What is an Autoresponder and How Does It Work?

In any online business that you operate on your own, you need an autoresponder. Examples of this are GetResponse, Mailchimp, Sendlane, and many more. But what is an autoresponder? How does it work and why do you even need one?

These are the things that I will share with you today. On top of that, I will throw my recommended autoresponder just so you have a baseline for your option.

What is an autoresponder?

An autoresponder is a computer program that automatically sends a reply to an email sender. That is the classic definition of an autoresponder.

Back in the early days of Microsoft Outlook in the 1990s, it had what is called an Out-of-Office Auto-reply feature, also called OOO. if you will be out of the office for a while, you type an email message saying so, but this email will only be sent as a response to people who messaged you.

Today, that concept has taken off to new heights. An autoresponder now is a lead generation software that gathers email, responds to email, and also sends email based on intervals that you choose.

In essence, it is an automated response system that gets triggered according to some parameters. The machine either sends a response on its own or according to how you told it to.

What do autoresponders do now? 

Autoresponders have grown in terms of function. Today, when we say autoresponders, we are mainly talking about marketing tools. However, sending a response is not their only features anymore. Let us explore some of the most common things they do now.

Lead Generation

Lead generation is a process where you get someone’s contact information. You need this so you can contact them if you have an offer.

With an autoresponder, you typically get people’s names and email addresses. To make this happen, you need a program where you can create an email sign-up form, which is known in the industry as a subscription form.

After a person provides the information and clicks on the submit button, the information is stored in the autoresponder’s servers, which you can see in your dashboard.

The thing is that people will not just give them their email address to you. They are afraid of spam, so what you need is to make an offer.

This offer could be anything—a free product sample or a discount code that they will only receive after they supplied the email address. This is what we call a lead magnet, and there are many kinds of effective lead magnets that you can choose from.  

Email Tagging and Lists

The email addresses that the site visitors provided in the form will be saved in storage. This is a storage that you can access from your autoresponder dashboard. You can group these emails into categories or lists.

For example, you have a list where all the subscribers are from Japan, or the UK, or Switzerland. As a marketer, it is possible that one day, you only want to send marketing materials to people in the US. As such, you will only send the marketing email campaign to email addresses that are tagged as the USA.  

Automated Workflow 

If you are using a system like ClickFunnels for marketing, you need a program that will send an automatic email at regular intervals. This is called an automation workflow.

How does it work?

You start by writing several email messages. Then, you program the autoresponder to send these email messages in succession, perhaps once per day or once a week—it is up to you.  

Another good feature of the workflow is that you can send a different email according to how the recipient behaved. For example, you could send Email 2A if the recipient opened the first one, but send Email 2B if the recipient did not open it.

Sales Funnels

A sales funnel is a kind of website that is geared towards making a sale. It is comprised of a landing page, a checkout page, and an upsell page.

Of course, the sales funnel has an email sign up form where you could offer something for free in exchange for the customer’s email address.

Many autoresponders today include a website builder. They have landing page templates that you can use for free. All you have to do is to replace the images and the texts and make them your own.

Webinars

One of the best things that autoresponders do today is a webinar. With autoresponders, you could schedule a webinar, get participants to register, and then launch the webinar for your computer without needing any other software anymore.

This is great for marketing. it is like doing Facebook live, but on your own website. The beauty of this that you can do a webinar for free or you can charge money.

As you can see, autoresponders are no longer as simple as OOOs. They have evolved into something else. Apart from getting email information and storing them, you can now build a functional website with autoresponders.  

Best autoresponder to use

As far as I am concerned, the best autoresponder that I have seen is GetResponse. It has all the features that I mentioned here, and it is cheaper than most autoresponders in the market.

Here are the main features of GetResponse:

• Email marketing and template creator
• Marketing automation
• Sales funnels and webinar funnels
• Paid ads
• Sign up forms

The thing with GetResponse is that you have to upgrade or et a higher-tiered plan before you get the sweet features. This is fine. What I suggest is that you get the free trial first so you can test it out.

Summary: What is an Autoresponder and How Does It Work?

An autoresponder is like a hammer to a carpenter. You cannot perform an effective marketing campaign without it. So far, the best autoresponder that you can use now is GetResponse, but it does have a hefty price.

If you are just starting out, I suggest that you use free ones. There are many out there, and I would recommend that you experiment first. Once you fully understand how it works, you can choose a paid program—but I will still recommend GetResponse.

Also post: Traffic Secrets PDF Download: Can You Get This For Free?