The Power of Auto-responders…

• Subscribe auto-responder – This is a great opportunity to let your subscribers know what they can expect from your emails. Let them know how often you will send, what type of emails they will receive and most importantly ask them to add the from email address as a trusted sender to help your email land in the inbox.

• Schedule auto-responders – Just because you are away from the office it doesn’t mean your email marketing should stop. Use this auto-responder to schedule an email to be sent at a specific date and time.

• Open auto-responders – If you have an offer with a limited time period then why not take advantage of those that are interested in it. This auto-responder allows you to setup another email to be sent after a specific amount of hours or days after the original email was opened. This will allow you to remind users of the offer and let them know it is about to expire.

• Click auto-responders – If someone clicks on a link in your email then they are letting you they are interested in a particular product so you should take full advantage of that using this auto-responder. If someone clicks on a link to find out more information about a product then why don’t you have another email sent to them a few hours or days later which will show them other similar products to try and push a sale.

• Anniversary auto-responders – If you have some information stored about your subscribers such as their birthday then use it! This auto-responder allows you to schedule an email to be sent on the subscriber’s birthday, before or even after. All of these options have their own advantages as shown below: 

1. Send your email before their birthday: So if you are selling products then this would be a great time to send those emails because if you send it before their birthday then you can give them inspiration about what they could ask for their birthday.
2. Send your email after their birthday: Alternatively if you send it after their birthday then why not send them more expensive products as they will likely have more money to spend.
3. Send your email on their birthday: As it is your subscriber’s birthday remind them why they are on your mailing list by sending them a birthday discount. This will not only reinforce their choice of being on your mailing list but it will also push them to purchase products from your store.

• Unsubscribe auto-responders – Although the user has unsubscribed you don’t know why they did it so give them some other options. In this email ask them to follow you on Facebook or Twitter as that way they can still keep up-to-date, however they will be doing so on their own terms.

• RSVP auto-responders – These auto-responders allow you to obtain feedback from your subscribers such as if they are going to attend your event. However you can easily link these auto-responders with your unsubscribe auto-responder as you can place links in the email being sent to find out why they have unsubscribed. Ask the user to click on the most relevant link explaining why they unsubscribed as that information may change the way you conduct your email marketing.