I recently posted an article, “The Value of Social Media Bots”, which stirred up a lot of comments both pros and cons. Today, I would like write about the bot of all bots when it comes to marketing. And, even though it is often overlooked by many new online marketers (they may not even know about it) and forgotten by experienced online marketers who have been seduced by other social media tools, it is truly the most powerful bot of all.
The Master Bot of which I speak is called an “autoresponder”. No this is not the same thing as “auto-reply”. It is auto-reply on steroids – far more advanced. It is also different than an email newsletter. Before we dive into why the autoresponder is so powerful, let’s take a minute and look at what it is and what it does.
An autoresponder uses email as a form of communication similar to a newsletter. However, what is different about an autoresponder is that you can prepare a series of messages in advance and determine the frequency of delivery (e.g. daily for x days, weekly for x weeks, monthly for x months or whatever). With a newsletter, the current issue goes out to everyone on your mail list at the same time with no regard to previous issues.
With an autoresponder, recipients always begin receiving the first message of the series. As soon as a visitor to your website completes the autoresponder form requesting to receive your online offer, they will one immediately and continue to receive messages until they have received all of the messages in the series or, until they unsubscribe. Each recipient receives a different message from the other list members or none at all depending where they are in the series, as it starts when they completed the initial form. Each message can be personalized with the recipients’ name and other info that you have collected from the form.
Autoresponders are most commonly used for an eCourse on a specific topic (e.g. “Seven Day eCourse on Social Media”) but there are lots of other uses as well. I once sold an expensive product online (in the thousands of dollars) and offered a discount if they acted by a specific date. After sending them the proposal outlining the value proposition and pricing, I used an autoresponder to automatically follow-up with them. “Only two weeks until the special discounts expires. Call me with questions because if this is right for you, you do not miss out on this promotion.” Of course it was longer and better written (more compelling and persuasive) but that was the gist of it.
I discovered autoresponders about 15 years ago when I was trying to accomplish a couple of things. I had built great traffic to my website but people were coming and leaving without taking any action and most would never be back. What a waste of resources, especially because I was using a lot of pay-per-click advertising to get them there. If there was just some way I could collect their email address before they left, I could follow up with them after they were gone and bring them back again and again. I also know from marketing statistics that we need to connect with our prospects an average of seven times (hence the 7 day eCourse) before they buy.
So why is an autoresponder so powerful? Well, let’s start with content. You can type up a seven page document that explains your value proposition and the odds are good that most people will not read all of it (in fact many people will not read all of this article) but they would read one page. So instead of sending a seven page document you can divide it into seven one page emails and send one per day over seven days as an eCourse. Just as with all social media, your eCourse should be more informational than hard-selling. Of course, it would be a mistake not to have various links in each email that point back to your website and/or blog. And it would also be a mistake not to include buttons to follow you on Twitter, fan you on Facebook or connect with you on LinkedIn. (You should always network your networks.)
I did some direct selling when I was young and just getting started (from door to door vacuum cleaner sales to office machines). I learned that selling was really about leading prospects down the path of agreement. If you made each sales point clear and concise and they agreed with it, by the time you got to the end of your presentation you would secure the order. The same holds true with autoresponders. Each message can be short or longer as needed but should not cover too many points. I try to limit mine to just one main point per message. There is nothing that prevents you from creating a 10 or 15 day eCourse if necessary. Each eLesson should build a more solid case for the prospect to do business with you. You should treat your eCourse content like a blog rather than a website (see “Is Your Blog Really A Blog?”), not because it is from an autoresponder but because you sold it as an eCourse.
Just because you are spoon-feeding content through an autoresponder does not mean you shouldn’t use the same or similar content elsewhere like the seven page document (some will read it all), your website, your blog, Facebook or anywhere else you desire. The more times they see the message from different sources the more credible the content becomes.
Now the big benefit of the autoresponder is that unlike other social media tools (e.g. newsletters, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), you can just “set it and forget it”. Simply put the sign-up form on one of your pages that is already securing traffic. For a blog, I would put the sign-up form in a side bar so it will be on every post you make. The autoresponder will work for you 24/7/365. There is no need to do anything else unless you want to edit your message from time to time. You can even download the contacts you have collected and upload them to another list if you so desire. These are the things that make the autoresponder the bot of all bots – the Master Bot.
So where do you find an autoresponder to use? There are three types of autoresponders:
- Free Autoresponders – The advantage with these is that they are free. The disadvantage is that they usually limit the number of messages in a series or the number of recipients and they usually include advertising over which you have little or no control.
- Autoresponder Services – There are email marketing services like AWeber, iContact, ConstantContact, Benchmark Email, etc. that offer autoresponders along with other email marketing tools. The advantages of a service are that because of their anti-spam policies (double opt-in) they are seldom blocked by ISPs for spamming, meaning more of your email will get to where it is supposed to go. They control the speed (number per hour) so very few of your messages get blocked. Set-up is easy and most offer great tracking (who opened email, who clicked on links, etc.). The disadvantages are that there is a monthly fee (prices can be found on their respective websites) and they control your list.
- Self Hosted Autoresponder Software – For a one time fee (sometimes free as with www.parabots.com) you can host the software yourself. The advantages are that you are in control of most everything (including your list) and there are no monthly charges. The disadvantages are that many do not have good tracking features built in and you are at the mercy of your ISP as to how many of the messages you want to send are actually sent and at the mercy of the recipient’s ISP as to how many are actually delivered rather than blocked as spam. Plus you have to figure out how to install and maintain it.
If you are just starting out using autoresponders, I recommend starting with a service. Once you understand what you are doing, you will be better prepared to select your own software if that is the route you choose. In selecting which service you choose to use, just compare features closely and make sure that the one you choose will do what you want it to do. I do not work for any of them and I haven’t used them all so I don’t feel I am qualified to recommend one over the other. Possibly readers will have opinions they will wish to share.
In summary, if you have something to sell online, you should be seriously considering using autoresponders as one of your online marketing tools as it really, truly is the bot of all bots – the Lord of the Bots, the Master Bot!
Those who enjoyed this article also enjoyed:
The Value of Social Media Bots
Is Your Blog Really A Blog?
Web 2.0 Email Marketing & Autoresponders
If you would like to contact me, you can do so by visiting my LinkedIn page or emailing me at mike.clough@bestbizpractices.org.
Posted by: Mike Clough
