Main Points of This Article:

• AffirmWare Special Report - Marketing with the Assistance of Auto-Responders
• What is an Auto-Responder?
• An Example of an Auto-Responder Series of Messages
• Tips for Avoiding Spam Filters
• The Proven Auto-Responder Sequence
• The Squeeze Page
• Final Thoughts

AffirmWare Special Report - Marketing with the Assistance of Auto-Responders

As you likely already understand, your success as an affiliate depends largely on your own marketing efforts. To this end, you can take advantage of many aspects of current Internet technology to make your marketing efforts easier and much less time consuming for yourself. 

Using technology is always to your advantage and allows you to work smarter rather than work harder. One of the main goals for your Internet marketing business should be the automation of as many processes as possible. Once you have successfully automated the more mundane tasks of your business, then you will have more available time to work on the vital and income generating aspects of your business; those aspects where your personal attention is required the most and those which earn you the most income. 

One of the best Internet marketing tools available to you today is called an auto-responder. In this AffirmWare Special Report, we will explain to you what an auto-responder is, how they are best used, how you can use them to assist you in making more sales, and how to do so in much less time than you may currently be spending on your efforts to follow-up and communicate with your customers and list members. In short, we will show you how an auto-responder can both increase your income and decrease the amount of time it takes you to earn that higher income.

What is an Auto-Responder?

Have you ever ordered a product online and immediately received an e-mail message thanking you for your purchase?  Did you then receive another message a few days later following-up on your purchase? Or, have you ever given your first name and e-mail address to allow you to receive someone's newsletter, and found that since you subscribed they message you on the same day and time each week? If you have, then you have likely been on the receiving end of messages from an auto-responder. While these messages may have been personalized with your first name, you should know that they much more likely came from an auto-responder than from an individual person. The reason is simple - auto-responders are a way to keep in touch with your customer and save you tons of time in the process!

If you are not terribly techie by nature, it might be helpful for you to think of an auto-responder as an automated e-mail answering machine. Someone makes a purchase, or signs up to be on your mailing list from your squeeze page, and your auto-responder then steps in and starts sending them out information, via e-mail messages, at regular intervals of time. Once your auto-responder has received your subscriber's first name and e-mail address it has all it requires to get to the task of working for you. 

Auto-responders have the ability to contain pre-loaded messages to send out to your customers; and they have the ability to do so within your customized specified time-frames and message orders as well. Additionally, many auto-responders have the ability to customize your subject lines and messages with the first name of your customer. 

The ability to customize your messages means that you have the ability to send the same messages over and over to different people while having the auto-responder automatically insert their first name for you into the subject lines and message text. This makes your messages appear to have been personalized just for your reader, making them appear as if they have been written specifically for the reader, rather than an entire group of people. And, as you already know, personalization is one way to help you get better conversion numbers and sales!

An Example of an Auto-Responder Series of Messages

As an example of how an auto-responder works, you might set-up it up to message your customers after they have opted-in to your mailing list, via your squeeze page, by requesting your free eBook. 

In this case, your first four auto-responder message might look something like this:

Timeframe: Time of Sign-Up  
Message 1: [firstname] thank you for requesting our eBook
Message Body: [firstname], John Marketer here, and I would like to take a moment to personally thank you for signing-up to receive my eBook "X, Y and Z Marketing Tips." 

By now you should have received your download link and are likely well on your way to making more money by utilizing the tips contained within this award winning eBook. 

I would also like to take this opportunity to let you know that I will be sharing some additional tips and tricks with you in the weeks to come, which should help you to get the most from "X, Y and Z Marketing Tips" as well as your other marketing endeavors. 

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. 

To Your Marketing Success,
(Insert your signature here)
John Marketer

Your next auto-responder messages might look something like this:

Timeframe: 3 Days after eBook Request
Message 2: Now that you have started reading the "7 Part Affirmation Course" have you noticed…

Message Body: In this message you would go on to tell your list member about some aspect of the Affirmation Course which you find particularly will interest them. You will start with the same [firstname] + greeting, and end with your same signature as the first message. Continue this for each and every message in the series to help get your reader acquainted with your messages and writing tone.

Timeframe: 7 Days after eBook Request
Message 3: Tips for getting the most from your "7 Part Affirmation Course" download.
Message Body: In this message you would share a short list of say three tips which your reader can use to help them get the most out of the Affirmation Course. Again, use the same greeting and signature.

Timeframe: 9 Days after eBook Request
Message 4: Since you are enjoying the "7 Part Affirmation Course" you might also benefit from…

Message Body: In this message you will provide a product review for a product which you are an affiliate for and trying to sell to your list, such as Sculptor 3. It is important to remember that you are creating an honest review rather than a glaring advertisement. Your goal is to subtly sell without being too overt. Use the same greeting and signature, but in this message you also need to include a call to action such as "Purchase Sculptor 3 right now at
http://NICKNAME.affirmware.hop.clickbank.net”

As you can see from the example message series above, each time someone gives you their e-mail message by requesting the free "7 Part Affirmation Course" they are then automatically sent message 1 by your auto-responder. The goal of this message is to simply thank them for their request and to reinforce for your requester that they were wise to make the request. 

According to your pre-determined time-frame of every two days, your requestors (who are now members of your opt-in list) are then sent messages 2 and 3 by your auto-responder. The purpose of these messages is simply to follow-up with them about their free eBook. These two messages aren't trying to sell them anything; they are simply suggestions and further information about the product they already obtained from you. Again, they help to reinforce that your customer has made a wise choice. 

Once message 4 is reached, it takes the form of a product review for a product you are an affiliate for. The purpose of this message is to share similar products with those who have already shown an interest in your niche market, and more importantly - to gain additional sales for you!

All of these messages are sent out automatically by the auto-responder. Once it has been set-up, it takes absolutely none of your time. Once you have loaded in your e-mail messages, and have set your message timeframes, the auto-responder then does all of the work for you.

Think about this for a moment; you can message all of your customers, and those who give you their name and e-mail address on your squeeze page, without ever doing anything other than loading your auto-responder with messages - one single time! This means that using an auto-responder allows you to do the work one time and yet capitalize on it many, many, many times in the future.  How cool is that?

Tips for Avoiding Spam Filters

Don't ever use the word "free" in your message's subject line. Using the word "free" will likely cause your message to be flagged as spam.

For a list of other words which you should avoid in your marketing messages, see the following web site: www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/spamfilter_phrases.htm

Take the time to ensure that all of your e-mail messages are going to be delivered to their destination, and not marked as spam, by running them through one of the following spam filters:

Free Spam Filters:

www.programmersheaven.com/webtools/Spam-Checker/spamchecker.aspx

spamcheck.sitesell.com/cgi-bin/spam-checker/spamchecker.pl

A Better Quality Spam Filter:

http://quickpaypro.com/x.php?3054_A97290

The Proven Auto-Responder Sequence

As you may have garnered from the example above, you can use your auto-responder messages to thank your customers for purchases, suggest additional information which may be of use to them, as well as market other products relevant to their previous purchase. And, the best use of an auto-responder is to do a special combination of the three, known in the Internet Marketing business as an auto-responder sequence. 

Successful Internet Marketers all use a specific time-tested and well-proven auto-responder sequence to maximize their sales and minimize their time commitment in communicating with their customers and list members. In fact, entire eBooks have been written based simply on this proven sequence and its use. Because we want you to become the best affiliate you can be we, are choosing to share this winning sequence with you - for free!

The successful auto-responder sequence is as follows:

Message #	Timeframe	Message Content Focus
1	Day1	Thank You Message
2	Day 3	Informational Message
3	Day 7	Informational Message
4	Day 9	Informational Message
5	Day 12	Informational Message
6	Day 14	Product Review - Low Cost Item
7	Day 17	I forgot to tell you…(about product review)
8	Day 21	Informational Message
9	Day 25	Product Review - Mid Cost Item
10	Day 28	I just found proof… (about product reviewed)
11	Day 31	Informational Message (article)
12	Day 35	Informational Message (article)
13	Day 38	Product Review - High Cost Item
14	Day 42	Questions I am Getting about Product I reviewed
15	Day 49	Informational Message (article + classified ad
16	Day 51	Product Review
17	Day 56	Informational Message
18	Day 63	I just found proof…. (about product reviewed)
19	Day 70	Informational Message (article + classified ad
20	Day 77	Informational Message (article + classified ad)

As you review the chart above, you will notice that just as in the quick example above you want to start your message sequence by simply thanking your customers for their purchase or thanking them for signing up for your newsletter. For the next four messages you will follow-up with some short informational messages which are highly relevant to the niche topic of your list but which are not aimed at selling anything. The sixth message is when it's time to pitch another product you are selling, via the use of a product review message. After the sixth message you will be following-up with additional information about that new product you reviewed. From there you simply follow the sequence on down to message number twenty.

TIP: When is the best time to send an e-mail ?
While nobody knows for sure, I like to schedule e-mail’s on the same day that the user signed up for the autoresponder. i.e. So, the first message would go out instantly, I then schedule messages at weekly intervals.

The logic here being that if a person had time to sign up for your autoresponder on a particular day, that may be their “leisure” time, and would be an idea time to again communicate with them. NOTE: You can send additional messages in between these weekly times, but make sure to give priority to the weekly messages.

One important tip for your product reviews messages is that it always works best to start out with a review for a lower cost product. From there you can progress to your final product review which will be for a higher cost product. The idea here is to start out small and build trust with your list members over time. After all, your list members are much more likely to purchase something inexpensive based on your recommendation at first because you do not yet have a relationship with them.  However, once they purchase your lower cost item(s) and find them to be a good value and beneficial to them, then they will be much more likely to purchase a higher cost item - based solely on your personal recommendation, because they trust you. 

You may be asking yourself how you are going to write 20 e-mail messages when you struggle to simply write a check-in message to your own mother each week. The good news is that we have many of the messages you need already written for you, located at the Affiliate Command Center web site. You can easily customize these messages and upload them into your own auto-responder series. At the Affiliate Command Center we have a wide variety of informational articles and product reviews which you can choose from. 

Additionally, there are many freelance writers out there who are experienced in writing auto-responder series who would be happy to write them for you. You should expect to pay anywhere from $200-$1000 if you choose to go this route. While this may seem like a lot of money, you need to understand that your auto-responder messages will be written once but can then be sent to literally thousands of people on your list over a long period of time! 

To find a freelance writer, you can go to a web site like www.rentacoder.com and place a free bid request. Freelance writers from around the globe frequent this website and will place bids on writing your auto-responder series for you. For your bid request, you will want to include the topic of your marketing efforts, the chart above, and the products you want your writer to review for you. Additionally, you will want to specify that your messages be between 250 and 400 words and must contain quality, customizable subject lines and text. 

IMPORTANT: For information specifically on how to write your e-mail messages and tips for crafting subject lines to get them read, see the AffirmWare
Special Report on E-Mail Marketing.

To set up your own auto-responder you can go to our informational page at:
www.AffiliateMaketingBible.com/autoresponder.html

The Squeeze Page

While you can easily use an auto-responder to message your existing customers, you can also use the series above to get your first sales as well. By building a simple squeeze page to harvest first names and e-mail addresses of people interested in your niche topic, you can then use your auto-responder series to build-up trust with your potential customers on your mailing list. By the time your 6th message comes around, your first product review, you will find that some of your list members already trust your opinions and will make a purchase of the item you review.  

For more specific information on how to set-up your own squeeze page, simply visit the Affiliate Command Center and read our article on the topic(INSERT LINK HERE), or go to www.google.com and search for "how to set-up a squeeze page" for a wealth of information on the topic.

To find a host for your squeeze page, as well as all of your other web hosting needs, you can go to our informational page at: www.AffiliateMaketingBible.com/hosting.html

Final Thoughts

As you can clearly see, the auto-responder can be a very powerful tool in your Internet marketing efforts. By loading it with relevant informational messages, you can use your auto-responder to build-up your relationship with your existing customers and your list members. You can even capitalize on your use of an auto-responder by using it as a tool to sell additional products through product review messages where you personally review and suggest products which are matched to the niche interests of your customers and list members. 

The clear advantage of using an auto-responder in your affiliate marketing efforts is that you can do the work of loading in your messages once and then the auto-responder will do all of the work of following-up with your customers and list members for you - again and again. Utilizing an auto-responder allows you to work smarter not harder. And, the best thing is that it allows you to keep in constant contact with your customers automatically. Without taking up a single second of your time, you can literally market to the thousands of people on your opt-in list without ever having to personally send out as much as a single e-mail message!

Affiliate Command Center 30/116 Shirley Rd
Wollstonecraft NSW 2065
Sydney, Australia
Ph: 612-9460-8098