The world of hi tech business today demands that you remain in touch with your customers. Really there is no better way to stay in weekly if not daily communication with all of them then by using an auto responder. The following are four characteristics of a great autoresponder.

So what is an auto responder? Essentially an automated email account that, When contacted, auto replies with one email or a series of email over a predetermined set number of days. This automated tool allows you to remain in contact with your customers to provide them information and announcements. More importantly it allows you to build a great two way relationship in an automated fashion.

The first of the four characteristics of a great auto responder is it must have great deliverability. Your important message must get through the spam blockers and to your clients email inbox. Remember they signed up to get information from you so choose a tool / company that will support you and disappoint your clients. A great auto responder company must do the following

Must be compliant with the latest standards and legislation.
It must have tremendous ISP relations, this will lead to the highest email deliverability rate
It must provide you with proper email formatting and the latest anti-spam features.

The second characteristic of a great auto responder is it must have the capability to provide you important statistics. You must be able to track your email campaigns effectiveness. Here are some of the measurements your auto responder must track:

Monitor subscriptions, deliveries, open-rates.
Measure click-through.
Track sales and conversions.
Calculate your sales and ROI.

Your auto responder company must provide you with the suite of reporting tools to allow you to analyze what does and does not work with your clients.

Moving to the third characteristic, your auto responder must have the capability to import a mailing list. There are numerous companies who do not have this feature. In terms of cost and time savings having this feature makes the auto responder company top of class. This is a simple feature and yet so highly effective in leveraging your time.

Finally the fourth characteristic of a great auto responder company is it must be safe and secure. You must know that the asset which is your list, is safe with your auto responder company. It must have the most up to date server features and it must be a solid company financially. You do not want to risk losing your list. There are some great companies out there and the two industry leaders in this author's opinion are Get Response and AWeber.