Added for You - Notes for Newbies - Part Twenty-Two - Autoresponders and Opt-In Mailing lists

Today we want to talk about autoresponders and a closely related topic, opt-in mailing lists. Autoresponders are important tools for list management, and managing email product promotions, newsletter subscriptions and the like. If you use email at all to promote your products, opt-in processes are crucial to your avoiding being accused of SPAM (and communicating to others you’re a really nice person). :-)

Autoresponders
Autoresponders are software systems that manage your email communications with people on your list. They come in all sizes and shapes. If you have a website, you probably have a basic one included with your hosting package.

Most of the time you want to email people on your list for one of three reasons. You want to send them:

• One-off information, a product offer, for example, or a reminder about a soon-to-expire bonus offer
• A regular series of communications such as subscription newsletters or modules of a training manual
• A sequence of messages introducing new members to your products and your philosophy about life, the universe and direct marketing

(You also will be sending one-off messages to individuals as, for example, replies to queries. We shall ignore these in this article.)

Quite simply, if you have no more that about three people on your list, when you wanted to email them, you sit down at your computer, draft individual messages and send them out. As your list grows, you need to be able to automate the process. This is what autoresponders do.

With autoresponders you can do a number of things:

• You can personalize messages. Instead of ‘Dear Friend’, each reader will see his or her name. You can include any number of other bits of information specific to individuals such as where they live dotted throughout the message
• You can send specific messages automatically at pre-determined times. If somebody has purchased a front-end product, for example, you can send him or her a Thank You message on day 1, an Any Questions? message on day 3, a How’s It Going? Message on day 5 and a back-end product offer on day 7. This is entirely automatic once you have set it up
• Newsletters can be sent out regularly with no input from you other than the content and the date of mailing. Your autoresponder will do the rest, including managing names on your list

There are three types of autoresponder available to you:

• Your hosting package probably includes an autoresponder, as we said above. These are usually fairly basic
• You may purchase your own autoresponder software. Features vary, as do prices. Do a search of the Internet. This option will probably give you maximum flexibility but you will have to set it up
• There are turnkey services available such as www.aweber.com that will do everything for you including maintaining your list on their server. You pay a monthly or yearly fee. This is probably your best choice when you have outgrown the one offered by your host.

Because of the range of autoresponders available, it will be a good idea to ask your techie or guru for their recommendations. When you are new in the business, you can do it all manually. When you list begins to grow – and we hope it does very quickly :-), you will need one.

Innovation Management - some ideas are better than others
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.One of the useful methods of valuing ideas is to compare the type of.

Most of the time you want to email people on your list for one of three reasons. You want to send them:

• One-off information, a product offer, for example, or a reminder about a soon-to-expire bonus offer
• A regular series of communications such as subscription newsletters or modules of a training manual
• A sequence of messages introducing new members to your products and your philosophy about life, the universe and direct marketing

(You also will be sending one-off messages to individuals as, for example, replies to queries. We shall ignore these in this article.)

Quite simply, if you have no more that about three people on your list, when you wanted to email them, you sit down at your computer, draft individual messages and send them out. As your list grows, you need to be able to automate the process. This is what autoresponders do.

With autoresponders you can do a number of things:

• You can personalize messages. Instead of ‘Dear Friend’, each reader will see his or her name. You can include any number of other bits of information specific to individuals such as where they live dotted throughout the message
• You can send specific messages automatically at pre-determined times. If somebody has purchased a front-end product, for example, you can send him or her a Thank You message on day 1, an Any Questions? message on day 3, a How’s It Going? Message on day 5 and a back-end product offer on day 7. This is entirely automatic once you have set it up
• Newsletters can be sent out regularly with no input from you other than the content and the date of mailing. Your autoresponder will do the rest, including managing names on your list

There are three types of autoresponder available to you:

• Your hosting package probably includes an autoresponder, as we said above. These are usually fairly basic
• You may purchase your own autoresponder software. Features vary, as do prices. Do a search of the Internet. This option will probably give you maximum flexibility but you will have to set it up
• There are turnkey services available such as www.aweber.com that will do everything for you including maintaining your list on their server. You pay a monthly or yearly fee. This is probably your best choice when you have outgrown the one offered by your host.

Because of the range of autoresponders available, it will be a good idea to ask your techie or guru for their recommendations. When you are new in the business, you can do it all manually. When you list begins to grow – and we hope it does very quickly :-), you will need one.

The Big Wave of After Sales
The After Sales market represents today one of the most promising and attracting sector, mainly due to the shift from a product-centric strategy - based on standard, low cost and high volume production - to a customer-centric strategy - based on complex mix of products and services devoted to enhance the experience of the customer in terms of satisfaction.Critical success factors previously oriented on internal efficiency in using the production factors are nowadays focused on "external" aspects, such as differentiation, service level and customers loyalty.The After Sales sector emerges todaur list, when you wanted to email them, you sit down at your computer, draft individual messages and send them out. As your list grows, you need to be able to automate the process. This is what autoresponders do.

With autoresponders you can do a number of things:

• You can personalize messages. Instead of ‘Dear Friend’, each reader will see his or her name. You can include any number of other bits of information specific to individuals such as where they live dotted throughout the message
• You can send specific messages automatically at pre-determined times. If somebody has purchased a front-end product, for example, you can send him or her a Thank You message on day 1, an Any Questions? message on day 3, a How’s It Going? Message on day 5 and a back-end product offer on day 7. This is entirely automatic once you have set it up
• Newsletters can be sent out regularly with no input from you other than the content and the date of mailing. Your autoresponder will do the rest, including managing names on your list

There are three types of autoresponder available to you:

• Your hosting package probably includes an autoresponder, as we said above. These are usually fairly basic
• You may purchase your own autoresponder software. Features vary, as do prices. Do a search of the Internet. This option will probably give you maximum flexibility but you will have to set it up
• There are turnkey services available such as www.aweber.com that will do everything for you including maintaining your list on their server. You pay a monthly or yearly fee. This is probably your best choice when you have outgrown the one offered by your host.

Because of the range of autoresponders available, it will be a good idea to ask your techie or guru for their recommendations. When you are new in the business, you can do it all manually. When you list begins to grow – and we hope it does very quickly :-), you will need one.

8 Valuable Insights Into Paid and Free Web Directories
Web directories have numerous benefits. Informative decisions must be made when choosing between submitting a site to a paid or free web directory. Whatever your choice, ensure that your website conforms to all required norms: complete, detailed, user friendly, and distinctive. The options are many and stem from two main categories: free directories and paid directories.A free directory is a great way of getting back links. Your site will probably get listed on a PR3 or PR4 page. Sometimes, your site will get listed within a few days otherwise it may even take a month. But it can also happen that the free site never gets around to listine on day 1, an Any Questions? message on day 3, a How’s It Going? Message on day 5 and a back-end product offer on day 7. This is entirely automatic once you have set it up

There are three types of autoresponder available to you:

• Your hosting package probably includes an autoresponder, as we said above. These are usually fairly basic
• You may purchase your own autoresponder software. Features vary, as do prices. Do a search of the Internet. This option will probably give you maximum flexibility but you will have to set it up
• There are turnkey services available such as www.aweber.com that will do everything for you including maintaining your list on their server. You pay a monthly or yearly fee. This is probably your best choice when you have outgrown the one offered by your host.

Because of the range of autoresponders available, it will be a good idea to ask your techie or guru for their recommendations. When you are new in the business, you can do it all manually. When you list begins to grow – and we hope it does very quickly :-), you will need one.

Treat Employees Like Dogs To Boost Loyalty
We Americans love pets, especially when it comes to dogs. You might be wondering how treating employees like dogs is going to have anything but a negative effect on your business. But I suggest just the opposite is true.Consider for a moment that in 2005, 35.6 percent of U.S. households owned almost 32 million dogs, or an average of 1.7 dogs per household. As early as 1994, Knight Ridder Tribune News Services was predicting that the U.S. pet care industry was headed for rapid expansion. Today it is estimated we Americans spend approximately $ 27 billion per year on nutrition, health and the general well being of our pets.Could frobably give you maximum flexibility but you will have to set it up

Because of the range of autoresponders available, it will be a good idea to ask your techie or guru for their recommendations. When you are new in the business, you can do it all manually. When you list begins to grow – and we hope it does very quickly :-), you will need one.

Opt-in and double opt-in mailing lists
People on your list must have opted-in. By this we mean they must have somehow indicated they want to receive information or sales offers from you. They have either responded to a classified ad or filled in a form on your website requesting information. One way or another, they have indicated they are prepared to receive emails from you.

A safer option is double opt-in. This is a two-step process. When they enter their names and email addresses in the form on your website, you send them an email message. This message asks them to reply to confirm their interest in you and your products. If they don’t reply, they don’t go onto your list.

We shall talk about SPAM in detail in Article Thirty-One. Here I just want to say a bit about it. SPAM is defined as ‘unsolicited emails of a commercial nature addressed to an individual’. Before you send out any email, be certain your recipient has somehow indicated he or she is prepared to receive it.

Don’t SPAM! It’s rude, unprofitable and it will get you shut down – your host will close down your website and you will be out of business. :-(

Even with double opt-in you will still get a few SPAM complaints. These usually are from people who signed-up with you then promptly forgot they did it. When your host comes down on you, and believe me it will happen, you have documentation with your double opt-in reply message.

That’s all for this time. See you soon.

Next time we shall talk about joint ventures. If you have a list but no products or a product but no list, a joint venture is one way out of this dilemma.

Thanks for listening. :-)

Copyright © 2006 Mary Rice-Johnston & Golden Goose Direct. All rights reserved.

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