Anita Ashland: Autoresponder Copywriter» Autoresponders

What’s your autoresponder problem?

Anita Ashland — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:06:23 +0000

If you have an email list, I’d love to hear what your biggest problem is in creating emails for your list.

I created a short survey with only three questions about your biggest autoresponder problem and what would help you solve it.

It should take you only a minute (literally) to fill out the survey. I’d greatly appreciate it if you would. Click Here to take survey

Feel free to leave a comment here instead if you prefer.

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Tip for broadcast emails

Anita Ashland — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:24:19 +0000

Just read a Twitter post from Michel Fortin in which he says: “After an email broadcast of a new blog post, add it to your autoresponder cycle so that future subscribers will eventually see it too.”

This is great way to get extra mileage from an email that you only write once. I’ve noticed Michel doesn’t have dates on his blog posts so this probably works best if you switch off the dates for the links to your blog posts.

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One of my most popular emails

Anita Ashland — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 06:27:27 +0000

I figure it’s only fair I show examples of my own work from time to time.

So here’s one I wrote for a client in the self-help niche. The persona is a middle-aged male.

Their customer service person who manages their email replies says this one resulted in a huge number of positive responses. Go figure.

The email is content-only, no selling.

Also, at the end, I asked the reader to write back, which no doubt increased the response.

I write emails for this client on a monthly basis, which gives them the luxury of sending out content-only emails from time to time.

It is essential to be concerned about this type of response rate from your list too, not just conversion rates.

Are you connecting with your list and getting responses from them? That type of response rate leads to higher conversion rates.

OK, here’s the email:

Subj: How long can you live on a good compliment?

Hi firstname,

Mark Twain said he could live two months on a
good compliment.

I’m still living on a compliment a store clerk
gave me 14 months ago. I stepped into the store
after attending a conference and she said she
never sees people dressed like how I was in real
life, only in magazines. Glad I looked so pulled
together that one day anyway.

If a compliment from a stranger can mean so much,
a compliment from a loved one can mean so much
more.

Yet, as we all know all too well, we often
neglect to compliment those we love.

With people we love, or people who hope to
attract to us and form a loving relationship
with, it’s good to take compliments to an even
deeper level.

And that’s with encouragement.

Encouragement can take the following forms:

* Reinforcing them after they second-guess
themselves after a difficult decision.

* Drawing attention to their progress on a
project.

* Thanking them for their unique perspective
(even if you disagree with it).

Verbal appreciation like this is a powerful thing.

How have you been encouraged lately?

Have you encouraged anyone recently?

If you haven’t given or received much
encouragement lately, begin each day with a
thought of gratitude about at least one area of
your life.

The more gratitude you have, the more the
compliments and encouragement will flow your way
and the more it will also flow from you to others.

Feel free to write back and let me know your
thoughts.

Peace,

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Is there a formula for autoresponder emails?

Anita Ashland — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:02:53 +0000

People often ask me if I follow a certain formula when writing email copy for my clients.

For clients who want a set number of plain text autoresponder emails for a series, I follow a certain structure most of the time:

* Begin with a story or interesting description and make the first paragraph very short, if possible.

* Include three links in the body.

* Precede each link with a question, if possible, or at least a short sentence.

* Include a P.S. that mentions one bonus or benefit that wasn’t mentioned in the body and also include a link to the website.

*The word length is usually 300-500 words.

For websites where the emails are an ongoing thing (i.e. broadcast messages), and not limited to a series, I don’t follow a set structure because my focus is on building a rapport, not on pitching something every single time. Sometimes the emails are very short. I mix things up to keep the reader interested.

By the way, I think it’s very, very smart to send broadcast emails on a regular basis because you can include events and news of the day and make them very timely. It’s the real way to build rapport with your clients and customers.

If you’d like to outsource that to an email copywriter, just holler. I have monthly retainer arrangements for situations like this and would be happy to help you out.

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