Autoresponder emails are a great way to keep in touch with your new subscribers and ensure you are providing them value without doing much work. If you aren't familiar with the autoresponder feature, it allows you to create emails that are automatically sent to new subscribers at a set time. Sound good? But what kind of content should you include? Here are a few autoresponder ideas to take advantage of...

1. A welcome email to warm subscribers up and improve your acquisition efforts. Welcome emails are the most common and important autoresponder emails, and yet, they are often underutilized. Research shows the risk of not having a welcome letter in place:
   
   Not communicating within the first 60 days of signup increases your chances of being labeled as SPAM by over 50%. — Marketing Sherpa, 2007
   
   When people sign up for your email marketing they are at the height of their interest in you. Not surprisingly, then, a welcome email is the most read email you will send. For these reasons, you want to make sure you have a welcome email going out immediately after someone signs up for your mailing list, and that you make full use of this email.
   
   One thing you may want to include in this email is a poll that asks, "How did you hear about us?" Polls are easy and fun for subscribers, and you can learn what acquisition efforts are paying off in real time. (Want more tips for building your list and welcome email? Check out this 10 minute recorded webinar.)


2. A check-in email, so you know subscriber interests and can prepare for email marketing success. It's crucial to know what your subscribers are interested in so you can segment them into groups with similar interests and only send them the emails they care about.
   
   41% of recipients will mark a message as spam if it is not of interest to them. — Marketing Sherpa, 2008
   
   The challenge is during the sign-up process; you don't want to ask for too much information or else you will deter people from subscribing. An easy way to narrow down the interests of your new subscribers and have them segment themselves is by adding an extra touch to your subscriber relationship with an autoresponder email. After the welcome email, and after you've sent two regular emails (probably about 45 days after signup), automatically send subscribers an email with a link to a simple online survey. 
   
   Tell recipients that you wanted to send a quick email to see if they are getting what they expected. This is a great way to solidify your connection with subscribers and get the information you need to make yourself a more savvy email marketer.
   
   In this autoresponder email, ask them to complete a quick online survey so you can learn what they like, and don’t like and what else they want to see. (If you are using the Online Survey tool from Constant Contact, I recommend the Newsletter Satisfaction template.) You could also get missing data, such as name and buying preferences. Your readers will be glad you care, and will be happy to give you a bit of information so you can keep them informed only on the topics they care about. 
   
   With just a couple clicks inside the survey results (we tally them for you), it will be easy to put your subscribers in the right lists and target your future emails based on what you know they're interested in. Also, expect to see some encouraging feedback and some constructive input that, when implemented, will help improve your email metrics and build better relationships with your subscribers.

One note of caution: An all-too-common mistake is over-communicating with your list. Autoresponder communications are easy to build, and because you pay for the number of email addresses you have — not the number of emails you send out — it’s tempting to over communicate. Although you can send a communication every hour of every day for the same price, I'm guessing your subscribers would not appreciate that. So when you are planning your email schedule, don't forget to consider the autoresponder emails you have automatically going out the door. Additionally, if you haven't yet tried our online survey/poll feature, you can do it for free for 60 days.

Questions on why or how to put these suggestions into action? Just click the "Comment" link below and I'll be happy to advise.

Until next time, happy growing!

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