Autoresponders are a core building block of email marketing. They are programs, running on a mail server or email client, that automatically send emails to lists of users. They help you manage communication, build customer loyalty and boost lead generation.
Why use an autoresponder
An autoresponder makes it much easier to run your email marketing campaigns.
When someone signs up for your newsletter through permission marketing, they are telling you they want to hear from you. That is where your relationship with them begins.
The first email to send is the follow-up: a confirmation that an action was completed successfully.
You can use it to welcome a new user to your platform, or to thank a customer for placing their first order on your website, and so on.
How do they actually help you?
Do you have a large, diverse base of users, contacts and loyal customers? Then managing communication with each of them can get complicated.
This is where autoresponders come in. You don’t have to write an email by hand every time a new user takes an action on your site. These programs send it automatically, personalizing the recipient’s name and other details.
Key autoresponder features
These tools make your email marketing campaign easier to run and improve your relationship with customers. To do that, an autoresponder needs a few essential features.
- List management. You can segment your contacts by age group, gender and location, so you send targeted emails to the right users.
- Data protection. The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is very clear on this point. Your autoresponder must keep your subscribers’ personal data safe.
- Opt-out. Under the same regulation, every subscriber has the right to unsubscribe from a newsletter at any time. Automated emails must include a link that makes unsubscribing quick and easy.
Different types of autoresponders
Choose the best tool for sending your email communications. It should fit your needs, be effective and support conversion rate optimization.
The best autoresponders offer high deliverability. They automatically remove the obstacles that keep your message from reaching the inbox.
They also avoid words that trigger content filters, meaning terms or expressions considered offensive or annoying.
Double opt-in
An effective autoresponder always asks subscribers to confirm the email address they entered when signing up for the newsletter.
This improves the deliverability of your emails and automatically removes incorrect or nonexistent contacts from your lists.
It also lowers your hard bounce rate, that is, the share of emails that cannot be delivered at all.
Using autoresponders in email marketing
You can organize your email marketing plan by scheduling in advance how many messages to send. Don’t be too pushy (you’d risk being flagged as spam), but don’t let subscribers forget about you either.
Pay attention to both the design and the copy of your emails. Create compelling calls to action in the messages you send through autoresponders.