Autoresponder sequence

[Moontreeltd]

For those of you who do email marketing, what is your approach to building out your autoresponder sequence:

• How frequently do you send messages?
• How frequently do you send offers?
• For how many days do you follow up with that one offer?
• How frequently do you change offers? New one every 5 days, each week, twice a month, etc.?
• How do you determine the offers to include, especially if you haven't tested enough to have a long list you "believe in"?
• How many different offers to you make in a year's time?
• If you are in the IM niche, are they primarily systems, like you get through Warrior+ or JVZoo, or are you finding CPA offers that work?

Here is the approach I have so far: I am attempting to set up a message each day. The first day of a series is a message to build curiosity for the blog post it links to. The second day elaborates on the post, be it responding to reader "questions" about the post or something else to bring focus to a "problem" within the post the reader may need a solution for. Day 3 is offering a product that can help solve the problem pointed out on day 2. Day 4 is a reminder about the product.

I built this 4-day cycle on the back of days 0 and 1 of the autoresponder sequence being the free download email and welcome/about my site messages, respectively. I feel it is too quick; only two days between offers is too soon. I feel like 4 should be my minimum, so I am thinking of adding in a story-telling day to improve rapport/connection building, but I am a little lost on the fourth. My first thought is to change the second day to being only about elaborating on the post and adding in another day that identifies the problem inherent before the offer to help "warm" them further.

To be clear, I don't expect to build this out in a week or anything like that; I just want to have a clear plan in my head as I write a couple messages each day and am constantly looking for offers that may work.


Thanks for reading; any advice is welcome.

[Margot Lawrence]

To a certain extent, your strategy should be tailored to the expectations of the list that you've built.

 

For example, if people joined your list in response to a particular offer, follow up on that offer with 7 - 8 messages showing different aspects/features/benefits of your product/service over the course of a few weeks without confusing them with totally different offers. Only introduce other offers once you are sure that they have heard enough about the original offer to be able to make up their minds on whether or not to join/buy.

[oldbuddy]

My latest autoresponder series consists of ONE email, to demonstrate my product (the autoresponder) and share my concept of only sending examples of what I am actually doing and not just pitches. My agenda is to build referrals for the system I use, by showing them how I use it. If they are interested, they stick around to get more ideas with an assurance they are not going to be bombarded with one product after the other. It's that simple.

 

The other shift from the normal list building I was taught previously, is I use a blog instead of a capture page and I give them plenty of information to start, instead of just a teaser to get them to optin. If they do optin, it's because they like the information they received so far and want to be notified when more is available.

 

If you want to see an example: http://supercheapblog.info/commenting/

[rpbizzz]

Well, I have given up on autoresponders myself.  I have found that even the people who actually join me in programs,

do open their emails.  They do not want to know the little tips and tricks of the programs.

 

I can not figure this out myself.  Maybe only 2 out of 10 open them

[oldbuddy]

Well, I have given up on autoresponders myself.  I have found that even the people who actually join me in programs,

do open their emails.  They do not want to know the little tips and tricks of the programs.

 

I can not figure this out myself.  Maybe only 2 out of 10 open them

So for the brand new optin's you only get 20% open them?

 

If that 20% only counts those who have been on the list for a while, I would say the value is not there in your early messages so they get in the habit of looking for them.

 

Another problem I saw early on was the server that sent my emails and my return address werenot the same, so they ended up in spam or had warnings generated by the subscribers client, which of course would reduce your open rate.

 

Even at 20%, I would not quit. If you increase your subscribers to 1,000 that's 200 people reading your message at a cost of less than $2 a month, which is a penny each.

[Bruno Duarte]

I guess, the subject lines and content determine a lot whether they should open or not, also when providing content, one should alway be aware on links and words that might trigger spam, which ultimately will put your msgs on the spam folders and give you less openers.

 

Keep it simple

 

Too many follow ups with only few days in between might choke your readers

[oldbuddy]

Another tip for improving open rates is to offer some reason they can email you back. At least on Gmail, that adds you to their contact list and the odds go way up that they will see your next email. Then if you can get them to filter your message into the Never Send to Spam category, they will get them for sure. Maybe they won't respond, but at least they will have a chance to.

[Guest Paul Nulty]

Well, I have given up on autoresponders myself.  I have found that even the people who actually join me in programs,

do open their emails.  They do not want to know the little tips and tricks of the programs.

 

I can not figure this out myself.  Maybe only 2 out of 10 open them

20% is probably about average, don't think to much about why they do or do not open them, most people are either one of two things (Lazy or Busy) ie: too lazy to open your email or too busy to open your email. Keep going with it

[Jordan Stark]

This free training provides some great insights about how to get better performance:

http://​http://siriustraffic.com/email-marketing-mastery/

[Moontreeltd]

I am testing with changing things up to be less formal, a little more fun, and daily messages focusing on one thing for a number of days. We'll see how this goes.

[Risktaker89]

I believe that it does not matter how often you mail your list, as long as you are providing real value to them.

 

I have signed up to multiple lists, and there are a few people whose mails I am always looking out for because

I know that they always provide value, new knowledge, new skills or programs which will be of help to me.

 

Realising this, I now focus on providing value to my list instead of worrying how frequent should I message them.

Of course, at the end of the day, you are building a list to make sales. I find that a simple P.S. will generate clicks

to your offers and eventually convert too. Make the offers at the P.S. relevant to the mail you are sending out

and I am sure you will see more conversions.

[market101]

I only mail my list once per month.   As you can see from the few people who responded here, we are all getting bombarded with too many emails already.

[Risktaker89]

I only mail my list once per month.   As you can see from the few people who responded here, we are all getting bombarded with too many emails already.

 

I have to agree on this definitely. Anyone involved with Internet Marketing are bombarded with a lot of emails on a daily basis and majority of them are just sales pitch with no actual value. However, there are a few emails from specific marketers which I will look out for daily because they do provide useful information or the much needed motivation.

[rpsmith]

I tend to believe that it should be every three days or so. But the keys to getting a good return on your list building is to offer good quality content that they can use and to build trust (and a relationship) with your readers. If all you do is send them sales copy, then your list will not be as responsive. But, if you give them useful information that they can use right away, or if it has direct applications to their situation, they will be much more responsive.

[Guest mrclean0325]

The useful content is key and mailing often enough they don't forget who you are. I get email from marketers who I have no idea who they are when they email maybe once a month or less with the latest and greatest offer. There are others I do remember who email in this frequency, but they do provide some useful content along with an offer. Some you have to wonder why they even bother to keep paying for an autoresponder.

 

Of course there are others who email WAY too often and several times a day gets old really quickly.

 

There are tons of "experts" who tell you how to do email marketing "the right way". Unfortunately, most don't practice what they preach. Far too many don't do a single thing they say you need to be doing. At least they don't when they are emailing me and I watch to see if they do what they say to see if they are worth listening to or not. I got a free report a couple of weeks ago which was supposedly the "be all end all of email marketing" and the optimal way to do it. I got chance to actually read it this week and it said to send an email every single day with great content which is a tremendous amount of work to get done if you haven't tried it.

 

I got an email from this gentleman about every week or so...the last one I got contained content that was very insulting to me. You definitely don't want to be derogatory to anyone's religion or politics and he did both.

 

The report went into the trash can and I unsubscribed. I guess he really did know how to do it right!

[davepilgrim]

I don't set up autoreponder sequences - I'd rather send out a broadcast to my subscribers only when I have something useful and current to tell them.

 

Of course sending mail via safelists and viral mailers is another thing altogether - I do this daily.