Paid-to-Click-Service

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Lead Generation Web Sites and Autoresponder Follow-up

By Miguel Pancardo


You know how important it is to generate leads for your business. You also know you need those leads to stay afloat on the Internet. But what happens AFTER you generate the leads? What do you do with them, and what's the next step you should take? We'll answer those questions right now.

It's important for a farmer to fertilize his crops, and it's the same with following up with a new lead. You can think of follow-up as a way of "fertilizing" your leads to help them grow into actual customers. That contact behind the computer at the other end is a person who needs to know you're worthy of his trust, so you never want to remain anonymous and aloof. Instead, you should follow up with that prospect right away.

The best way to do this is with the use of an autoresponder. This is a piece of software that helps you keep track of new contacts, manage older contacts and follow up with them regularly. This is especially vital at the start of the relationship. That's right - relationship. In essence you are building trust and faith with each other.

As soon as someone signs up for your mailing list, an autoresponder immediately sends an email welcoming the new lead or thanking them for joining. The autoresponder can be set to send as many messages as you need at the intervals you determine are appropriate. While the initial message should be sent right away, later messages can be sent at the intervals you set in the autoresponder. These intervals can be daily, weekly or any other time period you select.

Messages will be able to guide your prospects through your system and offer them items to buy along the way. You've probably already set the precedent that they can believe and trust you, just by giving them something for free right at the beginning. Sell inexpensive products to your prospects and build their trust while you are bringing them along. They'll be much more comfortable buying your main moneymaking product when they arrive at the end of this process.

An autoresponder can do several other things in addition to helping in this way. If you receive a lot of inquiries and signups, an autoresponder will organize your prospect list and tell you precisely how far every person has progressed through the process. An autoresponder will also let you send individual messages called "announcements" whenever you think it's appropriate. For example, you might get a great deal on an especially good product. You can offer it to your prospects by sending an announcement.

Email marketing always carries a risk of spam reports, but autoresponders guard against them. They do this by embedding an "unsubscribe" link in every message they send. If the recipient of your email can opt out at any time but chooses not to, then the emails are not spam and you'll be safe from spam reports. Think of it as being like insurance, in a way.

The important thing to remember is that you must follow up with your prospects and maintain constant contact. You can do this easily and automatically by using an autoresponder. Leads actually expect you to contact them periodically. If they don't hear from you they'll think you're not worth bothering with and they'll opt out of your list.

You can prevent this by using an autoresponder to follow up on your leads. When you do, your contacts will continue to be satisfied.




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