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At some point in your business career, you’re going to seriously consider using an email service. If that time is now, or if you have an account and still haven’t mastered the basics, this article is written for you.

Long time readers know I’ve been using the AWeber autoresponder software for handling my mailing lists (I have several). Some of these lists have a followup series of emails that go out automatically after someone signs up for a list. (Thus the term “autoresponder.”)

Other lists do not. For example, the Weekender list has a single followup response email that goes out after someone confirms their subscription (you can sign up over there to the right, you know). Currently, all the email that goes out to Weekender is one-time broadcast only.

This is by design.

I’m building the Weekender slowly for now. Note there’s no bribe for the Weekender list either. So I never have anyone sign up, get the free stuff, then leave. Subscribers tend to stay subscribed.

On the other hand, the Insider list is mostly composed of followup messages. When I want to send a new a email, I add it to the end of the followup messages. That way, everyone that subscribes to the Insider list gets every message.

Autoresponder followup sequences can be very effective, and deserve some thoughtful employment when called for. If you decide to use AWeber’s service, here’s a few tips I’ve found that work well for creating followup messages.

Write one long article

Unless you’re sending out a whole book with long weekly chapters, consider writing your entire sequence as one long document. Then you can cut the document along natural lines to use as each email in the sequence. Remember to introduce each following email, and recap each preceding email for every email in the sequence. Open with an overall introduction, conclude with a summary. Don’t forget to add calls to action at appropriate points.

Autoresponder series are pretty close to article series in structure. Check out these examples of series articles if you need some inspiration.

Having the followup sequence in a single document allows you to archive the series much more easily, and to much more easily create an ebook or promotion at a future time.

Create the Followup emails all at once

Set the first time interval long

The figure to the right shows you what it looks like when the email sequence is complete. One long article was cut into 7 pieces, numbered 2-8. The first in the series, #2, has the introduction, a mini table of contents, and introduces the next article, which is message #3 due 4 days after the first. Each succeeding article recaps the previous, presents new information, introduces the following. The final message, number, #8 concludes the series with an overall summary and closes with a call to action.

WARNING: Make sure to set the followup time very high, I use 999 days as shown in the figure for message 2. If you don’t do this, you risk having your draft followup sent right after you save it for the first time. This is one of those zooey quirks of AWeber. Not a big deal, just pay attention.

Once you have tested every email and you’re satisfied, then change the followup time from 999 days to something more reasonable. Big Time Internet Marketers assert the first couple of emails ought to go out a day or two apart. They have the mojo to test conversion, I don’t. I’m happy to take their word for it.

Get the details right

It’s easy to slap some text in a form, press the SAVE button and a set of emails ready to fire. It’s considerably more work to ensure that each email is worth reading. Hint: if it isn’t read, it probably won’t convert. Here’s some tips:

• Use signature field effectively. You may want to keep the signature field simple, so you can use it for every followup series.
• Add custom fields.You may want to add a text block for links back to your blog or a sales page. Each series of followups can use the same signature with different custom fields.
• Announce your intention. If you’re using a followup series as bribe, just say so plainly. Frank Kern has it right on this point. If you’re cool enough, just tell people what you’re doing and how they benefit. You’ll make it back in the long term.
• Test test test. Then test more more more. As noted above, leave the first followup interval at 999 days until the whole series is vetted. Then change the followup interval appropriately.

Test your autoresponder thoroughly

I recall when I first set up a followup series on AWeber, it didn’t act the way I had assumed it would act. It wasn’t really a problem, and likely as not, if you don’t tell users you messed up, they won’t notice. But do your best to make such incidents as minor as possible. Here’s a few notes on testing.

• Test test test that first followup email. Once you have the first email working correctly, copy it forward as a template for each succeeding email.
• Test again, and again. Make sure every email has the same form: Title, header, formatting, links forward to next email, recap from last email, etc.
• Check custom fields. Pay very close attention to fill in fields used for customization and personalization. If you’ve ever gotten an email addressed like “Howdy {!first_name},” somebody didn’t test, or wasn’t paying attention when they examined the test mail.
• Use an email address specifically for testing. Subscribe and unsubscribe iteratively to ensure everything works the way you think it works.
• Test every link. Repeatedly.

If I haven’t mentioned it enough, you really do need to test your followup emails thoroughly.

Recap

When you create your first followup sequence:

1. Write the entire sequence as one document, where each section represents a single email.
2. “Shingle” each section with the previous and the following.
3. Create the email followups, ensuring that nothing gets mailed until thoroughly tested.
4. Thoroughly test everything, then test it some more.

None of this is difficult. Some of it is tedious. If you have ever intended on learning email marketing, now is a very good time to start.

What’s your experience with autoresponders?

If you aren’t using an autoresponder, and want to get started, I recommend AWeber. I’ve been using it for years, and will be happy to answer any of your questions, provided I know the answer. I might even subscribe to your list.

Everyone using emails lists for any length of time has some stories to tell. My worst gaffe so far was an Amazon affiliate linked that somehow got pasted into the email as the very first line of the text.

What’s your worst experience with your own list?

What about lists your subscribed to? What’s the stupidest thing that’s come through your inbox?