About Email Automatic Responders

This mini-course is about using auto-responders to create an online income. Other topics in this series include: Service or Software: Which is Right for You? and Innovative Ways to Use Your Automatic Responder Account

Automatic Email Responders 101

Welcome. This free how-to course will be covering the use of automatic responders for email marketing. I've created this course due to the over-whelming number of basic questions I get about this tool. If you already know the ins-and-outs on auto- responders then you might be interested in the email marketing strategy course (link at right).

What We Offer in This Free, How-to Course

First off let me just say that you can read for months and years about process, tools and strategy, but you won't make any money online until you actually put this knowledge into action. Nothing beats learning by doing - especially the advanced uses of automatic responders. So grab the basics here, get your own auto-responder account and start working toward your goals right away!

How can you be sure that a person can double their online income and save hundreds of hours per month in their business simply by using an automatic responder?

You're going to have to take my word for it. Sorry, that's just the way I work. I'm not going to flash income statements or screen captures of my payments to prove anything to you. You'll either believe me or you won't.

If you decide not to then I do hope you'll go off and learn about how to use this money-making tool somewhere else because it's going to make a world of difference to your yearly income statement. However, what I'm about to tell you here is the real truth of the matter after months of personally testing and communicating with other marketers.

Sadly, many other marketing trainers will only tell you 1/2 the story to keep you in the dark just long enough to sign you up or sell you on something they're promoting. Perhaps it will be a course on email marketing - the advanced techniques or your own automatic responder software (for a huge fee of course). If you get suckered I'm sorry, just pick up and dust off, and follow my lead. You'll be back on the right track in no time.

Over the next few pages I'll be telling you the basics of using auto-responders. Make no mistake there is only one service I recommend for automatic responders after testing over 10 services, server software that comes free with many hosting accounts and desktop applications. I have a long list of reasons why this one service stands head and shoulders above all others (and I'll disclose that as well so you're wonderfully informed and prepared).

If you wonder why I go to this much trouble to inform start-up entrepreneurs, it's because of my mission here at Smartzville. That mission explains why I speak the truth and have your best interest at heart.

Let's get on with the lessons then okay?

What Is An Automatic Responder?

Automatic responders are used to achieved many marketing tasks associated with an online business. A website business without an automatic responders is less than 1/2 as profitable and efficient than one without one. In online business you simply cannot stay in touch with, make as much money, or market to a large group of people without the use of automatic responders. Your business will be stunted, neutered or stymied without one at your disposal.

Marketing and promotion can be very time consuming. It surely doesn't matter what type of business or how you plan to earn your income online, an auto-responder will quickly become one of your favorite tools. Auto responder accounts are used by every type of online entrepreneur to stay in touch with past customers, and to develop relationships with potential customers and to educate the masses who are already partway sold on your product, service or specialized skill.

You'll want to use an automatic responder for any consistently repetitive message you need to send to your target market. You can (and should) keep specialized lists within each auto-responder account - one for your pre-sale list, one for your dedicated buyer, one for your staff or trainees, etc. Don't worry though, the service I recommend allows you to do all this and more from one account and keeps everything neat and tidy for you in the process.

Some of the most common uses for auto-responder accounts are to deliver email courses, to send product or service reminders, and to assist you in building a list of eager subscribers who have the same market interest as yours.

Starting Out with Your Automatic Responder

Once you've signed up with an auto- responder service, you will need to take the time to read through the instructions or help files to learn how to use the service. Don't skip this specialized training - charging forth without knowing how to use a tool could tarnish your professional reputation. When you're just starting out, create a test list (where you are the only subscriber) to ensure you've got all your email marketing ducks in a row!

Here's how to test your messages and subscriber sign up...

As soon as you have completed your account creation, find out how to generate a subscription form that will reside on your website and subscribe your own email address to the list. As the standard double opt-in (I'll explain that in a moment) and your specialized welcome message arrives in your inbox check them over for errors and functionality.

Test every feature available - automatic follow ups, intermittent messages, broadcast mailings, unsubscribe links - the entire works. See what happens when you sign up via a web based subscription form but also note what happens when you send a blank email message to your auto-responder account - the results could differ!

Within a few hours of testing and reading about your automatic responder you should have all the basics down pat. Taking the time to learn now will not only save time and costly mistakes in the future, it will also help you tweak and tune your follow-up messages and tracking to increase your sales, open, and response rates!

If you want to get started right away I've arranged for a free trial of the best service available online today (you can sign up at right for a free test drive).

Of course there is plenty more I have to tell you about using an automatic responder so if you'd like to keep reading, the next topic is on choosing between software you own or a service you subscribe to.