Email Auto Responders are Killing Your Business
Well not really but i thought that might get your attention.
Below i’m posting a recent thread post in the Photographers Handbook Forum over at ProPhotoResource.com for those of you who have found this site and are not yet a member at PPR. It’s been edited slightly to make sense as a blog post. Comments are always welcome.
I’m starting to notice a big problem in our industry and that is the proliferation of the email auto responder. I know who you are, i get hundreds of them whenever i send out an email newsletter 
In all seriousness, I think auto responders have there place and that is to let clients and friends know you are out of town on vacation or away at a workshop. But that isn’t the case for what i’ve been seeing lately. I get everything from “We are really busy in the studio” to “We only check email once a day…” You may as well have an auto responder that says “Sorry we are to busy to bother with you, please visit our competitor at www.”
The simple fact is if you wait more than 24 hours to respond, the customer is going elsewhere, plain and simple!
In my opinion and again this is just my opinion all email should be responded to in no more than 24 hours, less is possible. If you are doing that, than there is no need to send an auto responder to let me know that, i get enough junk email as it is!
Email can be a powerful tool if used properly and destroy your business if not. As Paul stated in his earlier post, if you can’t handle your current email load than you should possibly rethink your online marketing strategy.
For what it’s worth!
Cris . . .
Lawrence:
So true! I make sure I answer every mail with something personal, even if it takes a bit longer - 24 hours is a good guideline but, speaking for myself, if I get a really GOOD response in 48 hours I am happy!
Posted on July 16th, 2008 at 6:11 am