Autoresponders are marvelous tools! They are YOU working 24/7, answering questions and advertising your products automatically. All you need is for someone to send an e-mail to your autoresponder address, and the autoresponder takes over from there to convince the prospect. Simple, huh?
Of course, the person who will be emailing you (hoping that you are a real person and not a machine) ALSO has a product to promote and an autoresponder to do it with. He or she uses his/her autoresponder address to request more information from you, with a smug grin about their cleverness, because, after all, they can't be bothered to answer all the questions you will have about THEIR product, and you just MIGHT complain that they are responding to an ad with an ad, and who wants that kind of hassle?
Their autoresponder sets off your mail sequence and you are happy because you have a lead receiving all your Pulitzer Prize ads. As soon as your first email is received by your lead's autoresponder, HER autoresponder starts sending HER Pulitzer Prize ads to YOUR autoresponder and SHE is happy, because SHE got a lead.
What we end up with is two autoresponders that know one heck of a lot about each other. I see a romance budding somewhere between the "joins now!" and the "see its!" And it looks like a lasting relationship too. I mean, one is offering instant and enduring wealth while the other is spouting promises of an easy and blissful life. Electronic Heaven, here we come!
Exaggeration? No way! I know for a fact that my autoresponder is having a sordid affair with a suave and debonair gold digger called "digitalgold", because they keep writing to each other long letters full of promises and quivering anticipation.
And where do humans come into this equation? Frankly, nowhere - except of course, in footing the bill for this expensive digital love affair. And then they wonder "but why aren't my marketing efforts working? I wrote my ads, I set up my autoresponder - everything is done 'by the book'. It must be the fault of the program I joined!" And, yes, sometimes it IS the fault of the program you joined, but more often than not is the lack of professionalism that hounds Internet Marketing.
It seems that some people hide behind the anonymity of the nickname and the impersonal nature of the Internet to treat the field as their own personal playground, not taking into consideration that the one they are hurting most is themselves. Why? Because I will never buy a product from my autoresponder's suitor, "digitalgold". The whole idea of a business relationship has been shattered by a thoughtless action.
Then, of course, to avoid all the autoresponder messages to my legitimately placed ads, I too, will place an autoresponder as my return address. And the problem just proliferates.
I wonder if it is the beginning of artificial intelligence.
Do I suggest that we go back to doing things the old, long and tedious way? God forbid that we should actually start TALKING to each other - with words coming out of our mouths! And isn't everyone too far away from the other to actually have a face to face conversation? Beep! Wrong answer. With today's technology we could actually have that face-to-face conversation even if we are on the opposite poles. I have at least three programs on my desktop that will handle sound plus video. The webcam that sits on top of my computer screen cost me the humongous amount of 25 Euros. The headset I absconded from my brother. Don't have all that expensive technology yet? No problem. Chat programs are free - we can converse in real time by typing.
So - next time you want to pitch your product, do me a favor, will you? Talk to ME not to my autoresponder. Knock on my virtual door politely and who knows? I might even let you in and we can have what used to be called "a conversation". It might take a little longer than pressing the send button, but think of all the hours you spend cleaning out your email boxes from unwanted emails.
Plus, you never know what goes through the digital minds of those autoresponders. What if they stop courting each other and start discussing a revolution?
© Amalia Sotiriadou, who is a huge fan of modern technology but is very, very tired of spamming.
Amalia has been training people for two decades in a corporate and a personal environment. Her relationship with computers began in 1974 when they still used punched cards for data entry and has grown to a passion ever since. She has been involved in Internet Marketing for three years and is determined to train people to be successful in this field.
At her new site, http://talentgrid.com/business, "TGeBiz: Your MAP to SUCCESS", she is planning to do just that in an almost revolutionary way, with group and individual mentoring programs.