An autoresponder is a program that automatically responds to emails, and it can be used as an effective business tool to drive traffic and conversions toward your products. Indeed, an autoresponder sequence can be used to trigger a set of actions and rive sales automatically.
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How to set up your autoresponder to generating business
It is possible to over automate or under automate your processes; you don’t want to over automate so as not to make the subscriber feel like they are communicating with a robot, though they are. You also do not want to be tagged as a business with a low response rate. To ensure the optimal use of autoresponders, the following strategies should be considered.
Send new subscribers an onboarding/welcome sequence. A welcome sequence is a set of emails sent to the new subscribers that brings them through a journey where there is a clear goal (like learning something new) and a clear action they’ll need to take (perhaps being your premium products). This is one of the most important moments, to show your new subscribers your competence, what you offer, build trust, and showcase your products. In this phase, you can make the most and create a great first impression to give a head start to the relationship with the potential customer.
If your business offers services or you have an online store, you could use autoresponders to automate sales. After you offer free lead magnets to people, in the form of exclusive links of web content and blog posts, which you can attach with an automatic coupon for those who follow that link. So you do not have to send a new series of emails, and you make sales with the automation of your emails.
All transactional emails are automated, and with the proper use of autoresponders for order confirmations, you can suggest similar products for the customer. Some relational emails, too, can be automated if you have segmented your email list. (Email list segmentation is discussed in the next subtopic) it helps you sort your customers and subscribers by criteria that make it easy for you to make personalized offers. In your emails, there should be a segment that highlights “Other items you may like” based on that purchase.
Autoresponders can also be used to ask for reviews, If a customer buys a new product from you, it should trigger a “leave us a review email” automatically sent a few days after the delivery when the owner must have tested the product, and if the call-to-action isn’t followed then, the emails can be scheduled to keep sending a couple of more times to encourage the customer to leave a review.
Automation also helps balance promotional emails and relational emails. Your subscriber’s cordial relationship is important to you. Therefore you need to send more relational emails; with your already preset templates, automation will make this easy. In reality, a larger part of your emails should provide valuable content to keep subscribers attached so that your promotional emails will not be too regular to balance the books and to ensure that it holds value when you choose to offer promos.
Outline your email to figure out your email sequence. Your email sequence is the number of emails you want to send in a particular time frame. There is no specific figure for how long it should be or how many emails it should contain, but it is recommended that it is as short as possible so you don’t bore out the subscriber. But long enough to cover all the necessary parts of your campaign. Therefore your sequence will vary for different campaigns.
In your sequence, you need to set a cadence (the intervals between two successive emails). There are times when twice a week is fine for blog posts and information emails, while you need to send more frequent reminders for a promo that will soon elapse, depending on your goals.
Patterns to follow to set up the autoresponder
Thank your subscribers for subscribing and let them know what you intend to offer, highlighting the problems you discover and how you intend to solve them.
Remind them of previous discussions and mention the launch of your product or service.
Send a couple of reminders with the cadence becoming more frequent when the launch date is almost set.
Launch your product, and add a sense of urgency to drive-up traffic.
Send reminders to customers who haven’t purchased to let them know how much they are missing out on. If you have made a decent amount of sales, share the statistics. Everyone likes to jump on a moving train.
The last few days before you’re the end of your campaign, send more reminders with words that spark urgency to make other skeptics try out your offer. Also, remind them of the problem your product or service intends to solve.
After your campaign ends, send an email to customers who purchased thanking them for their support and telling those who couldn’t purchase that you will inform them of other opportunities in the future. If you are proud of your figures, share them as social proof, and these numbers will encourage skepticism to try you out some other time.
Writing the content of the messages in your autoresponders can be quite strenuous; you can outsource it to freelance copywriters ensuring that the copy addresses their problems and possible solutions to their problems, not just focusing on throwing you products into their faces. When you make it about them, they will pay attention to you.
Key Insights
Autoresponder Introduction: An autoresponder is a program that automatically responds to emails, and it can be utilized as a powerful business tool to drive traffic and conversions for products. Setting up an effective autoresponder sequence can automate actions and boost sales.
Strategies for Optimal Use:
Onboarding/Welcome Sequence: Send new subscribers a series of emails to showcase your competence, build trust, and introduce your products.
Automate Sales: Use autoresponders to offer exclusive links and automatic coupons, leading to automated sales.
Transactional and Relational Emails: Automate order confirmations and suggest related products to customers. Use email list segmentation to make personalized offers.
Ask for Reviews: Trigger automatic review request emails a few days after product delivery to encourage customer feedback.
Balance Promotional and Relational Emails: Maintain a cordial relationship with subscribers by sending more valuable content and balancing promotional emails.
Outline Email Sequence: Plan the number and cadence (time intervals) of emails in your sequence, covering all necessary parts of the campaign.
Pattern to Set up Autoresponder:
Thank and Introduce: Thank subscribers for joining and highlight the problems you intend to solve.
Remind and Mention: Remind subscribers of previous discussions and mention the upcoming product/service launch.
Send Frequent Reminders: As the launch date nears, send more frequent reminders to build anticipation.
Launch with Urgency: Launch the product or service with a sense of urgency to drive traffic.
Encourage Non-Purchasers: Send reminders to non-purchasers, sharing sales statistics to create interest.
Last Days of Campaign: Send more reminders with urgency to encourage skeptics to try the offer.
Post-Campaign Follow-up: Thank customers for their support and inform non-purchasers of future opportunities. Share sales figures as social proof.
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Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
