How do you use an autoresponder system?

If you’ve never used an autoresponder or aren’t sure what one does, they’re simply an automated email series that sends out emails automatically for a specific purpose.

I’ve written about free downloads to develop your list and start building relationships with new people into your marketing funnel, but there are other ways to use them.

They’re really good for delivering ecourses.  If you have a series of lessons, it’s much easier to set up an autoresponder so that each lesson is delivered at regular intervals, than having to do it manually.  If you’re smart you can have your payment system to trigger the first lesson to go out and then the rest will be delivered at intervals you choose – weekly, fortnightly or monthly – or any other period.

If someone has signed up for an event well ahead of the date, autoresponders can be set up as event reminders at regular intervals so you get fewer no-shows.  You can use this for joining instructions, directions to the venue or online login information, useful pre-event learning or reading and much more.

If you’ve run a course, workshop or seminar you know some of the people who attended won’t put their learning into practice right away.  Autoresponders are excellent learning follow-ups to remind delegates to take action and give them some hints and tips on getting things moving.

So someone has bought your product and they’ve gone off into the sunset.  How can you ensure they’ll get the best possible results with it?  Send them a series of autoresponders to give them product guidance, tips for use, basic installation instructions or a set up guide.  Yes, these may have been included in the instructions that come with the product – but there’s still plenty of brownie points to be gained from being pro-active in supporting your customers.

If you’ve offered people something on your website and they’ve expressed an interest, but haven’t followed through, or they’ve made an appointment and then cancelled it, autoresponders can maintain your visibility in case it’s just a bad time for them or they’re not quite convinced.  Don’t sell too hard, just remind them that they can make a new appointment or re-engage whenever they’re ready.

This isn’t a definitive list – just some ideas to get you started.

Email marketing campaigns that get results

When your computer or phone pings and you know an email has arrived do you open the new email hoping to see a sales pitch?

No – I thought not.  But that’s what many people send out – and then wonder why people unsubscribe from their lists or just delete their emails unread.

Remember it’s email MARKETING, not email SELLING.

Marketing is about raising awareness, education and communication.  It’s helping people to understand what you do and how it can be of use to them.

There are statistics that have been researched over and over again that say that, on average, it takes between 5-12 ‘touches’ before people are ready to buy.  Your email marketing is part of that process.

Yes, there are some people who are ready to buy right now – and the right messages won’t stop them doing that – but most people aren’t ready yet.  It can be that they don’t need your product or service right now, but do have an interest.  Email marketing helps to keep them in your loop so, when the time is right for them, you’re the first name that pops into their head.

Sometimes the time lapse can be months or even years, but, in the meantime, the right messages can turn a ‘haven’t bought yet’ into an enthusiastic advocate.

Good practice for email marketing

• Aim for a series of messages around a single subject
• Anything that’s just product/service description is boring, so aim to deliver something of value to the recipients.  A good rule of thumb is value-value-product education, that means start with something of use in message one – related to your business – and add a web link to your product/service as a P.S.  Repeat this in message 2 – then in message 3 you can explain a bit about your product or service.
• Keep it short.  Of course, you’ve probably read l-o-n-g emails from professional marketers that have kept your attention, but most of us are busy and find shorter emails have more chance of getting read at the first time of opening.  I have folders full of emails I’ve never read – not because I’m not interested, but because I was busy at the time they arrived and a quick glance told me I’d need some time to digest the content – and I put it in a folder to ‘read later’.  A year down the line I’ll cull all the old ones – that I’ve never got around to reading.  I don’t think I’m alone – except maybe some people delete rather than file.
• Make the subject line interesting enough for people to want to find out more – but make sure the message delivers when they open it.
• Plan your campaign for the audience you’re sending them to.  What will get their attention.

If you can go and sit in the recipient’s chair and see it from their perspective that will help you to deliver powerful email campaigns that get results.

Who is in your Facebook audience?

Anyone who knows me has heard me on my soapbox about ideal client profiles may sigh a bit – I’m off again!  However, if you want Facebook ads to work for you, choosing who sees them is essential.

If you are going to invest in an ad, you’ll need to:

• Get the headline and message right – to influence the people who see it to take action
• Get the images right – to attract the people who see it to read it
• Test alternative text and message combinations to ensure the best-performing ads are presented to your audience
• Pitch the call to action correctly for the audience

There’s an old cliché ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.’  If you have not spent time building an avatar for your ideal audience, any text, any message, any call to action – will cost you money and IT WON’T WORK!

If you’ve ever met anyone who tells you ‘Facebook advertising doesn’t work’ – ask them how much drilling down into their target audience they did first.  I’d put money on the fact that they made one of these errors:

1. Chose a general audience – e.g. men and women between 20-60 years old.
2. Didn’t test their headlines and images on a sample audience to see what worked.
3. Pitched a big ‘ask’ rather than something easy for the audience to sign up for so they could be warmed up.
4. Didn’t supply enough information during the action process to engage the customer – like the benefits of taking action.

Building an avatar

If you want to improve the return on your investment in Facebook ads you need to nail your audience down in as much detail as possible.

Of course, your audience may be broad, but pick the best segment and aim the ad at those people.

• Decide whether they are male or female; 
• Choose an age range that is no more than 10 years;
• Identify the interests they have
• Try a geographical area to start with;
• What groups or Pages are they already interested in that would also make them a good customer for you?
• Upload your current customer list and Facebook will find them on Facebook and find other people who have a similar profile.

Remember that you can have more than one custom audience – and one ad will not work for everyone.  The message for an 18 year old student and the message for a 40-year-old Mum will be vastly different – that just means you’ll need to run separate ads for each audience.

That’s for starters.  Now you know who you are talking to – and if you can imagine a person who fulfils your avatar, then pretend you are talking directly to them.

• What would get their attention?
• What kind of images would capture their interest?
• What would they be willing to take action on?  Start with the least action – you’ll feed your pipeline better that way.
• What could you offer them that would get them on your list so you can market to them?

If you’re taking them to a web page it needs to be one that re-engages them and makes them want to take action.  That might be a free assessment, a free download (usually a report or ‘how to’ document or ebook, it might even be a low-cost item.

Video on the web page is good – and also on your Facebook Page. But keep it short; just a couple of minutes max.

Finally, don’t expect miracles in 24 hours.  You’ll need to give your ad at least a week, often more, to start making a difference.

How well do you look after your crowd-funders?

If you’re the head of a company that has shareholders, they have expectations.  For some investors this might be to attend a shareholders meeting – at least annually – to find out what’s going on in the business; for others it might be the expectation of a dividend landing in their bank account from time-to-time.

If you’ve run a crowd-funding campaign you need to look after your investors to reassure them that you are using their money responsibly – for the purpose it was intended.

Yes, there are some people who will invest a small amount and forget about it, but the last thing you need are people who have invested, heard nothing – and then talk about it on social media.  It’s no longer a few friends who listen to their complaints – but the whole social media stratosphere!

Most people want to know what’s happened to their money – so what is your plan?

Rewards

Typically, a crowd-funding campaign offers a reward.  This might be:

• ‘Thank You’ with your name on a Facebook Page for a small investment
• A listing as an investor on a website page
• One or more of the products they’re funding – depending on the finished value of the item
• A discount option on a bigger product
• Promotional items – T-shirts, coasters or other branded goods
• Customised product

It all depends on what’s being funded.  The big issue is – when do people get their products or thank you?

Staying in touch

I invested in a product nearly two years ago – and the items I was promised I’d get about six months down the line have still not appeared.  If I hadn’t heard from them I would be a little irritated, if not thoroughly annoyed.  However, the company has kept in touch regularly with progress reports, details AND pictures of some of the manufacturing glitches they’ve had to iron out.  Although the time-lapse has been much longer than expected I’m impressed with their updates – and their attention to detail, to ensure the final product is perfect.

Often there isn’t much room in the ‘Rewards’ outlines to put a lot of detail, so a regular progress report is reassuring for investors – no matter how small an amount they’ve invested.

Our advice:

• Put a note in your diary for a regular monthly update and email your investors to tell them how the project is progressing.
• When your project is complete – put rewarding investors right at the top of the list.

These are simple things to do – and the rewards YOU will get are a group of enthusiastic supporters, who will do a lot of positive marketing for you.