As with any tool, autoresponders are really useful only when you use them well. We’ve taken an in-depth look at autoresponders, how they work, how to use autoresponders for marketing mediation and other ADR services, and how to choose one. In this concluding article in my autoresponder mini-series, we look at strategies for leveraging autoresponders to build client relationships and, as a result, business.

Strategies for Building Trust

• Make it easy to subscribe and unsubscribe. Every contact with you conveys something about the way you work with your clients. Complicated procedures can inadvertently turn people off, while including only permission-granted people in your list shows your integrity.
• Promise and deliver privacy. Subscribers are worried about the misuse of their contact information. If you will never sell, trade or otherwise share a subscriber’s contact information, say so.
• Maintain regular contact and don’t overwhelm. “Too much” email is a subjective matter. Experiment to find out what your customer base finds useful. A lot of the autoresponder literature suggests that regular contact in the first 30-60 days is key and that people who’ve opted in expect you to be in touch. I think many mediators (me, too) tend toward the too-conservative on this.
• Ask. I see a lot of ADR professionals who put information out there and never ask prospective clients to buy. I used to do the same and it took me 3 years to admit I could do better. I read the marketing literature in great depth and one universal theme is, You’ve got to include a call to action.
• Educate instead of sell. Instead of selling yourself and all you have to offer, educate prospects about the benefits and values of ADR, how to choose an ADR professional, when not to choose ADR, etc.

Strategies for Building Relationships

• Make use of every point of contact with current and prospective clients. Make it easy for people to know about and opt in to your mailing list by including the URL in your email signature line, on your business card, on your letterhead, someplace highly visible on your website, and in thank you letters to current clients.
• Create a two-way conversation. Use your autoresponder to encourage subscribers to ask questions, request information, give feedback, and raise concerns.
• Provide clear benefit. Focus your autoresponder messages on the benefits of your services (which is about the client) instead of the features you offer (which is about you).
• Share what others have said about your work. Use your autoreponder to send testimonials from previous clients.

Strategies for Encouraging Opt-Ins

• Make your sign-up list easily visible or findable on your site.
• Create special offers or services. Subscribers want something in return for their email address.
• Create special products for subscribers. Create a “how-to” document and deliver it automatically to anyone who subscribes to your list.
• Hold a contest to get feedback. Create a contest to name a new service or one of your workshops, then invite people to subscribe to your site in order to submit their ideas in return for a chance to win a gift certificate or other prize.

Ways to Use Your Autoresponder

• Send out your FAQs. Create a list of frequently asked questions and put together an email that answers them.
• Send articles from your blog or e-zine. Make double use of your writing by creating other streams through which it can be delivered.
• Create and deliver an e-course. E-courses give you repeated contact with a prospective client.
• Publish portions of your website. Visitors may not want to read all parts of your site when they visit. Identify the key pages and reproduce that content in an autoresponse message.
• Share your Agreement to Mediate and other pre-mediation documents. Deliver documents automatically to clients on a special pre-mediation mailing list.
• Notify of site updates. Send subscribers a notice that there’s new or updated information on your website.

Have you used your autoresponder in other creative ways? Share them here by submitting a comment.