Saturday, February 24, 2007

E-mail Autoresponder Etiquette

By Judith Kallos

E-mail autoresponders, also known as automatic replies or away/vacation messages are used quite often without a full understanding of how and when they should be used. While this e-mail tool has many effective and useful applications, there are also times when using an autoresponder is not recommended.

Here are five easy tips to help you use your autoresponders properly with knowledge, understanding and courtesy:

  1. When using autoresponders for your business away message, engage the autoresponder just before your leave the office. Then, write yourself a note to disengage the autoresponder so it is one of the first things you do when upon your return. Nothing smacks of lack of organization or attention to detail than away messages still going out after you are back in the office and available for business communications.
  2. A greeting and a closing including your name and title should be part of your away message. Business away messages should also include your name, the time-frame you will be unavailable as well as the name, phone number and e-mail address of someone that can be contacted in your absence.
  3. Autoresponders used to confirm receipt of an inquiry or for disseminating commonly asked for information ("Click here to get our automated message on...") need to have an e-mail address in the From: field that is not the same as that of the autoresponder. Folks will hit reply to ask questions or give you their input. Rather than having them get another copy of what they've already received, replies should go to a different account.
  4. When subscribing to e-mail lists, forums, discussion boards or when simply requesting information, refrain from using an e-mail address that has an automated response attached to it. Virtual loops can be created that can create literally thousands of back and forth e-mails when an address with an autoresponder makes a request to another e-mail address using an autoresponder. The inquirer makes their request, the request gets replied to by an autoresponder, the inquirer's autoresponder goes back to the address that responded, which responds again and this back and forth will go on until one side or the other shut's down their autoresponders.
  5. When engaging an autoresponder away message on an e-mail address that you know you have used to subscribe to e-mail lists, forums, Blogs or discussion boards, be sure to unsubscribe from all those services and resubscribe when you come back. This will prevent your message from being repeatedly sent out to those also subscribed who are not e-mailing you directly. To avoid this situation all together, have an e-mail address that you use specifically for such activities.

Autoresponders are a great tool and when used appropriately autoresponders they can help keep others informed while freeing you up to do other things. Keep these issues in mind so that when you do use autoresponders, they are viewed as more of a benefit than an annoyance.

About the Author:

Judith Kallos is an authoritative and good-humored Technology Muse who has played @ http://www.TheIStudio.com for over a decade. Check out her popular E-mail Etiquette Web Site, Books and Free Tools @: http://www.NetManners.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Judith_Kallos

Online Marketing Software: What They Really Are?

By Melvin Perry Platinum Quality Author

These days most of the organizations treat the internet as a very important tool for their marketing efforts. While the internet can play a crucial role, it can deliver only if used properly. And as competition intensifies it is increasingly becoming important to have proper online marketing software to help you in your marketing endeavors.

There are several online marketing software available today and you have to pick one from them according to your needs and budgets, the basic functions that these software perform are to provide you with an autoresponder software and a mailing list manager. Before you select any one particular product you must understand what they are and how an online marketing software will help you in your business.

In today’s business networking is crucial and one of the best ways to network is to send information about your products or services to the people you think will be interested in them. For this you need to maintain a database of the mailing addresses. These software actually maintains such list automatically without you having to do anything extra. So your list is constantly updated as new clients either subscribe to or unsubscribe from your mailing list. No sweat for you. That is one great advantage from an online marketing software.

Then they also work as autoresponders. Suppose in your website you maintain a form where there is a set of question which the visitors can answer just by clicking on the radio buttons. When he is finished and submits the form, the autoresponder processes the information, makes sense of it, and sends him an email that has been structured to reply to that particular set of answers asked in the form.

The autoresponder also follows up with sending emails over a period of time.

Melvin Perry is an internet entreprenuer that specializes in building large email lists within a matter of weeks. He curently teaches marketers via free step by step video how to earn thousands monthly through the list building model. You can snatch this report at no cost by visiting FREE Internet Marketing Videos

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Melvin_Perry

Autoresponders – Your First Four Emails

By Sean Mize Platinum Quality Author

Using an autoresponder is pretty much a must – do in modern internet marketing. You simply must build a list, and you must build it using automated techniques.

So how long should your autoresponder sequence be?

Well, it varies dramatically depending on your purpose, but for ours and this project, you are simply going to start with a simple series of about 3-4 messages in your auto responder sequence. This will make it easy for you to learn the basics.

These emails are not designed to sell, but rather to allow your customer to get to know you. Remember, you are simply building a relationship with like-minded folks online, building an opportunity to begin to recommend your products or affiliate products on down the road. You want them to learn to like you, to trust you, to want to buy from you, and feel comfortable doing so.

Your first email should simply thank the subscriber for joining your list, indicating that you strive to maintain a quality mailing and will do your best to only send helpful information. If you have offered a free ebook or other product to first-time subscribers, you can include a link to that ebook in this email. This is certainly a get-to-know-you email.

Your second, third and fourth emails should be spaced about 4-6 days apart, and should simply be useful information for your subscribers. You can send links to additional free ebooks, to useful info on your web site, or you can simply write content with good information, and send it to your subscribers.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 800 articles in print and 9 published ebooks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Mize

Autoresponder An Essential Business Tool

By Wouter Olwagen

If you still think like me the television remote is a handy device then I guess we were blindfolded the past ten years. I only realised recently, that even though I've had the opportunity to work in a technology environment for the past 100 years that most of us are still living in the past decade. I was aware of the technology to simplify business operations but never implemented it because of a lack of time and I guess I'm still part of the old school. I still don't see the point of dressing like everybody else just to be in fashion.

The technology that is worth looking at from a business point of view is a good email autoresponder. All you need to do is set up a standard message to respond to your customers e-mail messages. The autoresponder can be setup to auto respond to a message from a potential customer by triggering certain keywords. Implementing the auto respond technology, is a certain way to keep your customer interested in your product or service and also save you time by filtering certain messages, that doesn't require your immediate attention. For instance a message can be send to your customer confirming an order of one of your products and explain delivery time & thanking him for his support. A cool option is to respond a few days later with other related products offered.

Most of the internet service providers offer auto responding as part of their standard connectivity packages. Be sure to implement this technology to improve professionalism and time.


Autoresponders - 5 Reasons They're An Indispensable Tool

By Sean Ray Platinum Quality Author

Autoresponders: 5 Reasons They’re An Indispensable Tool.

On the web everything happens a lightspeed. So you better be able to respond at lightspeed too! That’s where autoresponders fit into your marketing mix.

An autoresponder is a software “device” that will respond to a specific email address with a pre-established message. Sometimes, autoresponders are set up to respond with a whole string of messages spaced over time – this is called a “chain.”

The key reasons that autoresponders are indispensable are as follows:

(a) An autoresponder is an extra set of hands that automatically provide an appropriate response to a prospect or customer query. Price lists, agreements, brochures, FAQ, etc. can all be dispatched automatically. Set up properly, this saves hours and hours of manual labor.
(b) Autoresponders say a lot about your service goals. They’re fast, and they imply that you react to prospects and customers with some urgency.
(c) Smart autoresponders can take orders, process payments or track advertising campaigns automatically. Even smarter, some autoresponders can be set up to handle successive responses – for example, a newsletter renewal campaign that requires two or three follow-up emails.
(d) Autoresponders build lists. To use an autoresponder, email addresses need to be solicited. It’s a great way to build an email list for future use.

Autoresponders are available from a variety of sources. Some autoresponders are software add-ons to your email server and others are web-based services that accept mail, respond, and pass the email addresses back to you. Whatever choice you make, be sure that the autoresponder you use does not add on advertising messages to your response, or siphon off email addresses that you collect. With those caveats, investigate now how an autoresponder can be used in your business – you’ll be glad you did!

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Ray