An autoresponder series works perfectly with a sales letter or free report to respond to leads and has the ability to greatly increase conversion rates. In fact, it is not unreasonable to expect that installing autoresponder messages could even double sales from this one internet marketing technique alone.
An autoresponder functions as a virtual salesperson via email marketing. Follow-up is not left to human error or time constraints; instead the autoresponder does it for you. But the success rate of this tool depends largely on the text.
Write the wrong copy and it could even negatively impact conversions; with the right text, increasing sales is effortless. Take a look at these tips on how to write an autoresponder series of messages for maximum impact.
1. How To Write An Autoresponder Series – The Basics
Plan on writing seven autoresponder messages; many professionals believe this to be the optimum number of follow-ups that do a thorough job of follow-up without becoming a complete annoyance.
Just like the sales letter, these messages need to convince a prospect that buying your product or service is vitally important or will somehow enhance their lives in a positive manner.
2. Personalise Your Messages
Create a profile of your potential customers. Why would they make a purchase from your company? What is different about your business that makes you stand out from competitors? What obstacle do you need to overcome in order to convince someone that they should buy your product or service? When you write your messages, answer these questions as if you were personally speaking with the prospective customer.
It is always best to include some form of personalised greeting, too. Once you’ve got the prospect’s information in your database, use their name, at a minimum, in the autoresponder message. People are much more likely to respond if they feel the message is personal rather than aimed at a broad range of recipients.
3. Ramp Up The Sales Pitch In Each Subsequent Message
The first autoresponder message will start out as a subtle push toward purchase, i.e. “you’ve read about how great our widgets are; why not order now?”. Each message after the first should increase in intensity and focus on additional, new benefits of your products or services.
You may want to introduce a special offer, such as a limited time discount, midway through the autoresponder series, then make the final one a last-ditch attempt to convert the prospect to a customer with an added bonus. A multi-part informational course or “tip of the week” are also good options for an autoresponder series.
4. Call To Action
Remember that each message should have a specific goal in mind. It needs to answer the questions you identified in your prospect profile and ask them to perform a specific action. Of course, you are always aiming for the sale but don’t forget other calls to action such as forwarding the information to friends, finding you on social media sites, or asking the reader to activate a free trial period subscription.
5. Formatting
For the best response rate, you will send your autoresponder messages out in plain text format. Of course, this limits formatting options. Make them easy to read, grab attention with a headline in all caps, and include various ways to contact the company such as email, phone number, and website URL – and ensure that this information is obvious.
Why not use an autoresponder series to serve as your sales force? This tool can be free to relatively inexpensive to invest in, makes increasing conversions easy, creates a sales funnel pipeline that you can use endlessly with new prospects, frees up your time through its automated nature, and it also guarantees that follow up is timely and accurate.
About Sean Rasmussen
Another load of very informative information on the ins and outs of blogging.
Glad you like it Sandra. Hopefully you can tie your autoresponder messages in with your blogging
Sounds like a good idea.
Is there plugins to put a optin on the site?
I believe there are many opt-in plugins available for WordPress Gee. Have a search for “wordpress opt in plugin” and you should find something that suits.
Sean:
You mention that the optimum number auto responder follow-ups is seven. After the seven, is everything else just a broadcast email?
You also mention to use the plain text format. Will the plain text still show your hyperlinks or will it only show as text?
- Rick
Hi Rick
The 7 autoresponder messages mainly relate to marketing a particular campaign, it has been tried and tested and it works. You should have no trouble with hyperlinks as plain text, just like when you type a link into a standard email, it automatically shows as a hyperlink.
Ok then so if I wanted to provide information with say links or a signature there is no limit?
Not sure what you mean there sorry Gee
Hi Gee
The limit just refers to what marketers say is the ideal limit that’s best for selling. There’s no actual “limit” – legally, or by rules, or even etiquette. How often you decide to contact your email list is a matter for you to decide – based on your relationship with your list, what you have to offer, the value of and reason for your communication. Frequency has been discussed in another thread in this blog I believe.
Links and Signature like in a plain format email are fine I guess, just avoid to have pictures etc in there as some people (including me) block them from being downloaded. And if your message is only visible with the pictures you might not get it through to everybody.
Hey Sean, you absolutely right about autoresponders being crucial in the sales process. Treat it as a series of stairs, each one connected to the last and leads only to one place – where you wish them to be at the end. This could be a sale, a subscription, or an invite to an event. I ensure I have ‘copy’, ‘video’, ‘slides’, ‘links’ inside my autoresponder series to capture the different learning styles which people possess.
The real benefit of an autoresponder is the person is on your list which means you can send them messages over and over again to help, assist and hopefully influence them. Cheers Kurt
Sounds like you have got your autoresponder messages down to a fine art Kurt, good work!
Nice metaphor with the stairs, Kurt. Never thought of it that way before. Thanks!
What sort of space should be between messages? I have been on lists where I have been bombarded with offers every day, sometimes several times a day. Not a pleasant experience. All that happens is the receiver clicks the unsubscribe button
If it is a launch campaign or similar, you don’t have much choice but to send messages every 1 or 2 days for the duration of the campaign. If it is just a newsletter or similar, weekly, fortnightly or monthly should be fine.
I am dreaming of becoming the perfect internet marketer. I have thus far not accomplished it.
However, the autoresponder situation is certainly one that I will hopefully master. You make sense. I know that I get a lot of emails that are sent by people I have given the green light to. Some of them are terrific and some are terrible.
I personally feel that your attitude toward avoiding the blatant hard sell, certainly in the early stages, is so important. I hasten to the unsubscribe button with I get pushed with some of the messages that come through people’s autoresponder campaign. I am sure they mean well, but it often just feels like greed and no interest whatever in me, the customer.
I hope to profit from your sage advice and my personal experiences, particularly the negative ones.
Hi Dobbs,
I totally agree I also unsubscribe when I feel pushed or the emails come day after day as most times its a lots of times exactly the same each time.
Rita
Thanks Sean.
Autoresponders are such an efficient way to market. Automatic and so cost-effective. The copy is really important, so thanks for the handy tips on how to write it too.
I have read many internet marketers who have basically setup their online business using just autoresponders. Essentially, their business is on auto-pilot – that’s the dream right…
Sounds brilliant – just need a good product and a good sales page first. I am wandering if they do any after-sales-support …
I still think it’s a balance between automation and personalisation, especially if social media is being used in an IM strategy.
For someone like me – my mind boggles at the thought of trying to use comedy in an autoresponder series. Dang – will comedy still sell like sex does? Do people take funny people like me seriously…. well do ya’?
Sorry, frustration leaked in. Trying to gel the two together doesn’t work in my girl-doobler (ie: brain). Any thoughts peoples?
I think I have to find funny peoples that do autoresponder series to get an idea & see it in action…
I think it’s a great idea to add some humour into almost everything you do online. You should have no problem with that Witty Sam
Let me know when you get your autoresponder series running, Witty Sam. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. All the responses I have ever seen are dull and boring. Seriously, Sam, HA HA!
Hi Sean,
I’ve been wondering how to write an autoresponder series. I have to admit that it still feels a little daunting. I guess this is going to be another trial and error situation.
So, essentially we need to have some goal at the outset of what we want our customers to do. Say, sign up for something or buy a product. Then, each message in the series directs the customer towards that end. So, by the last message, if we have got it right, the customer should take the action we wanted them to. Sounds easy enough.
Hi Sean
I really like auto responders and I believe they are a very valuable tool for internet marketers.
I like the way you can ramp up the sales pitch, slowly if you like, and choose your own copy.
Something for me to think about for the future.
Hi Sean,
Thanks for more excellent information as I have been on the hunt for information about lead generation & auto-responders.
For a while there I didn’t think I would really need to use them but last week I was attending a marketing seminar & it dawned on me just how important using an auto-responder series could be & how much more valuable I could be as an internet marketer if could set up lead generation, start building lists & create successful email marketing campaigns for local businesses.
I’ve been looking around at the options & was wandering if there were any recommendations for free auto-responder services?
I was looking at some WordPress plugins but read in a forum that 50% of self sent emails end up in spam folders & never get read as opposed to using paid services like Aweber, so I found the likes of Listwire but thought that you guys may be able to shed some light on the subject?
Thanks again, Jeremy
HI Sean (fellow Aussie), I just went looking for some info on writing email series’ for a resource I am putting together. It is an area of interest of mine and I think it is grossly under utilised as a serious and low cost marketing tool. I have great success with return custom generated through email marketing and I think it’s really a matter of ‘do unto others what you would wish done unto your’. This is a neat overview you give here. Thanks!
Oka I want if exist any sequence orden to send mail. What kind of messafe go first. Welcome
Benefits , testimonial etc
There any patron or sequence to follow
Thank you