A visitor clicks on the link to your site and starts reading.
She's intrigued and nearly ready to buy -- but at that very
moment, the kids come back inside and she leaves the computer to
tend to them, meaning to go back later to make a purchase.
Chances are, you just lost a sale. There are countless reasons
why an interested prospect may not buy right away. Even if they
intend to re-visit your site later, 'later' may never come --
they might not even remember your URL!
By capturing your visitor's email address, you can follow-up
with them and increase the likelihood of catching them at a time
that they're ready to buy. Here are a profitable ways you can
use autoresponders to help convert more of your visitors into
paying customers:
__1. Distribute a Newsletter.
Most good autoresponders have two important features that are
perfect for distributing newsletters: a personalisation feature,
and a broadcast feature. Wouldn't you be more likely to read
something that's directly addressed to you?
__2. Automate Your Sales Process.
Repeated exposure to the same message has been shown to increase
sales. In an short ezine ad, for example, where you only have a
limited amount of space, why not publish your autoresponder
address instead of a website URL? With short ads like these,
your objective is to generate leads, not make a sale. By
directing readers to your autoresponder, you have multiple
opportunities to convert your leads into sales.
__3. Use Them to Distribute Your Articles.
Writing articles and making them freely available for reprint is
an excellent way to build credibility, drive more traffic to
your site, and increase sales. In return for providing
content-rich articles, editors will print your 'resource box': a
short description of you and your product or service. Within
your resource box, you can direct readers to write to your
autoresponder for a free email course, free story, or whatever
is appropriate for your line of business.
__4. Send Advertising Information.
If you sell advertising on your website or in your newsletter,
you can set up an autoresponder to send this information
automatically to a prospect's email box. This does a few things:
first, it's convenient for your visitor. Second, she'll have it
available whenever she wants to refer to it (instead of trying
to remember your URL). And finally, you can set up your
autoresponder to follow-up with her. Plus by capturing her email
address, you can send her notifications of any special
advertising deals you have available.
__5. Distribute Free Reports.
Free reports give your visitors a taste of the type and quality
of information you can provide. People who like your report will
be more inclined to purchase something from you in the future.
Do NOT make your free report a disguised sales pitch for your
product or service. People will easily see through this and
you'll have lost a potential customer by not providing what was
promised!
__6. Distribute an Email Course.
Why not offer a mini-course by email? Every day or two, send
another chapter of your course. Once again, the key is to
provide content -- not a sales 'pitch'! Let your content help
you do the selling. At the end of each message, include a
paragraph or two tying it into your product, and invite your
prospect to make a purchase.
__7. Offer a Trial Version of Your Product.
If you're selling an eBook, software, course, or website
membership, you might offer trial versions to interested
prospects. Many people prefer to "get a taste" of what they're
buying before they pay for the full version. In this case, you
can capture their email addresses by offering them a free trial
from your site. Your autoresponder provides them with
instructions on how and where to get their free trial ... and
then follows-up with them at appropriate intervals to try to
persuade them to purchase the full deal.
About the author:
_________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Angela is the editor of Online Business
Basics, a practical guide to building a business on a beginner's
budget. It's a real hit with beginners, who love the
down-to-earth style and loads of instantly useable tips! For
details, visit http://onlinebusinessbasics.com/article.html
