Email Autoresponders: Why They Matter and How to Craft Them

In this digital age, the term ‘marketing’ has taken on many new facets. With the invention of the internet, the marketing space has turned into a digital gold rush and everyone is trying to secure their little piece of it.

Over the years, each of these facets has changed and adapted to the data of what people want and how they interact with digital brands.

One such marketing method that has grown and changed immensely in the past decade is email marketing.

Email Marketing is hot and trending, and a little bit of research makes it easy to see why. But there’s more to this method than simply gaining subscribers and sending newsletters.

If you want to really get the most out of your email list, then automated messages are your way to better pastures.

Autoresponders: Carve a Path to Your Goldmine

If any email list is a goldmine, then consider the autoresponders you setup as the chisel that helps you mine it.

Even if you have a blog with a decent size audience already in place, it is never too late to get these setup. In fact, one of the best automated messages you can put together is your Welcome Message email — the email someone receives right after they’ve subscribed.

Crafting a Welcome Message

One interesting study by the email marketing platform, Emma, showed welcome emails got a 50% average for open rate. This made them 86% more effective than regular newsletters.

Their study also showed that these emails received a click-through-rate that was 5 times higher than average, as well.

At face value, this may not seem like a big deal, but these numbers are fantastic. Take this as an example:

If your site or online business collected 1oo email subscribers every day, then by the end of the month you’ll have collected 3,000 emails.

Based off the stats above, if you incorporated a welcome email, then 1,500 of those subscribers would have opened your email and clicked through to your connected content.

That’s 1,500 laser pointed, buyer ready, clicks-for-engagement that you would have never seen if you didn’t use one. If half of them bought a product priced at $97 from that click-through, then that’s over $70,000 of profit for a single month.

Repeat that for a year, and you’ve nearly reached a 7-figure income.

That’s HUGE.

This is strictly an example, but it’s not that far-fetched. (Are you seeing the power of these things?)

Here is a post on Vertical Response that list some examples of great welcome messages and another on Shopify on how to write them.

The Autoresponders Series

But you don’t have to stop with the welcome message. You can line up a series of automated emails that send out to your subscribers over a period of time.

These are great because they help establish trust, build authority (a.k.a. you know what you’re talking about), and help people get a real tone who you are or what your brand is really all about.

Pat Flynn delves into this topic on his blog and created this great image (and a few more) to help give you an idea of how your autoresponder can flow. (The one below is called the Bait and Hook.)

I also highly recommend reading this post on CrazyEgg about what to do before you write a single word of your series. It’s very helpful and one of the best posts on the topic.

Wrapping It Up

Building your list is just one part of email marketing. Creating an autoresponder and engaging your subscribers is how you build a profitable sales funnel out of it. If you’re not currently running a welcome message or an automated series, don’t rush into it.

This is part of your marketing campaign; it will represent your brand and authority. It’s important, sure, but it’s also important to craft one well.

Take some time to figure out the best direction to take it and what is best for your business, and then get to work writing and setting it up.