Autoresponders are one of the most simple to use yet most effective promotional tools created in recent times and are an essential requirement for any online business. You may hear the terms, automatic emailer, email responder, autobot or mailbot. Whatever the term, the important point is that an autoresponder will automatically answer incoming email messages on your behalf and once set up, will continue to do so indefinitely, without further intervention from you.

No matter what task an autoresponder is performing, the biggest benefit it offers is that of saving you time. Autoresponders never take a break, they tirelessly work 24/7 all year round and for no extra pay, they very rarely get sick...(as long as you have a reliable service provider), they never question your decisions or the tasks you have set them and they follow your instructions to the letter.

If you've noticed that I'm using the plural 'autoresponders' that is because even though you will opt for one autoresponder service provider, every campaign you run will need a separate autoresponder sequence, which is simply a series of response messages concentrating on one specific issue. For example; you may have an autoresponder set up to welcome new subscribers to your newsletter and maybe follow through with a short series of related messages. You will also need to set up another one to send out chapters of your e-course over a predetermined time span. You will need yet another to follow up with customers who have bought your ebook or special report and so on. Therefore you will be dealing with one autoresponder service provider account with which you can run multiple campaigns, each one being known as an "autoresponder".

We all realize that the Internet is growing day by day and will continue to do so with thousands of new users coming online in a never-ending stream. This means that you have an expanding international marketplace at your disposal. Naturally, competition is fierce...especially in certain markets (such as internet marketing;-). There are many thousands of companies vying for attention and business so you must do whatever it takes to get an "edge". The last thing you want to happen is that you gain that edge, attract hundreds of visitors to your site every day and then fail to capitalize on the advantage you have worked hard to win.

Internet companies and marketers know full-well that bringing in visitors is only the very first step in doing online business. What you must do next is convert visitors into paying customers. They know from experience there is no way they will convert every visitor, they also know that very few visitors buy anything on their first visit. It's statistically proven that it takes an average of five to seven visits before a person will pull out the plastic and make a purchase online. Therefore it follows, to succeed on the Internet you have to bring back those visitors time and time again until they like and trust you enough to do business.