How to Use an Autoresponder?

What is an Email Autoresponder?

An email autoresponder is a tool that is designed to send an automatic email as a response to a trigger event that has been pre-defined. Today, the majority of email marketing services will offer some kind of autoresponder feature.

The difference between these services is the complexity offered by the function. Email autoresponders are the simplest form of email marketing automation. They offer sequences that tend to be fairly rigid with one message sent after the other at set intervals.

What are Email Autoresponders Used For?

Email autoresponders can be used by marketers in a range of different ways including passively sending important messages to email marketing subscribers, sending tailored messages to certain segments of the email list, move leads further along the marketing funnel and drive upsells and engagement to generate more income.

Some common uses for email autoresponders include:

Autoresponder Email for Double Opt-In

Automated double opt-in emails have become a vital part of email marketing that is based around consent and permission. They help a company maintain a healthy and hygienic email list and boost your chances of having email campaigns delivered to inboxes.

The idea is fairly simple; when somebody subscribes to your email list, you send them an automated email that contains a link they will need to click on to confirm that they want to subscribe.

It is used to avoid accidental sign-up and to act as proof of consent, while helping marketers avoid adding misspelled email addresses to the list to reduce hard bounces.

Autoresponder Welcome Emails

A welcome email is one of the most common autoresponse types in email marketing. They are easy to set up and contain a simple thank you to the subscriber for signing up which is essential for getting the relationship off to the best start.

There are several things that marketers can do to increase the value of the welcome email, including using it to drive sales by offering special welcome discounts or drive engagement by promoting content that new subscribers may be interested in.

When is an Affiliate Marketing Autoresponder Not Useful?

While autoresponders have several uses in email marketing and affiliate marketing, there are some instances where they are not useful.

For example, they are not used to send transactional emails such as shipping notifications, order confirmations, or other time-sensitive emails that are sent following a customer transaction.

An SMTP server is used to send transactional emails, and they have a very different purpose compared to marketing emails.

Some email services allow you to manage both your marketing and transactional emails in the same place, while others only handle marketing emails, so you will need to sign up to a different service to manage your transactional emails.

Advantages of Using an Autoresponder Email Template in Email Marketing

Some people mistakenly believe that autoresponders are only useful for big companies – but this isn’t true, as even small businesses can benefit from using an autoresponder to automate their email marketing workflow.

It can be a valuable addition to any email marketing campaign and can have several benefits. One of the main benefits, for small businesses and larger companies, is that it helps you save time since it eliminates the need to manually send an email to each new subscriber.

Along with this, it can also help you nurture your customer relationships with relevant messages at the right time, which can ultimately help you move your leads further along the marketing funnel. Finally, email autoresponders allow you to passively maximise your opportunities to improve revenue.

They do this by allowing you to follow up in the moments where customer interest in your brand is going to be at its highest, for example, by offering a discount code in the welcome email.

How to Choose the Best Autoresponder Tool

If you have decided that using an autoresponder tool is the next best step for your email marketing campaign, then you will need to get started with finding the right email autoresponder software.

When choosing the right email marketing software, you should always check to see what the service offers when it comes to email automation.

‘Simple automation sequences’ as a feature will be referring to an email autoresponder that is set up to cover the simple use cases previously discussed such as welcome emails and double opt-in.

However, bear in mind that email autoresponders are just a small part of the marketing automation tools and features available today, and chances are that once you begin seeing results, you may want to dive even further into email automation.

If this is the case, it is definitely worth looking more into the wider marketing automations that are available.

How to Set Up an Email Autoresponder

While setting up your email autoresponder tool may vary slightly depending on the exact software that you are using, the basic steps tend to be quite similar. To get up and running with an email autoresponder, you will need to do the following:

Write a Template – How to Write Autoresponder Welcome Email

The first step is to create a welcome email. This is likely to be one of the most common autoresponse emails that you will send out to subscribers.

Keep it short and to the point and consider adding something of value that can be used to generate income from subscribers whose interest has peaked in your business at the time they receive this email.

Many companies find that offering a discount or special offer for subscribing works well.

Set Up a Marketing Automation Workflow

Once your template is ready, it is time to set up an email automation workflow.

How many options you have will depend on the software that you are using.

You may have access to ready-made workflow templates that you can set up and tweak to save time, or you will usually be able to set up your own custom workflow from scratch with any tool.

Segment Your Welcome Emails

You will have created separate email signup forms to place on different parts of your online presence, such as your social media profiles, website, or blog.

Bear in mind that each signup form is going to be associated with a list where new subscribers are saved, so choose the email list that you want to create a welcome email for.

This allows you to customise your email list to subscribers who have signed up in different places.

Decide on a Timeframe

It is important to decide how much time should pass before you send a subscriber a welcome email message.

Ideally, you should follow up as quickly as possible, so it’s a good idea to set your autoresponder tool to send out the welcome email within just a couple of minutes of the new subscriber signing up.

This way, they receive the welcome email as quickly as possible while your brand is still fresh in their mind and are more likely to take advantage of any welcome discounts or deals you offer.

Activate the Workflow

Once you have set everything up, you will finally need to activate the workflow. Once you have done this, you have successfully set up an email autoresponder to welcome your new email subscribers.

The process is very similar for any other kind of autoresponder email that you may want to send, including double opt-in emails.

Top Reasons to Start Using an Email Autoresponder

If you are not yet using an autoresponder for your business, there are several reasons why you should start. Some of the main benefits of using an email autoresponder tool for your business’s email marketing campaigns include:

• Easy to get started – as you can see, setting up an autoresponder email is a quick, easy process with many software programs.
• Save time – instead of sending all those emails manually, you can set it and forget it, freeing up time to focus on your business.
• Better customer relationships – You can use an autoresponder to create personalised and tailored messages, which in turn can build brand trust and improve the customer experience.
• Improve communication – Autoresponder emails are one of the easiest ways to make sure that you are regularly communicating with your customers and keeping them up to date.
• Better engagement: Customers and subscribers will usually engage more with relevant messages sent at the right time.
• Nurture leads – Sending content that is relevant and interesting can help you move your leads along the marketing or sales funnel.

Using an autoresponder is simple, easy, and has lots of benefits.