Auto-Responder System Basics continued...

You might have your autoresponder off most or the time but turn it on if you intend to be away saying, “Thanks for your message. I’ll be away until fill in the blank date and will respond then. If you need more immediate assistance call whomever.” Or if you just broke up with your previous partner you could say, “If this is you, name, I’m never speaking to you again. All others I will get back to after one more martini.” Whatever you want, but it’s just one response.

The autoresponder systems that are used in internet marketing go way beyond what you might get from your email server. These not only give a first response, but you can create a complete marketing campaign.

Imagine owning a pizza place. You set up a capture web site that talks about what great food you have and special coupons that are available for anyone who registers, and there's a place for them to type an email address, name, and phone number. You print up a flyer that tells about all the great info and coupons your customer will get if they register at your site. Every time you sell a pizza you give out that flyer with the promise of those discount coupons that can be used on the next purchase along with great tips for the ultimate in Italian Cuisine. Will most of your customers register? Sure.

How cool would it be for them to immediately get a compelling flyer in their inbox with coupons and maybe tips on reheating a pizza? Then two days later they get email #2 that has your earlybird specials for weekends and a recipe for home-made low calorie Italian salad dressing. Then two days later they get email #3 and it tells the customer that the first set of coupons will expire soon and gives them different coupons and a recipe to use with left-over ziti. Then a week later another comes, and two weeks later, another, each with value for the customer, tips that the customer would likely use, and coupons to save money. What a loyal customer base you could build over time with a system like this!

You wouldn’t have to work with an autoresponder service if you customers all signed up the same day. You could manually send the list of emails you created. But say 10 customers signed up on day #1. They all need to get email #1. 8 more sign up on day #2. They need to get email #1. 15 more join on day #3. They need to get email #1 and don’t forget that the first group gets email #2. The next day 12 more join. They get email #1 and group #3 gets email #2. Who gets what tomorrow? Two more days of that and you’re on your way to a permanent straight jacket. You could never do it manually. You would have to either eliminate every email after the first, or computerize the operation…with an autoresponder system!

Before I related how an autoresponder works for your Network Marketing business, I wanted to use the pizza place so you could see this from another perspective. What makes a program like that work is consistency and always offering value. You set up your campaign to send more emails at the beginning of your relationship with them. As you campaign goes on you leave more time between contacts. You don’t want them to “opt-out” because they feel like you are spamming them. If the value you provide is good enough, you might even get your customers to look forward to your next email, anticipating more quality valuable content.

So the same exact principle applies for your autoresponder campaign when someone signs up on the capture page you set up for your Network Marketing opportunity- or your affiliate opportunity. Every email should have your offer and be filled with value. And get creative here. If you have a great sense of comedy, you could include your “joke of the day”. You could include tip #1 on “how to choose the right opportunity” in email #1 and email #2 could have tip #2, and so on. You could include info on tax advantages of having a home based business. How about pointers on selecting the technology and devices that make a home business hum? Give them good valuable info- and your link to sign up with you. Don’t make everything you send be just an extended pitch. You are trying to build a relationship here. If you have great content on your web site, send them there. Hey, why not send them a link to AskKimandPhilStone.com? If you think they will appreciate the extra info, send it along with your offer. Pitch, pitch, pitch and they’ll unsubscribe. Keep value as top priority and you'll keep them with you, and maybe they will like you and trust you enough to join you!

There are a number of suppliers who offer an autoresponder service. I use two different ones. Just make sure there are no hidden charges, that you can customize as needed, and that you own and control the email list. They will handle all the opt-out requests. Notification of new enrollees or opt-outs should be selectable too. There’s a world of promotion that these systems can handle- including running multiple campaigns all at the same time for you. Say you’re a real estate agent who has a Network Marketing business and your daughters sell Girl Scout cookies. Run three different campaigns.

There’s no way I could ever hope to cover all the ins and outs. That’s why this is titled “Basics”. But there is a world of promotional power at your disposal with a strong capture page, marketing to drive prospects to that page, and then contact through a great autoresponder campaign filled with value.