Mazimize Autoresponder Use to Boost Online Business
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: sending information to enhance or promote
sales.
- Services: making information available to customers or
visitors, helping to increase business visibility, draw
return traffic and ensure customer satisfaction.
In the marketing category, here are four powerful ways to
use autoresponders:
1. Tossing a customer survey into the autoresponder
message mix can provide you with valuable information
about your business techniques, especially if you offer a
gift of some kind for completion. The survey can be timed
to go out after a certain period, after completion of an
information series or after a fixed number of sales.
2. Sending an unadvertised bonus or customer appreciation
gift can strengthen relationships. The gift should go out
early rather than late, to help retain someone who might
be wavering about staying with you. Long-term customers
should get an occasional surprise too, because they can
be costly to replace.
3. Affiliate support: training materials and motivational
messages can be sent on a schedule.
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.
Depending on the type of web site you have, you might
compile a long list of autoresponder uses for the
services category. Free reports are a typical use, and
they can serve to cross over into marketing by linking to
subscriptions that carry a stronger sales message.
Your services list could also include:
1. Responses to frequently asked questions.
2. Details on your services and products.
3. Ezine archives.
4. Endorsements or testimonials, if you have a lot.
Always ask that these be passed along.
5. Relevant reference material that's in the public
domain (tagged with your identifier, of course).
6. Any lengthy material.
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.
Todd Kenovas is Marketing Manager for Webways Media, the
pay-per-click
advertising solution.
Disclaimer: The information presented and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent the views of Work-at-Home-Business.com and/or its partners.
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