"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to our new Marketing Manager - Mr. Otto Rezpond. He's really passionate about promoting our products to our clients. We just need to provide him with our sales copy and purchase information and he goes to work.

He's on duty 24/7 and has an international reach. He's tireless in his marketing efforts. He'll send prospects a sequence of emails timed to perfection, each designed to build their trust in us. He can also provide beautiful templates so that our emails stand out from the rest, and (very importantly) track which emails are being read and clicked on. Mr Respond will provide us with reports on how all our campaigns are doing.

Because of his good standing with the telecommunications industry, we can be sure that our emails are delivered and will not be blocked. He does not need much attention (or desk space), has a great disposition and best of all - he's really affordable! I better not get carried away and reveal how much we pay him - but let's just say that my entertainment allowance is higher than that... So, let's welcome our wonderful new addition to our marketing team!"

Now, you all knew I was pulling your leg and that was a fictional story, but the capabilities of "Mr.Otto Rezpond" is real. If you haven't guessed by now, I'm referring to the Autoresponder - your best investment for your email marketing efforts. Any serious Internet Marketer will have his favourite sequential autoresponder service. Properly setup, this autoresponder will work for you round the clock, regardless of where you are or what your working hours are. A good service will provide you with functions like HTML templates, open and click-through reports, deliverability guarantees. Some even have training videos and free support to get you running.

How do you use them exactly? Well, let's say your company has some products or services to sell via your website. A visitor comes but is unsure if she's ready to buy just yet. Then she spots a strategically placed subscription form that offers a free 3-day email course (or report) for that product or service with no obligations. So she cautiously enters her first name and email (you obviously have to have privacy policies to protect her information) and in faster than you can say "Otto Rezpond" she receives her first email customized with her first name - "Dear Rosalind, thank you for requesting information about our mosquito zapper".

You'll need to be creative in setting up the following 2 emails and if you've done your marketing homework correctly, you should have Rose there as a customer because you have:

Developed trust between her and your company

Established yourself as an expert in your field

Managed to gently get your "feet in the door" of her inbox.

The customer database that you'll build over the years will be invaluable when you bring in your latest products or when you have your summer sales, etc. Just remember to be nice and send them something of value once in awhile as a bonus for staying subscribed.

I hope that you and Otto will get along really well. Remember, Autoresponders can be your most valuable email marketing asset and you'll wonder how you managed to live without them for so long. The cost to subscribe for such a service is really quite insignificant compared to your customer database that you'll collect and the sales that you'll generate!