Voicemail allows you to receive messages on your telephone. It is however a little tedious to use, and if you are in a different  country it can get expensive.

Voicemail to Email is a service that captures your voicemail messages and then forwards those voice messages as audio attachments to a standard email address. So that you receive your voicemail in your mailbox.

This is becoming a standard offering for VOIP service providers, and if you are considering moving to VOIP then you should check that your VOIP provider offers it.

However if you are a normal telephone/mobile phone user then the only way to obtain this type of service is via a Voicemail to Email service provider like Evoice.

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Although Email has long overtaken Fax as the primary business communications medium many organisations still use Fax for sending and receiving documents and drawings.

This means that they need a Fax machine and a second telephone line. They also need to print their documents so that they can be faxed or else use a FAX machine that can be networked. 

There is however a much easier solution…… Use Email instead. By using a Fax to email service provider you can send and receive Fax messages through email.

The email to Fax/ Fax to email service provider provides you with a dedicated Fax number that you use to send and receive Fax messages via email.

How It works.

Incoming Fax to email

When you subscribe to the service you are allocated a Fax number (usually a
local number). A Fax sent to this number is received by the Fax- email service provider
and then converted into an email. The email is then forwarded as an attachment to
your mailbox.

You can then use your normal email account to organise your faxes.

Outgoing Fax to Email

Using your normal email client you send an email to an special email address with
the document to be Faxed as an attachment. The email to Fax provider converts
the email to a Fax and send it to the destination number.
Depending on your service provider you may even be able to send via web based email
and/or a special email client.

Is it For You?

The service providers charge a monthly rental and so in order to justify the cost you need to be a frequent Fax user and not already have a Fax machine, or are thinking of replacing it. If you only send 1 Fax per month you are probably better off going to a Fax bureau.

You should however also bear in mind that this type of service means that you can operate in the main without ever having to print out hard copies as they are all stored electronically.

If you want to trial the service to see if it is suitable many providers like eFax
and  TrustFax!  offer free trials.

The most common way of capturing email addresses to build an email list is to use a form on a website.

However  you don’t need a website to build a list, and you certainly shouldn’t be limiting your email collection to your website form.

Any business can build an email address list to stay in touch with their customers, and because email is less intrusive than a phone call more people are willing give their email address.

Why Do You Want it?

When asking for an email address always make it clear to them why you want it, and what you will you are going to do with it. This is especially true for email addresses that are obtained offline as the subscribers may not  be so internet savvy

Online  Methods For Capturing Email Addresses

Website visitors should be given a reason or incentive to part with their email address.   The most common methods  are:

• To Offer a free download (ebook, report etc)
• Free Competition
• Free Newsletter
• Free Software /tool

Offline  Methods For Capturing Email Addresses

This is probably the most overlooked and underutilized area both for online businesses, and traditional brick and mortar ones.

Many Traditional brick and mortar businesses aren’t Internet savvy and currently don’t get their customers via the Internet. They thus never think of trying to use Internet methods to communicate  with them.

By contrast online businesses rely solely on their website form to build their contact list and never try to communicate with their visitors/subscribers by any other method.

There are in fact many ways to get an email address offline:

• Ask for it when you talk to your customers on the phone. This strategy is particularly useful for consultants, restaurants, cinemas etc. In short any business that currently asks for a  return phone number can ask for an email address.
• Ask for it when making a sale. Again especially useful for businesses that ask for an address (making deliveries).
• Use competitions and notify winners via email.
• Ask/encourage your existing subscribers to forward your email to a friend.

Effective  Email Use

Spam laws state that the email recipient should always be given an option to unsubscribe from your list with every email. Therefore every email that you send should encourage them to stay and not  to leave.

Therefore  only send an email that contains genuinely useful information and don’t send email too often. It is also a good idea to offer your email subscribers ethical bribes to stay subscribed by  including them in a special/inner circle.

This could mean that they receive special discounts, advance notifications etc.

Autoresponders are specifically designed for automating email and for mass or bulk mailing. There original use was for simple one off emails usually as an acknowledgement but over time they have taken on the attributes of mailing list software such that today they are indistinguishable.

As such they are the main tool used in permission based email marketing for sending “follow up” email messages. They have many uses:

• They can be used to acknowledge receipt of technical support requests, sales information requests etc. In any situation were the customer needs reassuring that his request, order etc is being dealt with.
• They can be used to send prospective customers fixed information like price lists or FAQ.
• They can be used to send email course modules, newsletters, special offers.
• They can be used for email capture ( creating mailing lists).

There are two main types of commercial Autoresponder:

• Autoresponder Software- You buy the software and install it on your own server. This solution requires that your host supports the necessary features and requires morework/knowledge on your part.
• Autoresponder Service- Here the autoresponder software resides on another server and you simply subscribe to the service. This is by far the most common method used and although it generally works out more expensive it is far easier to set up and more flexible. If you are new to Autoresponders it certainly is the way to start.

Although it is possible to do many of the autoresponder functions manually a professional autoresponder :

• Eliminates Common Mistakes- like not including your full contact address
• Ensures Compliance - Ensures that any email you send follows various Spam and Good Practise guidelines.
• List Management- Provides the ability to automatically manage your lists including automatic subscribes and unsubscribes etc.
• Tracking- provides tracking reports that enable you to determine the success of your email marketing campaigns.

Although there are many companies offering Autoresponders the four listed below are well established and offer comprehensive features.

• Get Response
• Constant Contact
  
• VerticalResponse- Ideal choice for small business as it uses pay as you go model with no monthly subscriptions
• Aweber