If you’ve reached the point of exhaustion trying to keep up with answering the mountain of emails that threatens to bury you alive every single day, you’re ready to start using autoresponders.

Autoresponders are programs that when set up, will automatically respond to your emails without you so much as having to click on your mouse.

People expect prompt replies to their email inquiries. Which means you have three choices: #1 Work 24/7, #2 Hire enough people to constantly monitor incoming emails (which cuts into your revenue and profitability), #3 Implement an autoresponder system. And the good news is that an autoresponder is an inexpensive – or even free -method of quickly responding to emails and queries as soon as they are received or in a time-frame you establish that is appropriate to your business processes.

Emails are still essential to your business for many different reasons. Most importantly, autoresponders will give you substantive and quantifiable feedback about your website as part of the service.

There are a number of good reasons why you need an autoresponder besides just answering your email. For example, autoresponders can be used if  to send information about your services or products, price lists, or to manage those frequently asked questions asked.

Do you want to offer your site visitors a special bonus of some kind, such as advice or relevant articles? All of this can be handled by an autoresponder.

You can also advertise your business and build loyal, long-term relationships with your customers with the help of autoresponders.

Autoresponder programs vary from software that runs with your email program to a specialized script that runs on your web hosting company’s server. This kind of script may use a web page form or simply operate with your email account. This kind of script is programmed to send out a standardized message whenever an email is received. The message is sent to a particular script or email address.

Some autoresponders can do more than simply send out standardized messages. They can send out an unlimited number of follow-up messages sent at predetermined intervals. For example, you can set your autoresponder to send out a new message every day for as long a period as you desire.

One way internet marketers use autoresponders is to deliver information in bite-sized pieces such as 7 day ecourses.  Each day a person will receive a different course via email which can be in text format, as a link to a video or audio recording or a combination of these.

There are numerous companies who offer autoresponders free of charge such as ListWire.  Others charge a nominal monthly or annual fee such as Some of them include aweber, MailJet, Get Response and Constant Contact.

Your website hosting company may even provide autoresponders as part of your hosting plan. Some web platforms such as wordpress have plugins that work in conjuction with your autoresponder to make it simple to create landing pages and optin forms.

Depending on your individual needs and level of difficulty in implementing, will determine which service is right for you.

Eight tips when creating and sending autoresponders:

1. To personalize your autoresponder messages, attach a signature. Signatures in this case are much like business cards. You can include your name, company, all your contact numbers and addresses, and a brief message.

Keep the length of your signature between four to six lines of text, with no more than 70 characters in a single line. Make sure that your email program does not cut off your text! The content should include your name, your company name, your email address, fax number, and any other contact details, such as 800 numbers. Lastly, always include a short personal message about your company. It should be a
subtle sell of your services or your products, and possibly your company’s reliability and longevity.

2. Another specialized use of autoresponders is to create courses that you can then offer your site visitors for free. You must choose a topic in which you are an expert and that precisely targets your potential customers.

Once you have carefully chosen your subject, divide it into a number of different sub-topics. Then offer your site visitor a free 10 or 15 day course, each day offering a different sub-topic. The first topic should always be a welcome message to your site visitor and an explanation about what is to follow. Your explanation should be enticing, getting the point across that you are offering free, quality information that your target audience will find of great value.

With every lesson, include the number of the lesson, the topic title, information about your company and its services or products. At the end, include a few blurbs about the next lesson to entice the subscriber to continue on.

Make sure each topic is packed with essential and valuable information, and leaves the visitor lusting to know more. Otherwise, you may lose them in the very beginning.

Of course, you have to create your course before you can offer it. Once you have done this, and gone over the material carefully, employing a professional writer or editor if necessary, you must transfer your text to your autoresponder.

3. Make it easy for your visitor to subscribe to your lists and most importantly to unsubscribe when they want to opt-out.

4. Make your terms and conditions and privacy policy clear, concise and easy to find.

5.  Use persuasive language in your headline and your content.

6. Be of value and service. Provide useful information, tips and content.

7. Keep it simple, and personal. Let them get to know you.

8. Reward your loyal customers.

Email is an excellent marketing tool; it is inexpensive and it is quick. Use it to advertise your business by choosing your email address carefully. Your website should contain different email addresses for different contact requests. For example, use info@yourdomain.com for information requests, or sales@yourdomain.com for questions about sales. It’s a good idea to set up one for the owner, such as president@yourdomain.com. This presents your company in a personal, approachable light and insures that direct contact is provided.

Autoresponders are an effective and powerful marketing tool, allowing you to make contact with hundreds, even thousands of potential customers. This is an invaluable asset considering how many potential customers you usually have contact with before you make an actual sale. Essentially, an autoresponser allows you to automate important aspects of your marketing campaign.