An autoresponder is a

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components. A computer program ...

that automatically answers

e-mail Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

sent to it. They can be very simple or quite complex. The first autoresponders were created within

mail transfer agent The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...

s that found they could not deliver an e-mail to a given address. These create

bounce message A bounce message or just "bounce" is an automated message from an email system, informing the sender of a previous message that the message has not been delivered (or some other delivery problem occurred). The original message is said to have "boun ...

s such as "your e-mail could not be delivered because..." type responses. Today's autoresponders need to be careful to not generate e-mail backscatter, which can result in the autoresponses being considered

E-mail spam Email spam, also referred to as junk email, spam mail, or simply spam, is unsolicited messages sent in bulk by email (spamming). The name comes from a Monty Python sketch in which the name of the canned pork product Spam is ubiquitous, unavoida ...

. An autoresponder allows you to send email messages automatically to people who have elected to receive them (your subscribers). For example, if you’ve created a free report, a template, a guide or other helpful piece of content, you can let your website visitors access it in exchange for their email address. Such ''follow-up autoresponders'' can be divided into two categories: * Outsourced ASP model – these autoresponders operate on the provider's infrastructure and are usually configurable via a web-based control panel. The customer pays a monthly usage fee. This is easiest to implement for the end-user. * Server-side – enables users to install the autoresponder system on their own server. This requires technical skills. Autoresponders are also incorporated into

electronic mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

software, to confirm subscriptions, unsubscriptions, posts, and other list activities. Popular email clients such as

Microsoft Outlook Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily an email client, Outlook also includes such functions as Calen ...

and

Gmail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...

contain features to allow users to create autoresponses.

Autoresponder sequence

Used with autoresponders being used as part of a mailing list manager. These are used by marketers to deliver a queued sequence of messages to mailing list subscribers. Messages are sent relative to the date of subscription to the list or within single list systems, opt-ins that result in the addition of new mailing list tags.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Why are auto responders bad?
(a

SpamCop SpamCop is an email spam reporting service, allowing recipients of unsolicited bulk or commercial email to report IP addresses found by SpamCop's analysis to be senders of the spam to the abuse reporting addresses of those IP addresses. SpamCop u ...

FAQ)
What is an autoresponder?
* RFC 3834: Recommendations for Automatic Responses to Electronic Mail * RFC 5230: Sieve Email Filtering: Vacation Extension
Autoresponder for Marketer
Email

Autoresponder sequence

See also

References

External links