Using Autoresponders

Using Autoresponders: A Step-by-Step Guide

What is an autoresponder?

An autoresponder is an automatic email reply. Once you set it up, the reply gets sent when someone sends an email to a specific address or fills out a form on your website.

For example, I could set up an autoresponder called subscribe@mywebsite.com. In the body of the email reply I might have some information about my business and perhaps a discount coupon encouraging the recipient to sign up for a program.

If someone sent an email to subscribe@mywebsite.com they would instantly receive the autoresponder email reply with the information and discount coupon.

What’s the benefit of using autoresponders?

Using autoresponders saves you time. You don’t have to manually send an email to every person who enquires about your services.

Also, autoresponders are a powerful marketing tool. For one thing, you can collect prospects’ email addresses (the autoresponder asks their permission) for your database. In addition, you can set up multiple or sequential messages to go out to your prospects or clients. In other words, the recipient will receive a continuous flow of email replies spaced out over time at intervals you specify.

For example, suppose you want to offer a five part e-course that is delivered once a week for five weeks. Rather than having to send the email lesson out each week, you can set up the autoresponder to do it automatically.

I already have an autoresponder with my email account. It sends out an “Out of Office” message when I go on vacation. Can I use it?

The autoresponder that comes with your email account is very limited: it is designed only to send the “out of office” message. It can’t send multiple or sequential messages. It also doesn’t collect email addresses from people who request information, which is one of the main marketing benefits of using autoresponders.

How do I Get Started with Autoresponders?

Autoresponders are a powerful tool and can do lots of things. You can customize them for marketing purposes and collect statistics on your leads and messages. To get started though, there are four basic steps.

The first thing you need to do is to subscribe to an autoresponder service. Second, set up your initial autoresponder. Third, create your messages. Finally, let people know how to get your mailings. I’ll go through each of these four steps below.

1) Subscribe to an Autoresponder Service

There are dozens of Autoresponder companies advertising on the Internet. I’ve researched and tried out many of them, and have concluded that the best one for ease of use, reliability and customer support is AWeber (pronounced “A-webber”).

I’m not alone in my recommendation of AWeber – it’s considered by many in the industry to be the “gold standard”.

A subscription costs $19.95 USD a month. You get unlimited autoresponders plus client database management (e.g. your newsletter mailing list).

2) Second, set up your initial autoresponder

· Log in to your AWeber account

· Click on the LIST SETTINGS tab

· Change the list name from “defaultxxxxx” to your own list name. For example, let’s say you have a five-lesson ecourse called “Get Organized Now!” You might want to name the list “Get-Organized”. The name can be up to 15 characters and must be unique (i.e. if you try to submit a list name that another AWeber customer is using it will be rejected and you’ll have to submit a new list name).

· Enter a Short List Description. Example: “Get Organized Now Ecourse”

· Click “Save”

· Skip over the “Remove Link/VO Link Customization” section

· In the “Autoresponder Admin Emails” section enter the email address that you want used for replies from your subscribers.

· Put a check mark in the “Reply/From” box.

· Leave the “Confirmation” box unchecked, unless you want to receive an email letting you know every time someone has been added into your database.

3) Create your Messages

When creating your messages it is very important that you compose them using a plain text editor such as Notepad or WordPad. (to access Notepad or WordPad in Windows, click Start -- All Programs – Accessories – Notepad or WordPad). Note: Microsoft Word is not a plain text editor.

Why can’t you use Microsoft Word? Because it has formatting in it that won’t show up properly in the email. You’ll get funny symbols in places.

· Click on the MESSAGES tab.

· Click on “Create Message 1”

· You will see a box that says “Edit Message” and below that “Personalization Fields”

· Don’t bother putting anything in the “Personalization Fields” field

· In the “Message” field make sure it says “#1” and in the box where it asks you for “days” put “0”. This will make your first message go out immediately.

· Put a check mark in the “Click Tracking” field

· Type your subject line in the “Subject” field. For example, for lesson one of your ecourse you might type “Get Organized Now! Lesson #1”

· Insert the body of your message in the “Plain Text Message” box (the big white box). Note: because it is plain text, you will not be able to change the font, or color, or add graphics.

· Next (optional), if you would like to insert an HTML version of your message you may do this in the bottom section of the EDIT MESSAGE window. You’ll see that in the HTML Message box you can add formatting such as fonts, colors, and graphics.

· Finally, press Save after you have completed the message.

Well done! You have just successfully created your first autoresponder. But remember we were creating a five part ecourse? So now you need to create lesson #2.

· Click on the MESSAGES tab.

· Click on “Create Message 2”

· You will see a box that says “Edit Message” and below that “Personalization Fields”

· Don’t bother putting anything in the “Personalization Fields” field

· In the “Message” field make sure it says “#2”. You also need to specify how many days after the previous lesson you want lesson #2 to be sent. If it is a weekly ecourse, you would specify “7 days”

· Put a check mark in the “Click Tracking” field

· Type your subject line in the “Subject” field. This time it might be “Get Organized Now! Lesson #2”

· Insert the body of your message in the “Plain Text Message” box (the big white box). Note: because it is plain text, you will not be able to change the font, or color, or add graphics.

· Finally, press Save after you have completed the message.

OK, you’re doing great! Now just create your remaining lessons following the instructions above. The only tricky part is to remember to change the “Message” field to keep your lessons in the right order. And remember to specify how many days after the previous lesson you want each subsequent lesson to be sent. Note: It’s days after the previous lesson, not days after the first lesson.

4) Let People Know How to Get Your Mailings

There are three main ways that people can get your mailings:

1) They are an existing subscriber to your mailing list and you import them to your AWeber database (requires them to confirm that they want to continue receiving email from you). Instructions for doing this are under the LEADS – IMPORT LEADS tab at AWeber.

2) You set up a form on your website that enables them to subscribe. Instructions for doing this are on the Customer Control Panel at AWeber.

3) Adding leads via email. This is the easiest way. I’ll give details below.

Adding Leads Via Email

· The person sends a blank email to your autoresponder email address.

· Remember back in step 3.2 you named your list “get-organized”? That means that you have an email address of get-organized@aweber.com which is the autoresponder email address for your five lesson ecourse. So if someone sent a blank email to get-organized@aweber.com they would start receiving the five lessons. (Note: You could also set it up as get-organized@yourwebsite.com)

· Let people know about your offering. For example, you could put a message on your website or create an email signature in Outlook or Outlook Express that says “You can receive the free five lesson ecourse Get Organized Now! Just send a blank email to
get-organized@aweber.com and you will immediately receive the first of five weekly lessons.”

If I want to check out other autoresponder services, what do you recommend?

AceResponse also comes highly recommended. I have used their service and it's good. It’s currently $5.00 a month cheaper than AWeber.

However, the reason I prefer AWeber for beginners is because their “How To” information is much more user friendly. I really sweated trying to figure out the AceResponse User Guide (there are no screen shots and it’s written more for programmers).

In contrast, AWeber has a nice clear “How to Get Started Guide” as well as comprehensive video tutorials on their web site.

Both companies have email and live phone support.

In summary:

First choice: http://www.aweber.com/?206103

Cheaper but harder to get started: http://www.aceresponse.com/affiliates/member/barbra

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