Do I really Need Autoresponder?

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. In order 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 different 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 will allow 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 and find ways to increase than 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.