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An autoresponder is a program that is written, as the name suggests, to automatically respond to an email. This is most visible to everyone when one sends a mail to an invalid email address and a bounce back message comes into your mailbox stating so. This bounce back message is sent by an autoresponder. If it weren’t for this software, you would never know whether the mail reached the intended recipient or the recipient was just ignoring you. In email marketing, an autoresponder service has a special role. They are mostly used as a confirmation mail sending mechanism. By sending a confirmation mail, you gain access past spam filters into a recipient’s mailbox. It also helps to validate an email address as a valid one. There are a few considerations to bear in mind when you are setting up an autoresponder.

Purpose. When you set up an autoresponder, the most important part is the preset text that you load into the software. You will need to create a few preset formats to send out that are as generic as possible for that specific purpose. For example, if you are eliciting a customer service enquiry, you would need to create one template that states that the customer’s query is being processed and a reply will be sent soon. Other messages include the standard billing receipts that are sent out, which will form yet another template.

Personal. There will be no doubt in the mind of the recipient that the message that he or she is getting is automated sometimes and to this effect it is important that you try and keep the wording of the mail as personal and informal as you can with a truly conversational style.

Over-sending. This is one of the disadvantages of using an autoresponder. To be more accurate, this is a problem of not using an autoresponder for the right purpose. If you use an autoresponder for a task that requires a lot of to and fro communication, your autoresponder could end up stating that a reply will be sent shortly with every line of communication to you. To avoid problems like this, ensure that you program your autoresponders to react just a few times.

When you send too many automated mails from your system, it can be a huge problem called email backscatter. This can cost you dearly in email marketing. The sheer volume of bounce back messages can cause an ISP to start registering spam hits and if you do not have a direct line of communication with your ISP, your ISP could start to consider you a spammer. This will result in the ISP sending your IP address to the blacklist. Once on a blacklist, the word will travel fast and reach every spam filter in the world that could block your genuine mails from going to your recipients. Backscatter is one of the biggest problems that one has to contend with when using an autoresponder.

About the Author:

Jamie Colbs is a html email newsletter templates best practices activist advocate for Benchmark Email , a leading Web and permission-based email marketing service.

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Email Marketing: 3 Things to Think of When Setting up Autoresponders