Autoresponder

Quite simply, is a computer program that automatically answers email sent to it. These can be set up for email newsletter subscribers after they have filled out a subscriber form to begin receiving email marketing newsletters from a company or an organization. In this case, they may also contain a second verification link stating that the recipient of the message intended to sign up for messages and one that the user has to respond to. Once the verification has been completed, another autoresponder sends out a thank you along with instructions on how to change user preferences or cancel their subscription.

The first autoresponders were those that notified a sender of an email that the person the message was addressed to could not be delivered due to a technical or other problem. Most generally these are sent to inform the message creator that an account was over-limit or no longer available on a particular email server.

Autoresponders in many cases today are part of a set of e-mail marketing tools. These immediately send out a follow-up message provided to information prospective customers that their request(s) were received and instructions for various services or special offers will be forthcoming.

The two kinds of autoresponders are; outsourced ASP model, and server-side. The Outsourced ASP models operate on the provider’s servers and are accessed by the user via a web-based control panel. These are paid-for subscriptions and the easiest for most users to navigate and customize. The server-side is one that resides on an in-house server and requires a dedicated IT professional to create, modify, and troubleshoot.