How To Stay In Touch With Your Ebay Customers 24/7. Yep, Even
While You're Asleep!
What's the one great thing you can do for your Happy eBay
Customers?
Sell them something else of course, give them a great deal and
make them even happier.
But how do you keep in touch with your eBay customers on a
regular basis for various different products and various
different deals.
Use an Autoresponder as part of your eBay business, that's how.
AUTORESPONDERS What they Are and How to use them?
You have to know this. They will become your 24/7 sales teams.
What is an Autoresponder? Why do I need one? How do I get one
and How do I use it?
WHAT IS AN AUTORESPONDER?
An Autoresponder is a bit like Fax On Demand, whereby you dial a
certain code into your Fax Machine and receive back a specific
document, except in the case of an Autoresponder you send an
email to an Autoresponder Address and receive back a pre written
email message.
SEQUENTIAL AUTORESPONDERS
A Sequential Autoresponder, as it's name implies is an
Autoresponder that can send out a series of pre-written messages.
When someone sends an email message to a Sequential
Autoresponder, they will receive back a series of messages
spread over a period of time.
Sequential Autoresponders can be set up to send a pre-written
message every day - every week - -every month etc.
In fact, any combination of time intervals that suits.
WHY DO I NEED ONE?
Can you imagine the power that your eBay sales campaigns would
have if you could automatically contact your prospective
customers on a regular basis virtually for free?
It's awesome.
In a recent study, "Sales And Marketing Executive International"
found that 81% of sales are closed after the fifth contact.
I have seen it reported on other marketing Websites that
"on-line" customers may need to see the same sales information
between 7 and 12 times before they make a decision to purchase.
You can achieve this via an Autoresponder, something that it is
important for you to understand whether you're selling a product
or service on or off-line.
So lets suppose that you have a Website promoting a product or
service and that you get visitors to your site. Some of those
visitors will purchase straight away but most will not.
This is quite normal, as most people need time to make a buying
decision. However, once they have left your Website the chances
are you will have lost them as a customer.
The most common reason for people not purchasing immediately is
that they need more information to enable them to make a buying
decision.
This can range from more information about the product or
service to more information about the company or individual
selling the product or service.
Or it might be the case that you have a list of happy eBay
customers and you want to inform them of a new product or
special deal.
In both of these cases the prospective customer needs more
information in order to feel comfortable with their decision to
purchase.
THE ANSWER
The solution to the above is to create a way for your
prospective eBay customers to have access to that information,
and this can be done via a Sequential Autoresponder.
Do you have a database of eBay customers who have purchased from
you?
If you have, there is a very good chance that they will purchase
from you again "if" you can enable them to remain happy with the
purchase they have already made and can keep them informed of
new products and special offers.
The bigger your eBay customer database, the harder this is to do.
Once again the answer can be found in using a Sequential
Autoresponder.
Of course, once your prospective eBay customer has digested
enough information to make a positive buying decision they will
join your customer database and you can follow up with
re-assurance of their purchase and your other products and
special offers.
HOW DO I GET ONE
There are many Autoresponder Services on the market, some are
free, some you pay for.
FREE VERSUS PAID
I do not recommend the majority of free autoresponder services
for one main reason.
In order to generate an income the providers of free
autoresponder services will place advertisements within the
email messages that your customers receive.
These advertisements will bear no relationship to the product or
service you are offering, losing you sales and annoying your
customers into the bargain. Some bargain!
There are other reasons.
For instance, it is rare to find a free autoresponder service
that will allow you to "personalize" your messages.
The one exception that I know off is FreeAutobot.com
I've used FreeAutobot for a long time and they serve me very
well.
They do not place advertisements within your messages. You can
use personalization tags, you can open as many accounts as you
wish and the service is entirely free.
I recommend that you visit their Website at
http://www.FreeAutobot.com and have a good look around.
While your there, why not open an account and take an
Autoresponder on a test drive? It's quite straightforward;
everything you need to know is explained on their Website.
HOW TO USE AN AUTORESPONDER
When someone sends an email to your Autoresponder address not
only does it send your pre-written message to them but it also
captures their name and email address.
In this way your Autoresponder will build up a database of
prospective customers for you.
What if you already had a database of prospective customers that
you wanted to include in your FreeAutobot Autoresponder's series
of messages?
You could import the information into your FreeAutobot
Autoresponder, but only one lead at a time.
Remember, you get what you pay for!
PAID AUTORESPONDERS
If you need an Autoresponder with that kind of flexibility, you
will have to pay for it.
One of the problems with most paid Autoresponder Services is
that a limit will be put on how many leads you will be able to
import into your Autoresponder.
This may not seem like a problem initially, but it can soon
become one.
There is a perfectly good reason for this, SPAM or Unsolicited
Commercial Email.
Many Autoresponder Service Providers have had their knuckles
severely wrapped and some have even been closed down because of
individuals using their Autoresponders to send SPAM, resulting,
perhaps unjustly, in the Autoresponder Service Provider being
blamed.
That is why any Autoresponder service worth it's salt will have
worked very hard to build a reputation of not allowing their
service to be used for SPAMMING and require their service users
to be in possession of the following specific criteria for any
email address that they wish to import.
Email Address First Name Last Name Address City Zip Code Phone
Number IP Address Date Time Stamp of IP Logging
Clearly, this does not present a problem to the honest user.
HOW TO USE AN AUTORESPONDER cont...
You may recall that we discussed the possibility of providing
your prospective and existing customers with more information to
assist them in reaching a buying decision or to make an
additional purchase.
And the best way I know of achieving this is via a Sequential
Autoresponder.
You make it clear on your eBay Sales Page and your eBay AboutMe
Page that more information on your product or service can be
obtained by filling out a opt-in form.
Visit:
http://javascript.internet.com/forms/validation.html for an
example of a web based opt-in form and how to create it.
The form will have "boxes" where your visitors or readers can
enter their Name and Email Address, and a Send or Submit button.
Once your prospective customer has entered their details and
clicked on Submit, your Autoresponder will be automatically
triggered to send them your pre-written information.
This might be a series of emails telling them more about your
eBay auctions, your products or services or more information
about you and your company or both.
This is a fantastic way of selling the "benefits" of you, your
company and your products or services.
You might send your existing eBay customers a series of messages
asking them if they are happy with the purchases they have made
from you and informing them of any Special Offers and additional
products.
Remember that these messages can be sent daily, weekly or
monthly and to as many people as you wish.
An Autoresponder is your 24/7 Customer Service and Sales Team.
You would be wise to use one, even while you're asleep.
CopyRight 2005 Ian D.Major