You've heard the experts say that a prospect usually needs
to be exposed to an offer at least three, sometimes as many
as seven, times before a decision is made to buy a product or
service. To offline businesses, accomplishing this through
direct mail and telemarketing can be both intimidating and
expensive.

This is where online businesses have a distinct advantage,
through the use of autoresponder technology. This technology
forms the backbone of many of today's online fortunes.

The basic concept behind an autoresponder series, sending
a series of scheduled messages to convince a customer to
take action, is easy to understand. But determining how to
write one, or WHAT to write, often isn't so clear.

Go to http://www.idealmarketingcorp.com/autoresponder.html,
where you'll find resources for proven autoresponder series and
messages. However, I'll go over some other ideas here.

First, the basics...every autoresponder series must include:

*Useful Information
*Personalized Messages - Both in the Subject Line and
in the Body Copy
*Back-end, Upsell Offers

Now, think about the different types of autoresponder series
that are available, to positively impact your business. For
example, you could:

1) Deliver a multi-part salesletter. Remember that long piece
of art you slaved over, aka your sales letter? You could break
it up, as an ongoing series of weekly messages for an instant
autoresponder series. You could also offer links in each,
pointing back to your website to view the entire document.

Also, you could send a sequence of different letters with each
one promoting a different benefit of a selected product or
service. Finally, you could send different variations of the
original letter. Think creatively!

Or, if you're really pressed for time, just put 'Second Notice' in
the subject line, and resend the original message.

Just remember to always focus your messages to emphasize
'what's in it for them,' showing what pain or problem your
product/service solves.

2) Deliver a multi-part training or coaching course. Yes, this
can be done on autoresponder. Again, the key is that the
delivered information must be perceived as being valuable.

3) Deliver evergreen information in the form of an ezine or
newsletter. By offering value, and keeping you top-of-mind, this
leads to a stronger customer relationship. When you have to
choose between reading a message from someone you know
and trust, and one from someone you don't, most choose the
friend, right? Use autoresponders to help create that bond --
this could lead to more sales!

4) Make existing customers feel special by developing a
autoresponder series that offers a 'members only' exclusive
of product bundles, limited-time discounts, holiday or
seasonal promotions, etc.

5) Create a separate autoresponder series to 'upsell'
paying customers on increasingly expensive product
offerings. Never assume that they're automatically done
with just one purchase! Don't underestimate a customer's
ongoing desire for high-quality products and services.

One last idea for a creative use of autoresponders - timely
customer relations. If you find that the same questions are
being asked over and over by your visitors, assemble their
answers and load them into an autoresponder. Then add a
place on your site to click for 'Answers To Frequently Asked
Questions' - this will save a huge amount of time and energy,
leaving your time open to come up with new marketing ideas.

Always remember to have a place for customers to contact
you directly, however, if the autoresponder FAQ did not
answer their questions.

How many other autoresponder campaigns or applications can
you think of?


About the Author
Paula Morrow is president of http://www.idealmarketingcorp.com. She specializes in public relations, information marketing and creating cashflow systems, plus coaches new webpreneurs on innovative ways to promote online. Her newsletter, IDEALProfits, is read in over 12 countries. Subscribe, and receive the co-brandable 'How To Start Your Own Traffic Virus' and 4 other ebooks FREE. http://www.idealmarketingcorp.com/subscribe.html