Those of you who have ever filled out anything online and then received an immediate e-mail have been on the receiving end of an auto responder.
These are programs that are set up to send automatic emails to people on your behalf based upon criteria that you decide upon in advance.
How does it work? There are many criteria that you can use to set up an auto responder.
One of the easiest would be based on the email the original message was sent to.
For instance if your site were to have two options say information and subscriptions then you could set your auto responder to send different emails to each one or send emails to subscriptions and ignore information.
An auto responder can also send automated emails based on subject line and even text within the message itself.
There are two basic types of auto responder, standard and advanced.
Standard The standard auto responder works as described above, it is designed to work with your email program and send preset responses.
This is great for follow up on orders, subscriptions and to notify clients of specific events.
Advanced The second type of auto responder can be programmed to send out automated responses on an unlimited basis.
These messages prepared by you can be scheduled to be sent out on at the same time each week, day, or month, as you desire.
The uses for an auto responder is only limited by your imagination and time to set them up.
Along with automated responses to inquiries, they can also be set to send out welcome messages, notification of special events, coupons', special offers, ECT...
Auto responders are a necessary tool for anyone who is doing business on the internet.