Just like secretaries work, an autoresponder attend to all client service matters your business may be administering with the customers. Nevertheless, the difference is that the autoresponder would only be required when you are online to free you from sitting in front of your system to take care of client matters all the time.
Visualize you have a prospect you sell online. If you organize your autoresponder to automatically deliver a receipt and a download page as soon as an order is through, it will give you rest, but in some cases some client service issues would need to be managed by you personally after execution of all these.
I want you to envision a client getting to your website, put up an order for a product, he receives the receipt and the download page, but the download page instructs that a PDF is required to read the e-book. The customer will send you an e-mail immediately if he does not understand what a PDF means and if there is no one to help him.
What about if you have taken a break when this occurs? The customer may not be interested in waiting for your return. Whatever the outcome, he may be aggrieved and may demand for repayment if the matter is not resolved straight away.
This importance of an autoresponder comes into play here. Towards the end of an e-book download page, you can add an autoresponder email address that processes potential difficulty, the client would not find it difficult to send an e-mail and receive an automatic response on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) from clients and use the solution provided to his advantage.
In the case that he finds no answer to his questions, if he emails customer support and the automated autoresponder tells him he will receive a reply in 24 - 48 hours, there is every likelihood that he will wait to that time when you will actually reply in person.
The summary is that you require an autoresponder for your business to blossom.