Users want instant responses, but they don’t have time to sit in front of an email all day and respond to every question instantly.
Email autoresponders solve this problem by automatically sending an email to your audience immediately after a user triggers an action, or at a scheduled time.
This post explains what an email autoresponder is, provides examples of common email autoresponders, and shows you how to create an email autoresponder.
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What is an email autoresponder?
Email autoresponders are emails that are triggered to be sent immediately or at a scheduled time when a user takes a specific action, such as opting into an email list or downloading a lead magnet. is.
The advantage of email autoresponders is that your audience can receive the information they need without any effort. As a result, brands can improve communication and audience engagement while saving time.
Email autoresponder example
If you know that email automation can help your business, but don’t know where to start, here are some of the most common autoresponders that are perfect for increasing audience engagement .
welcome email
Every business should send a welcome email as soon as someone signs up for their email list. Users often forget the brands they subscribe to, so if you don’t contact them right away, future emails may be deleted.
The key to a great welcome email is to convey the value someone can expect to receive from your brand and encourage them to open future emails from your brand.
So, check your email opt-in offers/calls to action to understand why your subscribers opted in to receive emails from you in the first place. Increasing open rates is often as simple as providing the type of content your subscribers choose to receive.
So, in your welcome email, let them know what kind of content you’ll send them and direct them to different resources that might be of interest to them.
For example, Tintin Smith’s welcome email does a great job of letting readers know what value they can expect from him in the future. We also add fun and engaging emojis that set the tone for your brand.
If you’re an e-commerce brand, direct your subscribers to best-selling collections, inspiration, and helpful content. Below is a great example of a welcome email from Williams and Sonoma that directs users to their best-selling products and resources to better design their homes.
Reactivation email
Instead of constantly recruiting new email subscribers, send reactivation emails to keep existing subscribers actively engaged. You can schedule these emails to be sent weeks or months after the reader last opened your email.
Re-engaging existing subscribers is cheaper than driving traffic to your website and converting them into subscribers. Existing subscribers are also more likely to convert faster than new subscribers because they are familiar with your brand.
Beehiiv has a great example of a reactivation email that encourages subscribers to use your product again. However, you can also simply include helpful content in your reactivation email.
However, if the user does not re-engage with the campaign, remove the user from your list. List scrubbing is one of his most important email marketing tips. This will keep open rates high, reduce the number of people marking your email as spam, and improve deliverability.
Customer feedback email
Perhaps the best marketing “hack” is to listen to what your customers want and give them what they requested.
You don’t have time to ask individual customers about their experience with your brand, but you can set up a customer feedback autoresponder to do the job.
Below is a great example of an automated customer feedback email template.
Hello, (name)
Thank you for using (branded product).
How do you feel about using our products?
Do you have feedback on how we can improve our (product/service)?
If you would like to leave a note, please fill out this survey (insert link).
Thank you for your feedback.
(name)
In addition to asking for feedback on your content and products, you can also ask about common customer pain points and challenges. This helps you identify better content ideas and send more relevant emails.
Many popular email marketing software solutions also allow you to include surveys at the bottom of your emails, so take advantage of that feature as well.
abandoned cart email
If you have an e-commerce website and don’t have abandoned cart emails set up, you could be wasting a lot of money. Users who add a product to their cart are clearly interested and ready to buy. Often, all you need to do to get that conversion is send an automated cart abandonment email.
To make your abandoned cart offer even more appealing, we also offer discount codes.
Here’s a great example from Alex Mill.
onboarding email
After purchasing a product or service, you need to understand how to use it. Otherwise, they may become frustrated, defect, or even leave a negative review, feeling like they wasted their money on an ineffective product or service.
Automated onboarding emails are perfect for this purpose, as customers don’t have to wait for a call with a customer success representative. In addition, many people do not like phone calls and prefer written communication.
Below is a great example of an effective automated onboarding email.
Include written and visual resources in your onboarding emails, such as videos and guides with step-by-step screenshots. Some customers prefer written content, while others prefer visual content. So by offering both resources, you can be sure to cater to both audiences.
Email when out of office
If a customer or client emails you while you’re away, setting up an auto-reply to let them know you’ll get back to them when you get back will ensure they don’t feel ignored and improve their experience with your brand.
Ideally, leave a note for another person who can contact you if you have a more urgent request.
Examples of autoresponders you can create include:
Bonus: Lead Nurturing Email
Email sequences are different from your typical autoresponder, which sends a single autoreply to your audience, but they’re extremely powerful and an important part of a successful email marketing strategy.
Once a user opts in to a lead magnet, sending emails that guide them through the buyer journey is essential to converting website visitors into customers.
There’s more than one way to create a lead nurturing sequence. Instead, the key to creating a highly effective nurturing sequence is to first identify the most common questions your audience is asked at each stage of their engagement with your brand, and then answer each question in each successive email. That’s it.
Below is an example subject line for one of Ramit’s early seven-part email sequences.
At the end of each email, hint at what they’ll learn in the next email to keep readers interested in your brand.
For example, after sending out an email with their favorite SEO tools and resources, you’ll notice that the author teases readers about what they’ll receive in the next email: answers to the most frequently asked SEO questions.
We also recommend scheduling nurturing emails to be sent daily or just one day apart. If you wait too long between emails, your readers may lose interest.
Now that you know what kind of email autoresponders you need to set up, you need the right email autoresponder software to implement them.
Here are some of the most popular email autoresponder tools we recommend.
#1: Mail Chimpanzee
Mailchimp offers a complete marketing automation platform and is one of the largest solutions in the industry.
We provide templates for creating email autoresponders, and you can also easily build email nurturing sequences, remarketing funnels, and more.
Another benefit of using a large email marketing platform like Mailchimp is that it integrates with most other platforms like Yelp, Shopify, and Wix. Additionally, if you’re using a niche tool, such as a new software run by a startup, you’ll know that Mailchimp has a large customer base, so you might prefer Mailchimp over other smaller email marketing providers. More likely to offer integration with Mailchimp.
The downside to Mailchimp is that it’s a large company, so customer support can be slower than smaller but more nimble email marketing companies.
Here’s an overview of Mailchimp’s pricing:
#2: Continuous contact
Constant Contact is another popular email autoresponder tool, but it doesn’t offer a free plan. The lowest price point only offers a simple automated welcome email, so it may not be the most affordable solution for solopreneurs and freelancers who want to set up multiple types of email autoresponders or segment their list. There is a gender.
However, it offers useful AI writing tools available at all price points and integrates with over 300 different apps.
Higher price points also offer common email automation features such as A/B testing, automation path templates, and resending to people who didn’t open the initial email.
#3: GetResponse
GetResponse is designed for sales professionals who need detailed insights into audience engagement. It offers complex automation sequences, contact scoring, and other more advanced features that sales teams need.
However, most e-commerce integrations only come at the highest price point, so it may not be a great solution for smaller e-commerce brands. Other features like quick transaction emails, abandoned cart recovery, promo codes, and product recommendations are also only available at the highest price point.
Still, if you run a software company or rely heavily on your sales team, GetResponse could be a great option.
#4: Brevo
Brevo, formerly known as Sendinblue, is an email marketing platform that also offers SMS automation and a generous free plan.
However, marketing automation features are not available until you reach the third pricing tier. So if you plan on building more automation in the future, this may not be the most affordable option. A/B testing is also behind your business plan.
Nevertheless, it is a great tool for SMS marketing and allows unlimited contacts on all pricing plans.
#5: Campaign monitor
Campaign Monitor offers everything you would expect from an email marketing platform and is very generous even at the lowest price point, including basic email autoresponders, A/B testing, analytics, branded templates, and segmentation at the lowest price point. Offers.
It’s equally suitable for agencies, solopreneurs, e-commerce brands, and other businesses, making it a versatile tool for many users.
Another unique aspect of Campaign Monitor pricing is that all pricing tiers allow for multiple users and granular permissions.
Campaign Monitor pricing includes the base price for each tier plus additional charges based on the size of your email list.
How to create an autoresponder email
The process for setting up an email autoresponder varies slightly for each email platform, but most are very easy and require just a few steps.
To help you get started, we provide links to set up email autoresponders on each of the following platforms:
Get more help with email marketing
Autoresponders are just one aspect of an effective email marketing strategy. If you want to maximize your revenue from email marketing, level up your copywriting skills, learn how to effectively segment your email list, and other more advanced tactics.
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