A website today, is much more than a business’s identity; it is a source of lead generation and customer-driven services. Given that lead generation essentially happens using Sign Up forms; it is essential for business web forms to set up an email auto response for lead generation.
An email auto response is normally used to keep the prospective customers in the loop when the recipient is unable to respond immediately. This not only helps the company but informs the customer that they matter to the company.
Why do business sites need forms with email auto responses enabled?
1. Because it is not possible to send one on one message to all leads
You might be a starter, and feel that you can handle all the queries on your own. But there will be a time when the traffic to your website would be huge, and the volume of leads high. Then it would be impossible for you to personally correspond with them on an individual basis. You need to think ahead, and plan for that. You cannot send 100 emails per day, can you! In such a case, you will need to set up email auto responses. This will save your time, but not at the expense of leads because you are keeping them in the loop.
2. Avoids blacklisting of accounts
Sending hundreds of emails from personal accounts may lead to blacklisting of the account due to spam. This can be avoided by setting up email auto responses from trusted auto response service providers.
3. To check the correctness of details entered
Many times you give your latest whitepaper for download and assume that you would be able to collect some leads this way. Unfortunately, you realize later that people have entered fake Email IDs just to access the free stuff. Forms with email auto responses enabled, help to eliminate such practices. This can be done by sending them goodies through email, so that you would get their correct email IDs. This will keep both parties happy!
4. To send email auto responses to the sales team:
Some businesses have forms on their websites, but forget to monitor the leads collected through them. This means ‘plenty of missed opportunity’. To avoid this, you can enable email notifications to your sales team, so that they can get in touch with the leads while they are fresh enough. Might seem like a trivial thing, but it helps.
5. Brand recognition:
Auto responses help the company to be remembered as well.
A customer who signed up for your free plan, probably signed up for 5 others. An auto response from you, on form fill would help him/her remember you.
Once again, the conversion might not immediately happen. In this case, if triggered emails are sent to the visitors on different occasions (like New Year), it would help them remember you. 5 months down the line, when they are looking for the service that you provide, voila, you would hear from him. (Just like how one remembers an ad due to constant repetition, the same logic can be applied here.)
Sending automated emails through trusted auto response service providers like LeadSquared, MailChimp, AWeber, and others will allow for efficient email correspondence between B2B and B2C sites. However, one should keep in mind that the information in the mail must be relevant to the customer, else, it won’t generate the kind of interest the business needs. An auto response can also be used to send e-books, product information, offers and discounts, and others.
Auto responses can be used in the following situations:
Auto responders are used for a couple of reasons. Some of the most common ones being:
Confirmation of delivery: Auto response emails notify the sender that the message has been received.
Information about the immediate unavailability of the receiver: Inform the sender that the receiver is currently away and will look into the matter as soon as possible.
Provision of marketing assistance: Automated messages can be sent to provide assistance to the customers through blog posts.
Product or service information: Email auto responses provide information about upcoming events, offers, discounts, etc.
Respond to FAQs: Some companies use email auto responders to respond to FAQs.
Change of address: Sometimes auto responders are used to notify the concerned party of a change of address.
Sales promotion: Email auto response programmes are also set up to provide information about a new product or service, or even an existing one.
Things to remember while creating email/SMS auto response templates:
1) Personalisation: A successful email auto response template has key elements that make it worthwhile. A personalized message is far more productive than a generic one.
For instance, a message having the recipient’s name on it, like Dear X, adds a personal touch to it.
2) Relevance: The auto response must be relevant and must be able to cater to the needs of the customer.
3) Timing: A well-timed email auto response can do wonders for the business.
For instance, if a prospect is interested in the product of your business at a specific point of time, and there is no representative available at the time to respond to the customer’s interests, an automated message sent at that time, can be highly beneficial for both parties.
SMS Response
SMS auto responses have also gained a lot of importance lately. They are used, usually to notify customers of codes or passwords, essential for access to their account in that website or for any other purpose. This happens instantly and thereby, saves time.
For instance, if a customer has opened an account in a specific business site, the site may require the customer to put in a code in order to have access to his/her account. This code is then sent instantly to the customer, saving time and the hassle of sending a direct mail and waiting for it to arrive. By doing this, the company gets access to personal information of the customer and can also find out if the mobile number given was genuine or not.
The others uses of SMS marketing include information about –
- Alerts,
- Offers,
- Discounts,
- Reminders, and
- Other customer-related information.
Business sites should therefore, generate email auto response and SMS response to effectively continue and expand their business. SMS response not only saves time but is also subject-specific and relevant to the customer.
So tell us, are you using email or SMS auto responses for your business?
