Prospective Client Messages
It used to be that the best way of getting new prospective customers to look at your product or service was to buy a list of opt-in email addresses, load them into an autoresponder and fire them off. Not anymore. Today, we have to be VERY concerned about being accused of spam, an accusation that even if it is not true can bring devastating results to your business.
That doesn't mean you shouldn?t use an autoresponder to prospect for customers. It is still one of the best ways of gaining new customers there is. Why? Because there is no way that you can deliver all of the information someone needs to make an informed decision in one email. Because different types of people respond to different information and it make take several emails to push the right 'button'. Because it takes an average of seeing something seven times before people take the time to react. You?re letting your prospects know bit by bit what the value of your program, service, or product will.
I said earlier that it is no longer a good idea to buy "opt-in" lists and just start sending emails out. In the current climate, you will eventually be accused of spamming, because no matter how many unsubscribe links to put in or how closely you follow the current laws -- all it takes is one person who doesn't read or enjoys giving you grief to complain. And most companies that get a spam complaint against you will consider you guilty until you can prove you are innocent. That means your entire advertising program can get shut down without notice.
I have noticed that the written agreements that most reputable hosting companies and autoresponder service firms have now flatly state that if you are accused of spamming, your account will be immediately terminated and you will be liable for "clean up" charges to delete the trouble you have caused. (Unless you wish to do business with hosting out of China, Russia, etc.) That is why I recommend that instead of purchasing lists, you use other means to gather your leads as are discussed throughout this course.
Common Themes
There are certain things that all of your messages should contain. The first of these is to make it look like you personally wrote it. When you are writing your messages, pretend that the person you are talking to is sitting there in the room across from you. Write your message the same way that you would talk to them in person.
Most multi-message autoresponders also allow you to personalize your emails by inserting the person's name. For instance, when they sign up for your information, you request their first name and email address. Then when you write your message, wherever you type something like [FIRSTNAME], the program will pull up that person?s name from the database and insert it in the message.
This way your message will end up saying, "John, read this immediately...", instead of looking like a generic mail out. This makes your message stand out from the crowd. To those you do not know how an autoresponder works, it looks like you personally wrote it just to them. That's very impressive. Even the people that do know what an autoresponder is are going to be impressed because you are following up with them the proper way.
The second thing that you need to be aware of is the U.S. laws concerning spam. The law basically requires two things. First, you are not trying to hide where the email is actually being sent from like the big spammers do. Next, you need to include in the email your real name or business name and contact information. Fortunately, autoresponders contain headers and footers just like word processors, so you can write that information once and have it automatically attached to each message.
Third, you should create an outline before you start writing. I remember when I had to create an outline for book reports when I went to school or a table of contents for a thesis in college. Same principle here. It forces you to present an organized, professional, cohesive series of messages. The more professional your messages read, the more you are going to be taken seriously, and therefore the greater your chances of building that trust between you and your client or prospect.