They shouldn’t be.

Yes, you are selling something. It doesn’t matter what it is. Product or service. The whole point of autoresponders is to make a connection with your target market.

Ideally, your prospects have opted in (as opposed to you buying a list). So you know that your prospects are at least somewhat interested in what you have to sell. But are your autoresponders just one sales pitch after another? They shouldn’t be!

Autoresponders are a great way to build credibility with your prospects, to gain their trust and make a connection. And you aren’t going to do any of those things if every single one of your emails is all about you, your product or service and how smart your prospect would be if she bought in.

Here are some ideas on how to make autoresponders work FOR you in terms of building that trust and exhibiting the authority and knowledge you have:

- provide tips…anything that helps your audience with something in their lives. If you have a time management coach, then a tip on how to manage time (something that isn’t already widely known or used) is nifty.

- provide links…YES, links to OTHER sites. There are other resources out there and you should not only acknowledge them, but embrace them. If you read a blog post that you think is well-written and will resonate with your target market, then shoot out an email to your list with the link and why you think they should read it. People love to be pointed in the direction of good information online.

- Ask a question. A REAL question. Ask something and encourage your readers to respond back, via email, via a comment on a blog post. Something. But encourage interaction by engaging them with a thoughtful question. You may want to make a poll out of it so that you can have an “in” later to email your audience the results of your question(s).

- Tell a funny story. Okay, it SHOULD tie into what you do for a living, your product, service, something. It shouldn’t come from way out in left field, leaving your readers scratching their heads and wondering what fell on your head. But if you had something funny happen when you shipped your last product, if your kid said something hilarious while you were putting the finishing touches on your podcast…you know, something silly…relay the story to your audience. It shows that you are a real person, with real-life stuff cropping up all the time. Very relatable!