Lisa FurgisonFinding new customers and not having nearly enough time in the day are likely two of your biggest concerns as a business owner. That’s why email marketing is essential to growing your customer base. The high ROI is unrivaled. An autoresponder series is a valuable email marketing tool that gives you the opportunity to share new content, build an email list or start promoting your latest service, even while you sleep.
We’ve put together a three-part guide on the benefits of autoresponders and explore the various kinds of trigger-based emails and when to use them. In part one, we cover the following:
- The Benefits of Autoresponders
- Welcome Emails
The Benefits Of Autoresponders
Here are five ways your business can benefit from using email autoresponders:
1. Save you time
Want to save some time and get more done in your day? An autoresponder can help you accomplish this.
Rather than writing and sending individual emails to your subscribers, why not create effective emails set for automatic delivery? When your email list gets a new subscriber, you can set a trigger to automatically send them a welcome email. ‘The automation process is a snap,’ says Jill Bastian, our Community Education and Training manager.
“Business owners won’t need much time to set up autoresponder emails,” she says. “That’s a big deal for any business owner.”
2. Make a great first impression
A new contact could quickly become a paying customer, but first you’ll need to make the right impression. In a world full of competitors, you can impress potential customers by showing your commitment to customer service. If prospective clients receive a welcome email or a discount after signing up for your company email, it shows them that you’re on top of your game and will entice them to come back for more.
3. Offer the chance to capitalize on sales
When a new subscriber signs up for your email, it’s a signal that they are ready to learn more about your business. They’ve already shown their interest; now you just need to capitalize on the opportunity.
“Being able to connect with new customers right away can be a huge win for a small business,” Bastian says. “And autoresponders can expedite that process.”
By sending an automated welcome email, or a thanks-for-signing-up email, you take one step closer to converting an interested prospect into a paying customer.
4. Provide value for your customers
The idea of getting overrun with spam emails or useless junk mail often keeps people from signing up for emails. An autoresponder that contains access to additional content or service is an excellent way to show your customers that your emails are valuable. You want to demonstrate that your name in the inbox provides something worth reading.
5. Keep your audience engaged
Setting up automated emails is a great no-hassle way to speak to your customers and keep your brand top of mind within your industry. Remember though that your content should not only be informative, but also provoke thought and speak directly to the reader’s needs/desires.
You want to make customers feel they are participating in something worthwhile. Adding polls or ‘submit your best story’ prompts about a select topic to an automated email are just two examples of how to do that. These types of messages set the tone for how a new customer will view the approachability of your brand.
Now that we’ve highlighted the benefits let’s take a look at one of the most popular autoresponders.
Welcome Emails
As mentioned earlier, Welcome emails are widely used and often expected when signing up for any sort of company/brand list. They are the perfect way to get new customers interested in your brand and ready to learn about what’s coming next from you!
Rockhouse Partners, a marketing company that helps promote entertainment venues, effectively uses Welcome emails to thank their fans for signing up. This is also their initial touchpoint for encouraging more interaction with their audience and it seems to work well.
“When a fan signs up for an email list they’ll automatically receive a message from our client with a brief, tone-setting introduction,” says Emily Harris with Rockhouse Partners. “Often, we’ll incorporate a call-to-action for tickets to upcoming events, or an offer to connect on social media profiles.” Emily Harris with Rockhouse Partners explains.
This recent autoresponder example illustrates how they incorporate an introduction along with a call-to-action (CTA) and social media buttons:
The “welcome to the family” message is a nice way to acknowledge the new fan, and the “view all events” button is an important call to action that pushes fans to learn more.
Below, you’ll find two other Welcome emails. Notice one offers a free item; the other includes several text-based links that provide more company information.
A promotional element like a discount code or a printable coupon is an excellent addition to a Welcome email as well.
If you haven’t started using autoresponders, a Welcome email is a great place to begin. VerticalResponse allows you to do so easily with a free or paid account. For even more tips and information on how Welcome emails increase engagement, check out this video.
Stay tuned for part two when we cover Content Offer and Survey Emails of the autoresponder series.
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