July 10th - "Autoresponders in your World" Series, Part 7.

Making Autoresponder Messages Sell Themselves.

Autoresponders are ideally suited for e-mail relationship marketing, the modern approach to online sales entrepreneurship. Hard sales tactics are no longer the norm; people don’t need a formal sales background to attract prospects and potential customers to their network. Most experts claim that people need at least seven exposures to a product or service before buying it. So the burning question is:

What role can your autoresponder play in influencing purchasing decisions?

Assuming that you work with permission-based, double opt-in lists (always preferable to single opt-in lists) contacting prospects seven, seven-hundred, or even seven-thousand times over a lifetime is not beyond reach. Autoresponders give you the power to harness the Internet for that very purpose. Forget the “All or Nothing” approach; i.e. an uncompromising sales pitch in your “Welcome” autoresponder. Not only won’t you make the sale, but there is a good chance your prospect will immediately unsubscribe.

Instead, use your initial message to thank subscribers for giving you the privilege of speaking to them on a very important issue. Next, focus on why they chose to sign up with your newsletter:

Subscribers believe that you have the solution to their problem!

Don’t talk about politics if your squeeze page invitation offered expert advice about deep-sea diving! Inform readers with usable content that relates to your upcoming offers. You may include a sales page link at the bottom of your message or postscript (P.S.), or hold off until future autoresponder messages. The key is to build a relationship with your readership. Resist the temptation to bear all at once. Be patient; just hinting at your unique solution will keep prospects tuned in to your activities.

Once you have established your credentials and sincerity, tell subscribers how your product or services can help them. Use follow-up autoresponders to describe benefits, and gradually explain why it is the right solution for them. Free information should stimulate prospects and convince them that you are the real deal.

Finally, comes the sales pitch: a reminder of why they joined you, the benefits of the products, and special features (i.e. bonuses, testimonials, money-back guarantees, etc.) to close the deal.

Autoresponder marketing is not an exact science, and there is more than one path to success. Signing up for other marketers’ newsletters and analyzing their styles will give you an idea of what’s already out there and help you create a unique voice. Seriously consider maintaining a ‘swap file’ (i.e. a file containing advice and/or messages proven to work) of best practices to retain messages and language that you may want to try in the future. Just remember not to plagiarize sales copy or other autoresponder messages!

Allowing autoresponder messages to do the selling for you lets you concentrate on creating and finding good products for your customers. Having sales expertise is great, but don’t impose it on your new prospects. Peak their curiosity first by empathizing with their problem and defining it in terms favorable to your solution. Repeatedly offering pertinent information that addresses the issue in a non-threatening manner improves the chance that they will be pre-sold prior to your final message.

… and ready to purchase.

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Rahul Majumdar is an Information Marketer specializing in article marketing, list-building, and digital product creation. Sign up for more of his insights here.