Autoresponders are an excellent way to put your entire online business on auto-pilot, 24/7 for 365 days of the year. If you think that you don't need an autoresponder, that's ok, but the chances are that you either have no list of subscribers or a small list. If that's the case, you probably have a small business.
It goes without saying that if you are seriously looking to manage a huge list of thousands of subscribers, you simply can't expect to keep in touch with them on a one to one basis. Also consider that while you're tucked up in bed, the guy in Egypt could be requesting your free e-book, not knowing that he won't receive it for another eight hours. We live in an "instant" world and people demand instant gratification, so if you are giving away or selling a product, people will want it as soon as they've signed up.
If you've ever filled in a form on a website and found an instant reply waiting in your inbox, it's most probable that you've subscribed to somebody's email campaign and the whole process is now being run by an autoresponder. Autoresponders are great! They capture data, such as the names and email addressess of visitors and the really clever bit is that they'll even personalise any automated replies. This means hat the recipient will feel that you are contacting him/her alone, rather than a list of thousands. Autoresponders also allow you to pre-load them with messages, so you could set up a campaign of a series of say, seven email messages, which can be sent at various times. You can also run an unlimited number of campaigns with most autoresponder services. Imagine trying to manage all of this manually! So basically, you only have to do the work once (setting up a campaign) and the system looks after itself.
Do not underestimate the importance of following up with your subscribers. They may have had a bad day at work and not even read one of your messages, but when the next automated one arrives, that could be the one that clinches the sale. If your campaigns have some perceived value, you could possibly be marketing to your subscribers for many years to come.
Autoresponders are particularly good for simply introducing people to your business. Here are a few other benefits that may be relevant to you:
1) They demand in immediate call to action, so they are more likely to subscribe.
2) They inform existing members of special offers and bonuses.
3) They can possibly offer testimonials of existing users to potential new customers.
4) They're great for sending welcome letters to new members and newsletters to existing subscribers.
5) They can control 'Thank You' messages for new purchases.
6) They can also provide order confirmation.
7) They can acknowledge a question or query, submitted by a user.
8) They are a great way of reminding people when something is about to expire, such as a free trial.
It's easy to see why autoresponders are so useful, but choosing the right one is a totally different matter! Amongst the dozens out there, which one should you consider? The two that I would personally recommend would be Aweber and Get Response. Aweber allows you take a free test drive, while Get Response offers a free or paid service. The only down side of the free service, is that your messages carry third party advertising - not recommended, but useful if you are on a tight budget. By the way, a lot of web hosting providers offer an autoresponder feature, but this is normally a very basic type of service, which is only geared to send one message. This is a far cry from the countless features I have described in this article.
The two autoresponders that I have recommended are web based clients, so they are simple to pick up and they are extremely reliable. This is because they are hosted on professional servers, by the company itself. An alternative to server-based services, is script based. This is where you buy or rent a script and you host it on your own server. However, this type of service can be a little tricky to set up and you probably need a bit of experience, if you are going to start playing with perl scripts and cgi bins. If those terms mean nothing to you, forget it! If you do have a bit of knowledge, you may want to visit: AutoResponsePlus.com which is a good example of a script-based service provider.
I would hazzard a guess that you probably need to consider using an autoresponder. If you're on a budget, use the free service offered by Get Response. If you can afford it, get a Pro account with Aweber.
Finally, I'll leave you with this algebraeic formula: No List = No Money!
