by jay on November 24, 2009
Does anybody really just do one job anymore?
I wrote recently about the Impression of Specialization, and how small companies can make themselves look bigger, and present the image that they have dedicated employees for all sorts of departments, simply by using email addresses that correspond with their customers’ needs.
But what I didn’t talk about in that post was what you do after you set up the right email addresses. You might be thinking that it’s hard enough to stay on top of your one email address — what are you going to do with five (or more)?
Email Center Pro makes it easy to switch from one mail box to another. That’s a no brainer. Here’s what that navigation looks like in ECP:
But if you don’t want to hop around from mailbox to mailbox, you can see all the mail that interests you with one quick look. The Email Center Pro Dashboard allows you to get an overview of everything that’s happening in your account. Every user can customize their own Dashboard to show them just what they want to see.
I could talk all day about the cool widgets and functions of the Dashboard (but that’s another blog post). Today I just want to show you one of my favorites – My Mail.
I have a several roles I play here at Palo Alto Software, and I respond to emails that come in to a number of different inboxes. The My Mail widget lets me stay on my Dashboard, and just see what mail has come in for me, no matter which mailbox it’s in. Here’s a look at what I had to take care of recently:
Double clicking on any of those messages takes me right to it, so with one click I go from Dashboard right to the message I need to respond to.
And don’t worry — I took that screen shot a few weeks ago. Jonathan and Wallace didn’t have to wait all this time to hear back from me! I may have a lot of hats to wear, but not so many that I let emails sit for weeks on end…
by jay on November 4, 2009
After my latest rant about how much I hate auto replies, a coworker suggested that I offer solutions to these email failures instead of just criticizing them.
Solutions? Instead of just complaining? What a concept!
I’m taking her advice, in the hopes that even one guilty auto responder out there takes my suggestions. So here, again, is the most recent auto responder to invoke my wrath:
Thank you for visiting our site. Your email will be reviewed and a reply will be send to you in 72 hours. Thank you.
This is an automated E-mail message. Please do not reply to it.
And here, for a change, is some actually constructive criticism:
1. Don’t have an auto reply!
I’m sorry, but I just can’t do this without stating the obvious: The very best way to improve your auto reply is to not have one. Find new ways to manage your email and respond quickly, accurately and efficiently, and you won’t have to ever tell somebody you’ll get back to them in three days.
2. Spell check, reread, spell check again.
Then send it to a friend or coworker to reread one more time. Considering the auto replies are going to every single person who emails you, you really should be concerned with not seeming like an idiot. Typos, misspellings, bad grammar all give a really terrible impression. It’s bad enough you can’t reply quick enough to warrant skipping the auto reply, do you really want it to seem like you are that unconcerned that you can’t spend a few minutes on wording it correctly?
3. Offer solutions.
Ironic coming from me, right? While I’m not a big fan of an auto reply telling me to make a phone call, it is better than nothing. But rather than just sending the phone number, try giving your customer a way to help themselves while waiting to hear back from busy busy you.
Direct them to resources where they might find their own answers, like a link to your Frequently Asked Questions page or a price list. If it’s a vacation auto responder you’ve got going out, provide people emailing you with somebody to contact in your absence. It’s great you’re on vacation in Fiji, but what if I really need something? Give me an alternative to waiting until you return.
4. Don’t tell me you’re on vacation in Fiji.
I’ve been amazed at what some people put in their auto-reply. I don’t want to know about your upcoming gastric bypass and don’t need to see your fancy vacation itinerary. I’m a reasonable guy, I get that you’re out of the office for a while. I don’t need to know why, especially in that much detail. Just tell me when you’ll be back and as mentioned in #3 above, tell me who to contact while you’re gone.
5. Don’t send from an address I can’t reply to!
If I’ve emailed you, and you reply from a “do not reply” address, you’ve lost me already. My original email reached you, but now I’m cut off? That makes no sense. When you’re already telling me you’re not going to answer my email, at least give me a way to tell you “Never mind, I’ve gone elsewhere.” Though I suppose it would be more annoying to send you that email, because I’d just get another autoreply…
I think we’ve all learned something today. I’ve learned that providing solutions *is* better than just complaining about an issue. And hopefully you auto-reply senders have learned few techniques that can make your emails a little less annoying.
