Autoresponder emails, the what and how

A follow-up autoresponder (FUA) is a marketing tool. An important one that delivers a series of emails in a pre-determined sequence, on a schedule set by you the sender.
They are generally prompted after advertising a giveaway in return for a subscribers email address that subsequently will be used for your autoresponder series.
The autoresponder series will generally have several emails and they will be in a structure such as:

Day 0 - Welcome message
Day 1 - Establish a Need
Day 2 – Provide technical product information
Day 3 - Ask for questions? comments?
Day 4 - Provide testimonials
Day 5 - A last chance reminder
Day 6 - On going follow up

The delivery of these emails is all handled automatically, by software integrated into your Drupal setup. Once it's set up, you focus on promoting the series, and you can forget about mechanics of how the emails are delivered.

Although I have called the emails by a day number in reality the period between sending this up to you. Certainly the day 0 email is sent when the subscriber signs up, day 1 is the next day and the subsequent mails over a period of one to two weeks
So what do these emails contain?

Day 0 - Welcome message

You are trying to develop a relationship with your subscribers and most of the sales resulting from your follow up series will come from the very first message. So keep the message relatively short maybe up to 400 or 500 hundred words.
You will include a reminder for the subscriber to obtain the free material you have offered.
Remember that you are marketing the benefits of your product and make sure you are including the soft sells.

Day 1 - Establish a need
Use your second message to explain why your product is necessary, maybe through a case study.

Day 2 - Provide technical product information
In this message you describe the technicalities of your product or service, how it is used in practice and most importantly how the subscriber will benefit from its purchase.

Day 3 - Ask for questions or comments?
Your prospective customer has been emailed a lot information, so do they have any questions? In particular, does he have any questions that may be stopping him from buying your product or service?
You could include a list of previously asked questions appropriately answered.

Day 4 - Provide testimonials
Reinforce the benefits of your product or service with testimonials from satisfied customers or recognised industry experts. Scan the original documents if you can.

Day 5 - A last chance reminder
A reminder, this is the last chance for the subscriber to get your products. Summarise the contents of your previous emails. Remember to focus on the benefits and reinforce with testimonials.

So there you have it, a series of automated marketing emails to promote your products and services. Sent to subscribers who have provided their email address in return for the giveaway you promised and provided in the day 0 email.
So its up to you, make the best of it.