Are you getting the most from your autoresponder? If not, you are losing a chance for better marketing visibility, increased customer contact, greater number of repeat visitors and more revenue. And of course, losing anything is not a good business goal.
Perhaps the most common autoresponder use is lead capture. Website visitors are offered information if they provide a name and email address. A typical technique is to to promote a lead capture page through a pay-per-click campaign, offering tantalizing information that's just a click away once the email address is provided. And once on your list, the lead can be sent sales messages eventually as follow ups to an information series. But there are many other ways to incorporate autoresponders, and when used in combination, some could have a dramatic impact on your bottom line.
Autoresponder use beyond lead capture can be slotted into two categories, though the lines may blur at times:
- Marketing: information directly designed to promote or enhance sales.
- Services: information offered to assist the website visitor, which can invite return visits, increase customer satisfaction and create higher business visibility.
In the marketing category, here are four powerful ways to use autoresponders:
1. Offer a useful gift in exchange for completed customer survey. The survey could be sent when an information series is completed, after a fixed number of sales or after a certain time period.
2. Scheduling in an unadvertised bonus or a customer appreciation gift can reap rewards in strenghtening the relationship. Don't wait too long to make this offer to a new subscriber or customer, because it could make the difference in retaining someone who is lukewarm about your product. And don't forget the long-established customers. They deserve a reward for sticking with you, and they are just too valuable to be taken for granted.
3. Motivating and training affiliates.
4. Exchange products with another marketer to be offered when someone unsubcribes. You lose a subscriber and maybe she gains one. And offering a parting gift can create goodwill that will come back to you in other ways.
The use of an autoresponder to provide services will depend on the nature of your web site. Free reports are great to offer, and they can be linked to marketing information that's accessed through subscriptions within the report.
Your services list could also include:
1. Answers to frequently asked questions.
2. A catalog for your products, services and prices.
3. Newsletter archives.
4. Endorsements or testimonials, if you have a lot.
Always ask that these be passed along.
5. Public domain reference material, branded for your web site.
6. Lengthy material of any kind.
Of course, many internet users are still on dial-up, so offering information that can be read offline is courteous service.
Providing services in as many ways as possible can be one of your most effective means of marketing, and the autoresponder is an excellent tool to aid your cause.
Todd Kenovas is Marketing Manager for the Internet marketing solution, Webways Media. See http://www.webwaysmedia.com for more information.
