Writing a Good Autoresponder Sequence

So you’ve got people to opt-in to your list and you’re building a subscriber base. This is probably the autoresponder sequence then you’re pretty much putting all of your list building efforts to waste…

single most important thing you can do in your online business BUT if you don’t follow it up with a good

A good autoresponder sequence builds a relationship with your subscribers. It (hopefully) gets them to buy products from you and engage in what you’re all about. Many people get it wrong. They stack up the messages without giving much thought to what they are actually doing. 

Here’s how to do it right: 

Put yourself in your subscribers shoes.

Easier said than done I agree, but do you really want to be receiving sales email after sales email each and every day? The first step towards writing a good autoresponder sequence is to put yourself in your subscribers shoes and think about what they would like to receive. What interests them? What will benefit them?

 Give content. Don’t just sell.

It’s a funny thing but the truth is that the less you sell, the more you’ll sell! Give quality content in your autoresponder sequence and look out for your subscribers interests. Tell stories, give them helpful advice that they can put into action straight away without needing to buy anything

Carefully time your emails.

Autoresponders let you space your messages in any way you wish. All you have to do for each message is to specify the number of days between that email and the last one. Try delivering them every day for the first few days, and then space them out a little longer after say the first week. Why? Because immediately after subscribing people are ‘hot’ about you and it’s a great time to sell to them

     Think about what they originally signed up for.

Most people build their list by giving away some sort of freebie in return for the opt-in. A top tip for writing a good autoresponder sequence is to make sure that your emails relate back to the original thing they signed up to receive. If your squeeze page ‘bait’ was about blogging then they are obviously interested in blogging or they wouldn’t have subscribed!

Above all – give quality content and deliver to your subscribers content that you know they will enjoy. Take a look at other marketers autoresponder sequences. How do THEY do it?

How To Create an Interview Product

Production creation is something which many people struggle with when starting an online business.

Getting the information to actually put into a product can be difficult, as can be finding the time to write or produce it.

A great way of creating a quality product quickly however is to do an interview with an expert in your niche and then package it up as a product...

The benefits of doing this are massive. Providing you find the right person to interview you should be getting access to an instant pool of knowledge which can go into your product.

The first step is to find your interviewee. This is not as difficult as it sounds either because they get tons of free exposure and the chance to sell themselves, meaning that many people will jump at the chance to be interviewed! Approach people in your niche and ask them. You can find them in the usual places like blogs, forums, etc.

The next thing to decide is what format you want to conduct the interview in:

You could firstly do an email interview. You simply email over your questions and let the other person respond in paragraphs, and then put the interview responses into a report or ebook. This is something I've done quite successfully in the past.

The other option is to do a 'live' interview and then record it. This could be done over Skype or telephone for example. Of course this has the advantage in that you can create two products out of the interview - the audio recording, and the transcript of the audio recording. If you choose this option it's always best to pre-plan and have a guide in front of you so as you know what you're going to talk about in the interview. You also need to let the other person know what you want to talk about in advance so that they can do a bit of pre-planning for the interview too.

Thinking of questions or topics to discuss:

This is easy - just think about what people in your niche want to know. If you don't know what's hot then just take a look at forums, blogs, or websites in your niche. For example, people in the internet marketing niche might want to know how he/she would build a list, or how they got started with an online business. Ask questions about the hot topics in your niche and you won't go far wrong with your interview.

However you decide to do it, creating an interview product is one of the easiest ways of creating a product, and it's also one of the best because you should end up with a product that is genuinely of high quality.

The Power of Testimonials

Convincing people that your product or service is actually any good can be difficult, especially online

where people may have been burned in the past. Most people won’t buy from you without some sort of pre-existing relationship, and anything that boosts your credibility can clearly only be a good thing.

Before people invest in your product or opt-in to your list they want to be sure that they aren’t wasting their time or money.  This is why testimonials are so powerful - they have far more credibility than anything you write yourself simply because they are someone else’s opinion.

So how do you get testimonials? Start by getting into the habit of asking anyone who buys from you to give you their opinion. If your product or service is actually of good quality then the feedback you get should be overwhelmingly positive. Try producing a short questionnaire and send it to all your customers. Obviously not everyone will oblige, but  those who do may give you valuable quotes that you can use as testimonials in your business.

Another strategy is to give away copies of your product to other marketers on the basis that they will give you their honest opinion – and make sure it is honest as well! It is quite easy to get people to give you testimonialssince it is free advertising for the other person and boosts their own credibility.

Where should you include testimonials? You should definitely put them onto your sales pages and squeeze pages, but there are other places too – in emails to your list or posts on your blog.

You can also go beyond the testimonial by producing case studies. Has one of your customers had a success story because of your product? If you can produce a good case study you’ll help people to understand more about your offering, whilst also re-assuring them that it is the right thing for them. 

Case studies can make excellent press releases too, giving your online PR a boost and getting you some valuable free advertising and coverage in the media if your press release gets picked up by publications.