Not only is the auto responder an internet marketing tool – it is an essential internet marketing tool for internet marketing newbies. Now that you understand how to put a website live on the internet you need to know how to build and manage your customer database.

What is an Auto Responder?

For a definition of auto responder I went to wikipedia (well actually I went to my trusty friend, Google first and then to wikipedia).
It seems that there are two separate definitions for auto responder but only one relates to internet marketing. The first definition is an email program that automatically answers email sent to it. An example is the out of office reply that you have no doubt received if you have sent an email to someone who is on vacation.

The definition of auto responder that relates to internet marketing is a software application that automatically delivers information by email.

Why do Internet Marketers Need Auto Responders?

An auto responder is a program that sends emails but it is sooooo much more as well. Most internet marketers would use a web-based auto responder service (I don’t know of any other kind really). The auto responder, as well as being a program that sends emails is a program that stores information about your customers or subscribers. It is a customer database system!
Basically, you keep all of your customer details in the one place and when you want to send them some information or let them know of a special product that you are recommending you can just write an email and send it to all of your customers or only those customers that would be interested in that information. An auto responder service allows you to manage an unlimited number of lists so you can have you customers organized into different categories and using this auto responder software you can choose to send an email message to part of your customer database or to all of your database.

There are two ways that you can send out an email message to your list. Firstly, you can send out a broadcast which means that you send out the same email on the same day to all of the members in your database that the message would be relevant to. This is useful for time sensitive information such as a discount or sale on a product or an upcoming event such as a live training or a webinar.

The second way is to set up a series of messages usually referred to as an autoresponder series. You can specify the amount of time between each message. So you can have constant communication with your customers without the need to write an email every couple of days. You can set up your autoresponder so that your customers get an email from you every couple of days and there is no limit to how many emails that you can load into the autoresponder series. You can load a years worth of emails if you like and then it is really set and forget. The advantage of using an auto responder service in this way is that no matter when someone joins your list they always start at the beginning and don’t miss out on any of your valuable information. So you may have one person in your database that is receiving message no 29 on the same day that someone else is receiving message no 5.

How Do I Get Customers for My Database?

You might be thinking now that it is very time consuming to enter all of that data into the auto responder software. If you already have an existing database of customers then you will have to transfer that data over to your auto responder service and the way to do this is to search in the help or support area of your chosen autoresponder.

Once your auto responder software is setup then it is a simple process to create a form (also know as an optin box or name capture box)for people to fill in to receive your emails.(If you are still not sure about what I am talking about there is an optin box on the top right hand corner of my blog that offers you a free report about the “10 Newbie Mistakes to Avoid”. If you type your name and email address into this box you will be adding yourself to my database automatically – no data entry required by me) I will discuss list building tactics using an optin form in a later post.

Features of an Auto Responder

An auto responder service is a tool to send emails to your customers but it is also much more. It is a database management system and it is a database building system. Your auto responder software is a way to send out newsletters to your list. A good auto responder will also allow you to track your statistics and your email open rates.
There are many different auto responder services out there but the one I recommend is Aweber. It is extremely easy to use and has many unique features. One in particular, that increases your optin rates is the light box script for your optin box. You can use this type of optin box with other auto responder software programs but with Aweber there is no extra coding involved, you just fill in a few variables and your optin box scipt is automatically generated. Then it is just a simple matter of adding that bit of code generated automatically by aweber to your website.

Benefits of an Auto Responder

An auto responder is an internet marketing tool that is used to build relationships with your customers. There  are many differing opinions as to how often you should be emailing your list but I think that if you are providing them with good information then they will be happy to hear from you once or twice a week. I’m sure you have experienced the aggressive email campaign with daily emails from someone who is trying to sell you something each time. This kind of email campaign usually gets a quick unsubscribe from me and from you too, I’m sure. But if you slowly build a relationship with your customers and try and give them useful information, they will look forward to your emails and be interested in what you have to offer them.

The next benefit of an auto responder is leverage. If you have a substantial database and you have a special offer you will get an exceptionally good response to your offer from your database clients. The better the relationship you have with your customers the better your sales will be. You can organize your lists into prospects and customers. Prospects are people who joined your lists due to a free promotion but have not yet bought something from you. Customers are those that have already bought from you. Sending a broadcast email to a list of proven customers will give you a better result that sending the same email to a list of prospective customers. But either way  you are leveraging yourself because you don’t have to go out and get new customers for your offer. You can make your offer to pre-existing customers and your conversion rate will be much higher.

Using an auto responder service means that you can email your customer database from anywhere in the world, as long as you know the login details to your auto responder account. You don’t need your own computer. You don’t need the email addresses stored in your outlook or other email program  you just need any computer and an internet connection. You don’t need to send a separate email to every one of your customers. You write the email once, choose the list you want  to send it to and then just push the send button once.

The other benefit of using a web based auto responder service is that when your computer crashes (and it will) you won’t lose your database information as it is stored on the server of the auto responder service providers and not on your own personal computer. This is another reason to use a well respected auto responder service with a good reputation.

Automation is a huge benefit of auto responders. As I hinted before you can load up your auto responder with an unlimited number of email messages all at once and not have to think about those customers for a while. They will be getting regular emails from you automatically and you will be building your relationship with them on auto-pilot!

So once again the auto responder software that I recommend is Aweber. Click on the link below to find out what Aweber can offer you.

Related posts:

1. Internet Marketing Basics – Part 2
2. Internet Marketing Newbie Diary – Update No. 3

2 Responses to “Internet Marketing Tool – Auto Responder”

1. Bunker says:

   August 8, 2009 at 6:17 am

   I really like your blog and i respect your work. I’ll be a frequent visitor.
2. Stan says:

   August 16, 2009 at 2:00 pm

   Hi Anne, nice article and a very nice resource website. Love your job. I would also love to catch up for coffee one of these days.