There are many tasks you might have thought of, but doing it all manually simply wouldn't be profitable or sensible. Autoresponders are your solution. Therefore autoresponders help you satisfy the customers want for immediate assistance. You can't be available in all time zones at once, and with a global internet, autoresponders help you provide instant assistance and get to your customer while they are still interested and haven't forgotten about you. Autoresponders have advantages in advertising as well.
Many marketers advertise and simply give a website address, no email contact.
When a person is reading their email, they may not have their browser open and they don't want to get distracted from their reading. Answer - put an autoresponder address in your ad. They click the email link and when they finish reading their ezine they will have the information they were after waiting in their email box. Also if you only provide an url, they may only look at your site for a few seconds. An autoresponder gives you a much better chance as it will send them your message, capture their name and email address, and then follow up with pertinent information you wish to supply them with.