Does It REALLY Matter What Kind Of Autoresponder You Use?

Autoresponders are a very Important part of an online business. “If you want to run a successful online business, then you will need an autoresponder.” You hear this all the time from the “Online Marketing Gurus”, but you never really hear a good explination of why that is, or what kind you need. I will attempt to do just that in this blog post.

Before we begin, you should know that there are 2 types of auto responders…
1. Regular
2. Smart

You have probably experienced both of these even if you didn’t realize it. Have you ever emailed a doctor’s office with a question and immediately recieved an email back that says something like “Sorry, but we are on vacation for the next 5 days. We will respond to your email as soon as we return”? Here is another example. Have you ever had trouble with an online service or software and had to submit a support ticket? Most likely, if you did, you got an email back that said something like “Thank you for your concern. Someone will get back to you within 48 hours”.

In both of these examples, you experienced a “regular” autoresponder. When online marketers talk about using an autoresponder, they are not talking about this kind. They are talking about a “smart” autoresponder. A smart autoresponder allows you to automatically send out pre-written emails at whatever interval you would like.

So you may be asking yourself, why do I need to send pre-written emails at different intervals?

It doesn’t matter what market you are in, if you are selling something online, then you need to have people to sell it to. These people are “leads” when they first opt in to recieve more information about your product or service. You then have to be able to convert those leads into buyers. One of the best (and most common) ways of converting leads into buyers, is by developing a relationship with them.

When people feel comfortable with you and your products and services, they will be more willing to spend money. In the online world, the best way to build trust and make them feel comfortable is to send them a series of emails that show that you really have value to give them. A good autoresponder will make your life so much easier when it comes to following up.

Lets assume that you are getting 10 new leads per day requesting more information about your product, service, or business opportunity. Here is what you would be faced with in just a matter of a few days if you did not have an auto responder in place…

Day 1.
- Send out 10 welcome emails telling your leads thanks for requesting more information.
Day 2.
- Send out 10 welcome emails to your new leads
-Send out 10 follow up emails to the people that requested more info yesterday.
Day 3.
-Send out 1o new welcome emails to your new leads.
-Send out 10 follow up emails to the people that requested more info yesterday.
-Send out 10 follow up emails to the people that requested more info 2 days ago.

As you can see, it would be a nightmare if you had to keep up with this on your own. What if you could write all of your emails once and upload them into a system that would take care of sending the next email in the sequence at just the right time. Better yet, what if you could personalize each email to the person that you are sending it to?

A “smart” autoresponder does just that. It keeps track of when to send, and what email to send, and to who. I simply COULD NOT run my online business without one of these things. Seriously, it just wouldn’t be possible.

Ok, I can see that I need one, but where do I sign up?

Well, before you jump the gun, we have some more stuff to cover. We have established that there are 2 types of autoresponders, but wat we haven’t talked about yet are the 3 kinds. Here they are:

1. Software
2. Third Party
3. Combination

Now, It doesn’t really matter which one of these that you use, because they all get the same job done. I will explain the ups and downs of each and you can make your own decisions.

1. Software – This is just like it sounds. A peice of software that you install on your computer and configure. I personally don’t use this kind, because when I was just getting started in internet marketing, I met someone at an affiliate summit who had this type of auto responder and wanted to do a promotion that weekend. Just so happened that he grabbed the wrong computer when he left the house and could not access his autoresponder, and therefore could not run his promotion.  I don’t recommend this type or autoresponder, so I am not including any links.

2. Third Party – This is just the opposite of the first type. There is no software to install. All you have to do is set up your account and you can log-in and manage your contacts and emails from anywhere with internet connection. There is usually a monthly fee for this type of service that ranges anywhere from $11.00/month-$50.00/month. Some examples of third party auto responders can be found below:

Get Response
Aweber

I started out by using Get Response because I could not afford anything more, and they are pretty easy to navigate. I still have an account with them today, but I typically only use it for training purposes. One reason that I don’t use this type of autoresponder for my business is because with most third party autoresponder accounts you are using a shared IP address.

Without being to technical, this basically means that if someone goes out and breaks the rules of your autoresponder company, then the company has the right to freeze their account. When this happens the IP address is frozen along with it and if you happen to share an ip address with them as well, then you are dead in the water.

3. Combination – The last kind of autoresponder that we will talk about is kind of like a hybrid of the first two. It is a peice of software, but instead of being installed on your computer, it is installed on your server. this means that you can log on from any computer in the world, but you also have the benefit of having your own ip address. The only way you can be penalized is if you break the rules. you can’t be punished for someone elses actions.

This is the type of autoresponder I now use for my business. A big reason why, is because there are no monthly fees. It is more expensive to set up, but if you plan on being successful and not just “trying out” an online business, then it will definitely pay off in the long run. You can find a link to the one that I use below:

Auto Response Plus / ARP3

Now you should have enough information on auto responders to know why you need one and what type you want. It really doesn’t matter which one you go with, the important thing is to make sure that you have one. I can promise you that an autoresponder will make your online money making journey so much easier. If you are reading this and have some feedback on other services, please feel free to leave your comments in the section below. Also, leave any questions and I will try to answer them as well.

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Warmest Regards,
Justin