Is the Management of Your Email List Driving You INSANE?
Have you ever tried to run a mailing list for your business using a normal email program ?
I pity you. You’ve experienced hell!
Manually entering people onto lists, removing them, sending messages, etc. is a time consuming thankless job that nobody should be doing. But luckily there’s a much better way.Autoresponders are like electronic slaves that do this work for you.
They can achieve amazing results in the important areas of increasing profits, cutting costs, and making your clients love you.
Once you tell them what to do, they automatically chug along providing enormous benefits to your business that will truly seem like magic!
Basic Autoresponders.
You’ve probably sent an email to someone, and instantly received a reply saying that they are on holiday, and will be back on a certain date. You may have even set up something like this yourself on your own email account.
The reply to your message was sent by a mailing program that responds automatically to an incoming message. (that’s why they are called AutoResponders). Programs like this are standard on many email systems. Their job is to wait for a message to arrive, and then send a pre-prepared message back to the sender.
Sequential Autoresponders
A sequential autoresponder is the “Big Brother” of the basic autoresponder. They can send back many messages to the sender of that email, at whatever interval you specify.
A properly set up sequential autoresponder is one of the biggest benefits that the internet can provide for your business. It will automatically register new users, and send them a series of messages that you have prepared for them.
You might not see the benefits of this immediately, so I invite you to experience the power of this yourself.
My main “DoubleHeader” mailing list is run by an autoresponder ( I call him “Otto”)
When you enter your name into the signup box, here’s what happens:
- A message is sent to AWeber, (the autoresponder service that I use) saying that someone wants to join my mailing list.
- Otto immediately sends a message to the email address entered on the form, asking you to click on a link to confirm that the request was genuine.
The process is called ‘Double Opt In”, and is necessary to conform to the anti-spam laws that exist in many countries. - After you confirm, your name and email address is placed onto the mailing list for “doubleheader”, and you will immediately be sent the first newsletter. In the newsletter is a link so that you can download your free copy of my Website Owners guide.
- After 2 days, you’ll be sent the second DoubleHeader newsletter, and you’ll keep receiving them at various intervals as long as you remain a member.
- At the bottom of every newsletter is a link that will immediately remove you from the mailing list if you don’t want to receive it any more.
All of this happens without any intervention from me.
Due to the nature of this newsletter, I can pre-prepare a number of messages, because I am introducing things in a sequence.
Other types of newsletters that are on current events, etc. require newly written content for every issue.
Which method you use depends on the nature of your business, and the type of information you are sending.
For me, a structured sequence with the occasional “live broadcast” works well.
I could have hundreds – or even thousands of people signing up and receiving my newsletters, buying products, and signing up for other, more specialised newsletters that I am offering.
Practical Example - How I Sell my Ethical Email Course
As a practical demonstration of what Otto does for me, here’s how I sell my Ethical Email Marketing Course.
I have a sales page, which talks about the course, it’s benefits, and what you get.
If people are interested but are not ready to purchase it yet, I offer to send them a series of useful hints and tips.
If they want these, they sign up to a seperate list, and Otto sends them a message every 3 days with a new insight into Ethical Email Marketing. It’s good info, with no hard sell. There’s just a link to the sales page for the course at the bottom of each of the free tip pages.
Yes, my objective is to sell them my course.
But if they just want to learn from the free messages, that’s fine too. And I’ve identified some people who are interested in the benefits that ethical email marketing can produce for their businesses.
If someone reaches the sales page and wants to purchase the whole course, they pay online and are automatically sent a link where they can immediately download the entire course. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
It’s all hands off, once everything has been planned out and set up.
I receive an email telling me that a sale has been made. It’s a great feeling to wake up and have an increased bank balance.
Of course, you have to invest time or money to set this process up. But once it is in place, you really can make money on auto-pilot.
To see the process in action, just go to www.theInternetBloke.com/emailcourse
You’ll see the sales page, the payment section, and the offer to join the “Ethical Email Marketing” mailing list.
So, How Would This Work for an Ordinary Small Business?
Surprisingly enough, you can do email marketing even if you don’t sell anything online.
You don’t even need to have a website!
If you are a bit creative, almost ANY small business can come up with a way to use email marketing.
If you want me to write up a case study, please make a comment on this blog post.
Even if you don’t sell anything online, (or even own a website!) Email marketing can work for you.
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