Make Your Autoresponder
Work Harder
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, although there is some profit-boosting
crossover:
- Marketing: information directly designed to promote
or enhance sales.
- Services: offering information to visitors to boost
return traffic, improve customer satisfaction and
heighten 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. Training and motivating affiliates.
4. When someone unsubsribes, ask for feedback and
offer a free gift. Though this likely won't keep the
person on your list, you create goodwill that may
spread to other potential customers. And you can exchange
gift products with other marketers that each of you
will use for unsubscribes. He loses a customer, and
perhaps you gain one, and vice versa.
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. Responses to frequently asked questions.
2. Your products and services catalog.
3. Newsletter archives.
4. Testimonials, if you have a long list. Of course,
encourage everyone to pass on the information to a
friend.
5. Relevant reference material that's in the public
domain (tagged with your identifier, of course).
6. Any other material that is lengthy.
Since many Internet users are on dial-up, providing
material that can be read offline is a courteous
practice. And excellent service translates into another
marketing vehicle, one that the autoresponder can
enhance nicely.
Author Todd Kenovas is Marketing Manager for the
"PPC
Advertising" resource, Webways Media. See
http://www.webwaysmedia.com for more information.
