and beauty of the pages you’ll make with Suzzie Que Quick Pages? I hope so! Let me go over some questions our customers have asked in the past”

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Message 7 - Testimonials:

With your seventh message, show off your satisfied customers (and their layouts in your gallery too). Choose several of your best testimonials, and list them here. Look for quotes from customers who are obviously excited about your product, but that still sound believable. For instance, choose:

“I’m thrilled with my Suzzie Que Quick Pages! In just 20 minutes, I completed two pages from my sons birthday party pictures.”

Instead of:

“Suzzies pages are miraculous! It made my scrapping go so much faster. In just under an hour I had 5 pages created, printed, and sent off to Grandma!”

(The testimonials in this article are made up examples. All of your testimonials, however, must be real. Fabricating testimonials is illegal.)

Message 8 - Last Chance:

Your final message serves as one last reminder of your product.Briefly reiterate its most impressive features. Then, throw in a few testimonials or a very short case study. Round out this message with your contact information, links to the products, etc. Our example product’s final message might read:

“Over the past several weeks, you’ve heard about how Suzzie Ques Quick Pages turn scrapbooking into a quick and easy project for even the newest of digi-scrappers. Customer Dusty Dana tried it, and she says, ‘My pages were easier to create than I ever thought they’d be…”

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A Little Pre-Planning Goes a Long Way!

Automation means that good follow up doesn’t have to be time consuming. If you take the time to build a campaign around a product launch, or sales event you can put your autoresponder to work for you. Creating a message series doesn’t have to be difficult. But it is required for the best results to happen for you!

We’ve got several more articles in this series as the week moves forward - including a screen demo of the popular AWEBER autoresponder.  If you haven’t already subscribed to this service, I recommend you jump over there now and check it out.  Sign up for their free trial if you aren’t quite ready to take the plunge.

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