The All-Important Autoresponder

Credit goes to Chad for piecing together one of the best autoresponder summaries ever…

When most lenders/Realtors hear the word “auto-responder” they think of a pre-written message that is given the lowly task of informing your contacts “Sorry, I’m gone for the day and will be back on…” Not much more than an online answering machine when you think about it. This is not the auto-responder we’re discussing today. Not even close.

A true email marketing autoresponder comes with the following features:

1. Groups
2. Pre-set delivery intervals
3. Auto – subscription
4. SPAM check tools

So what are all these features for? Let’s have a look:

1. Groups

What is it: Most true email marketing systems allow you to set up multiple “groups.” A group is simple a list of people you want to email to, that all share something in common. Such as realtors may be one group you email to, while “past clients” may be a second group. Obviously you don’t want the same drip emails going to other business contacts, as you do your past clients, so you create 2 seperate groups. I recommend that you have at least 5 groups:

1. Past Clients
2. Deals in process
3. Prospects
4. Realtors (Or at least 1 other referral source)
5. FSBO prospects

2. Preset delivery intervals

This one iss pretty straight forward. You want your auto-responder to have the ability to pre-set the delivery of your email campaign at regular intervals. Day 1, day 15, day 30 and so forth. This means that you setup your campaign once, and let the machine do the work for you from that point forward. Sounds nice doesn’t it? So where are all the mortgage marketing tools that convert sales for you? Can’t wait until they invent one of those!

3. Auto-Subscription

This feature allows you to capture names and phone numbers (Along with any other relevant info you want) right from your website. A good auto-responder will make this a simple step as well. Place the form on the proper pages, ads, or blogs and voila – a new source of leads!

4 – SPAM Check Tools

Spam filters have gone crazy these days. It seems a higher and higher percentage of messages are labelled as spam. If your messages aren’t getting through, then they’re likely not getting read. Not a good situation. A good auto-responder will scan your email message prior to delivery, and warn you of potential spam red flags. There are dozens of words, and phrases that can set off spam filters these days. Not to mention font size and color amongst other things.

http://www.loanofficermarketinglab.com/chrish