Autoresponders and why you should be using one

In a previous post I talked about the importance of building an email list.  I cannot stress enough how important it is that you build up an email list for your business.  It's a resource that you can call upon at any time.

But, building your list is only the first part.  You've then got to work that list.  

People often say that "the money is in the list".  I disagree.  The correct statement is "the money is in your relationship with the list". 

If you have say 1000 email addresses but you never email them, or only email them once a year, you've not exactly got much of a relationships with those people your emailing.  In return they won't really care much about you and your unsubscribe rate will shoot through the roof.

This is bad list management.

A list needs TLC.  It needs to be nurtured to build it's value.

Emailing your list every week or every other week can be quite time consuming but there is something that you can do to relieve the pain.

Use an autoresponder.

An autoresponder such as www.aweber.com or www.getresponse.com allow you to schedule set messages to go out to people who join your list. Let's take an example.

When someone joins your mailing list you want to make sure you email them every week.  Experts reckon you need to contact someone 7 times before they buy from you.  So lets say you are going to set up your autoresponder with 10 messages.

When someome joins they are instantly sent message 1.  Lets say that this is a "welcome" message telling them what wonderful information they can expect from you over the coming weeks.

Exactly 1 week after joining,  message 2 is automatically sent by the autoresponder.  This message could contain some information about things to do in the area, for example, or places to see, or good restaurants, etc.  These are NOT sales emails.

Then the following week message 3 is automatically sent, and so on....

At the end of the run, after they have received all your pre-loaded messages you can then start to sell to them as they will have got to know you better over the previous weeks and will trust you more as you will have given them information for nothing.

All this relationship building goes on in the background, all you have to do is prepare the 10 emails once, load them into the autoresponder, put the forms on your website and sit back!

This is a big topic to be honest.  There are many ways you can use autoresponders to develop your online marketing.  If you have any questions fire away.