Auto-responders, friend or foe?
January 25th, 2012
An interesting question was posed on Twitter today… What are your thoughts on on auto-responders in emails?
I hate them. As a business and as a customer. HATE THEM! Let’s dive in, yes? There doesn’t seem to be middle ground on this subject so let’s explore.
As a business, I really, really, really depend on engagement. I believe there is gold in engagement. It’s personable and while I’m not making $ from sending personal emails, I am (hopefully) creating a friend in a client, one that (hopefully) feels taken care of. And if all other variables work out in my favor, client will turn into friend, will turn into loyal client AND an evangelist. <--- There is nothing better than an evangelist for you. Does it all come from sending personal emails, no! BUT, I don't believe that auto-responding gets you any closer.
But what about the weekend, or after 6pm, or while you’re on vacations, you might say. Well, I simply don’t respond after business hours or weekends. Vacations are tricky! I have been known to send a few emails while on vacation, even as simple as… “*quick response to email*, but we can chat about it a little bit more when I get back on *date*.” EASY! If you are consistent in getting back to people in a timely manner and then suddenly they don’t hear from you on a Friday night, they will make the connection. People aren’t dumb.
As a customer, if I receive an auto-response email from a small business owner my first thought is: “?????????” Unless you work for a corporate giant (where auto-responders are part of the culture), they are unnecessary, I feel.
I like to give business to people like us, who are engaging, who don’t take themselves too seriously, who are relatable. If I get an auto-responder from someone telling me they’ll get back to me on Monday, I make a face at them. It’s not that serious.
More importantly, I want to know what YOU THINK. If you are a small business owner, do you use an email auto-responder? Why?
As a customer, do email auto-responders bug you? Yes, no… tell me! I really want to know! If I sent you an auto-responder would you make a face at me???
Send me an email: janey@findmimi.com, or comment below. Though I would prefer a comment so that we can start a conversation and everyone can see it. Let’s chat about this!!
Also, I will feel really dumb if no one responds, so please do. :D
6 Comments
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Generally I don’t like them, and I think they are largely unnecessary. That’s the rule, and here are my exceptions:
- If I’m emailing somebody at a big company, I sort of expect them. It’s just what they do.
- If you’re gone for an extended period of time and will not be able to address issues with a quick response or personal note. Say you’re going on some jungle safari for a month with nothing but a toothpick and toilet paper… then ok. Make sure folks know they won’t hear from you for a while.
- If you leave your job, large or small company, the last thing you should do before you leave with your box of crap is to turn on an auto-responder letting people know you’re not with the company any more. You’re clients on the outside world have no idea you left… and don’t know your company structure enough to know who to ask.
Beyond that… I don’t like them.
January 25, 2012 at 11:14 am #
Auto-responders, should I even care? It’s not like it’s going to make or break a business anyway, right? *kanyeshrug*
January 25, 2012 at 1:58 pm #
At work I am required to use auto-responders when I am going to be gone more than two days for internal emails. I love it. However, we also can choose different options for external emails addresses. This is allows me to customize how I deal with them. For a small business I think that they are probably a bad idea, it feels disengaged.
January 27, 2012 at 3:50 pm #
Also maybe I am dumb but I cant add your main page to my RSS feed and I REALLY need to. Am I missing something or is it not enabled?
January 27, 2012 at 3:52 pm #
I can totally understand big companies using them. Most of the time it’s sort of ingrained to use email auto-responders, especially in a large company; it’s just a part of the culture! But for the small businessy types, like you said, it’s the opposite of what we’re trying to do… BE ENGAGED! Thanks for your thoughts! :)
January 27, 2012 at 7:31 pm #
It’s enabled! It should work just fine! Hmmm… I’ll have my QC take a look at that. ;) Thank you!!!!!
January 27, 2012 at 7:32 pm #