This is the second article in my series on using autoresponders to increase your digi-scrap sales. As I did in the first article, I will continue to share various methods to use autoresponders to deliver products, great customer service and advertisement for your business. Today I’m zero-ing in on examples using an autoresponder to provide immediate feedback.

This is one way to use the autoresponders already included in your email accounts to give excellent cusomer service… even if you aren’t available.

Put the Customer at Ease

Use autoresponders to deliver support messages or payment receipts to your customers such as at your technical support email address to tell your users that you have received their message and will get back to them soon. Automatically delivered emails such as these and those sent in a response to a received payment or order, are important because they reassure your customers that their request, payment, or order has arrived at its destination and will be attended to accordingly.

Most software products provide all the tools you need. If you use a help-desk program to deliver support, or e-commerce package to deliver products they come with a module that let’s you send certain types of messages out automatically. Since there are so many different products for these I won’t go into great detail on the particular steps. But I do encourage you to learn how autoresponders are built into your products and make use of them.

Answer the Most Common Requests Fast

Set an autoresponder to deliver one time information products. For example it can be used to send prospective customers information like the price list of your services/products, your FAQ (frequently asked questions) and other fixed information. People emailing the address you provided to them will automatically get that message in reply.

In the case of one time product delivery, you can use the autoresponders that come in your email programs. Every email software product I’ve seen (which is a lot) comes with some sort of autoresponder set up. Look in the help files of your product or in the cpanel of your web-hosting service for more information on how to set those up in the products that you use.

Adding that Extra Special Touch

When delivering a one-time mailing such as this, many times, no further communication is needed. However… if you want to provide really great customer service - you can also follow up with them personally to see if their questions were answered or to offer additional assistance. By providing the requested info up front without your involvement insures your customer got some information prior to you contacting them… and they didn’t have to wait for you to sort through your other mail, before they got a response. Use this followup opportunity to offer them that little something extra in the way of assistance - NOT to try a make an extra sale. You’re simply thanking them for their interest and making sure their questions were answered. This is not considered an opt-in mailing list. Whatever you do - don’t misuse their email or spam them. I recommend no more than two follow up emails — unless the customer specifically asks for more.

What Other Autoresponder Needs Do You Have?

As I mentioned before, you can probably use the software products you already have in house to accomplish the above customer service activities. However, there are several other things you can accomplish using autoresponders, such as deliver newsletters, simplify marketing campaigns, and more. For some of these activities you’ll want an autoresponder that offers more capabilities.  If you are serious about your business, you’ll also want better tracking and record keeping capabilities.

There are several free autoresponders available that might meet your needs. However, they usually have limitations or include 3rd party advertisements. Consider upfront what type of needs you’ll have and then pick one that offers the most for your money.

Do you plan to provide only one-time mailings or quick receipts like those listed here?  Then maybe you have no other software needs at this time.

Are newsletters or occasional sales letters, in your future?  Then you might be able to get by with a free autoresponder service, as long as you don’t mind the restrictions and added advertisements from other vendors.   Consider: SendFree as they have an easy upgrade if you decide you want something heftier in the future.  You may have also received PHPList as a part of your installation package with whatever hosting provider you are using.  Personally, I find this one more confusing to work with and it has a low deliver-ability rate sometimes as well.

I strongly encourage you to upgrade to a paid service, so that you’ll be ready for business growth as soon as you start to see that happen.  If you are using an autoresponder very often at all - the growth will come almost immediately.  So I really recommend you take the step to purchase an autoresponder service that will deliver you the most for your money.  AWeber is my number one favorite.  It was every bell and whistle you will ever need, with no restrictions on number of campaigns or lists.  No unwanted advertising and a great set of statistics.  Highest deliverability rate on the web.

Plan on doing e-lessons, product launch campaigns, seriously using a customer list to do continued marketing of any type?  then there really is no choice but to purchase an autoresponse program that will satisfy all your autoresponse business needs from the start.  In my book that’s AWEBER.COM.

Looking for More Instructions?

Through the next article in this series I’ll be sharing details about the most popular type of autoresponder program - ongoing marketing programs. You’ll learn the neccessary steps to insure success with your next product or service launch autoresponder campaign. So be sure to come back and pick up that info too. On every occasion, I had success the very same day I launched new campaigns! Learn how you can do the same.

Get more information about my favorite link building product (the AWEBER program) now!

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