If you are an “Aha! Moment,” you know how to use auto responders. You have probably sent out thousands of messages to people who are interested in what you are saying. Or, perhaps, you are just starting your emailing campaign and are looking for some tips to help you get started. But, if you are like most marketers, you struggle with understanding whether your auto responder is doing its job or not.
The term “auto responder” can mean different things to different people. For example, your boss may refer to it as a form on your desktop that allows you to capture names and return numbers automatically. Your ISP might refer to it as an “external database” that stores customer data and allows you to perform calculations with that data. And, in the Internet world, your “typist” or “customer service representative” may refer to it as an HTML editor, with all of the bells and whistles that come with it. So, what is an auto responder and how should you use it?
Auto responders generally have three major parts. First, there is the basic administration area where you define your auto-responder. In this area you define your auto-responder text, select a web form to which your auto responder will respond, select a database to store your customer data, and specify your keyword tag. In addition, many auto responders provide a template function, which will let you specify which template (or set of templates) you want your website or blog to display. With a little help from its template function, you can choose the look and feel that best fits your brand.
The second part of your auto keyword function is the initialization expression. This is where you define the name and keywords for your auto-responder. It’s also a good place to tell your website visitor what type of information they should provide when they submit their names and email addresses. It’s common for webmasters to wish to include an optional opt-in form at the bottom of every page displayed on their site. The declaration of your auto-responder’s initialization expression will tell the visitor what form they should enter in order to subscribe to your list.
Finally, after your auto keyword function has returned the required information, the last piece of your auto keyword function is the type inference part. Type inference simply tells your web browser what kind of entity (string, object, or keyword) you are trying to execute. For example, if you had a URL such as “myantifollowantifollowurl”, then you would instruct your browser to send back the “string” type, instead of “array”.
If you’re unfamiliar with auto keyword functions, don’t worry. They’re easy enough to understand once you’ve been through a couple tutorials or looked it up in your favorite search engine. If you have any more questions about how to use auto responders, there are many great online resources available to teach webmasters how to do just that. Happy keyword hunting!