An autoresponder is a piece of software that allows a blogger or marketer to collect e-mails and then send messages to everyone on that list.
Of course, it is possible to build a mailing list without a piece of software to do this. To do so, you would only need a sign-up form written in JavaScript and you could then store your e-mails in some kind of spreadsheet. For sending lots of e-mails at once, you could either use the BCC function of your e-mail client, or you could use a specialist piece of software.
But this is lengthy, fiddly, and it means you don’t get to use the many advantages of having an autoresponder.
These advantages include:
Unsubscribe Management: If you have a mailing list, it’s important to let people unsubscribe. Autoresponders handle this function for you and save you massive amounts of time as your list gets larger.
Double Opt-In: What’s more, an autoresponder allows you to set up a double opt-in. This means that your new subscribers will have to confirm their subscriptions. In turn, this helps to protect you from spam, fake e-mails and accidental sign-ups: thereby increasing the value of your mailing list greatly.
Back-Up: Autoresponders will automatically back up your list, ensuring that you don’t lose all your hard work to a damaged hard drive.
Stats: Autoresponders can provide you with a large amount of data – such as how many of your e-mails are getting opened. This allows you to see how engaged your audience are, and to run split tests to try to find ways to increase that engagement.
Names: Autoresponders let you automatically insert the names of your recipients to make the messages more personal and thus more likely to get opened.
