How To Wave Your Magic Wand With Auto Responders For Increased Sales and Customer Retention

By: Sandi Krakowski

One of the most enjoyable things for me about writing sales copy, email campaigns and auto responders is when a client replies to an email I have written and says, “Ok Sandi, I’ve been following you for quite sometime now and I still can’t tell if this was written to me personally (because it made me feel great!) or if it was an auto responder!” 

These emails tickle me because it means they are written well and my clients love to interact with me. Do you love to hear from your clients?  Here’s a secret- if you do they’ll love to ‘talk back’ to you!

A recent email I sent out to my entire list triggered 347 replies in just 2 days. Notes of appreciation, kindness, fun comments and more from people I’ve never met but who have relationships with me online. Some connect through our TV Show, others through our Facebook page and some through Twitter.

Who says owning your own company can’t be fun?

We must be careful, however, when it comes to using auto responder messages. As is the case with everything else in business- not all auto responder messages are created equal. I’ve seen some that are down right silly, outdated and inappropriate. I bet you have as well.

Auto response messages, which are emails that are prewritten & sent automatically at a predetermined time, can build rapport, increase trust & give more credibility with your audience. Or…. It can make you look like very unprofessional and out of date.

Years ago when Majo Domo email newsletters and interactive bulletin boards wer the way to connect with massive amounts of people online, auto messages sent in a series were the normal way of doing business. In a world of social media, regular blogging, newsletters and live chats however there are a few key points you must remember whenever communicating with your audience.

Grab a pen and write these key points down. It will serve you as a guideline for communicating with people online:

1- How long has this person known my company

2- When did we first connect

3- Have they ever ordered from our company

4-Have we intereacted thru social media, emails or our website

When you ask yourself these questions you’ll see that the standard method for sending autoresponders years ago just won't work in today's new economy online. To send an email automatically introducing yourself to people who opted in for an event but have known you for awhile through Social Media would appear almost rude or cold. You might get a 'duh!' reply because they've been talking to you daily already. 

But before you get discouraged remember that using autoresponders can make you more money and cause a flood of sales without ever speaking to one person live, if done correctly.

Here is a right way to communicate through auto messages:

  •  Invite someone to Facebook. Every person who opts in for your newsletter, your event or offer should be invited to join you through Facebook, Twitter or both. We have over 120,000 people following us on Twitter and yet, I personally prefer Facebook because it’s a closer connection with face to face interaction. When someone opts in for my free report I send out an autoresponder a few days later asking them to connect with me. This makes it really fun to get to know people more personally.
  • Introduce one (ONE!) of your products. Don’t go overboard, just serve, don’t sell. People buy from someone who serves more often than someone who hard sells. Give a few tips on something you offer and a link (NOT a sales pitch) to that page on your site. 
  • Invite to an event, webinar or some other form of connection that can help the relationship with your customers grow. People love to connect with others online. They love relationships that are real, even if it's with a company! Starbucks has over 1 million friends on Facebook- this should give all of us a clue to pay attention.
  • Give a discount to something on your site that they can’t get anywhere else. I’d wait till about day 4-5 to do this, after you’ve invited them to Facebook and even invited them to a free event.
  •  Post a link to an article that relates to the original reason they opted in. Link to your WordPress blog. This not only brings your prospective customer to your site again but it also helps with your organic click thrus. The more people clicking thru to your website the better! So steer those who opted in back to your website and give excellent content and make it worth their while.

WARNING: Auto responders are not the place to send your offers out repeatedly.

We’ve all seen them, “Hi, thanks for stopping by, did you see this on my site, buy it now here!”.. “But wait, day two, there’s more!”… “I bet you missed me, but don’t you worry I have an offer for you that you can’t refuse!”… LIMITED TIME OFFER”… “Just this once!”…. “We’ll never do this again!”……..”It’s the last time!"  Makes you want to throw up, doesn't it? That's how your prospects will feel as well. 

Emails like this sent are pretty sad but they happen far too often.

Remember- relationships are key. Your customers are the focus (not your company or your product) and creating happy customers who love you is the ticket to long lasting wealth building online. 

With love,

Sandi Krakowski

There's MORE to life!