Why are self aggrandizing auto-reply emails so prevalent?
When email updates are sent to our clients, we receive thousands of automated replies in return.
Most of them are used to indicate they've received the email or are on vacation. Some of them (way too many), tell us the real estate agent is doing something like "helping someone achieve the dream of homeownership," or "busy with another client." This is true even when we've sent the email in the middle of the night. These are hard workers.
Did someone give a seminar somewhere that said consumers appreciate these chest-thumping automated messages? The numbers tell me that too many people believe this is a good business practice. I don't agree.
I wouldn't normally write about something like this, but the following automatic response really got my attention today.
Greetings Friends and Esteemed Colleagues,
Due to high workload, I am currently checking and responding to e-mail twice daily at 11:00 AM ET and 3:00 PM ET.
If you require urgent assistance (please insure that it is urgent) that cannot wait until either 11:00 AM or 3:00 PM, please contact me via cell phone at xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Thank you for understanding this move to more efficiency and effectiveness. It helps me accomplish more to serve you better.
Sincerely,
Sincerely? "Please insure that it is urgent?" I know they meant "ensure" and I'm reasonably certain they had good intentions. But if I were a potential client, I'd be asking some tough questions. Is this supposed to make me feel good? Is this supposed to make me feel like my business is important to you? Or is it supposed to make me feel like YOU are important? Either way, it fails.
My opinion
Unless you're on vacation, turn off the autoresponder. In today's world of mobile devices, getting to your email in a timely fashion should be a priority. If I'm already your client and emailing you often, the auto-responder is going to drive me nuts. And those who are contacting you for the first time don't count your auto-responder as a real response. They're smarter than that. Answer their question quickly and they'll respect that.
Also, leaving it on all the time opens you up to the potential for increasing amounts of spam. If a spammer gets an auto reply from your email address, it will verify that your E-mail address is a valid and working address and you will be more likely get more spam in the future. Lots of people who would never knowingly respond to a spam message are doing so blindly via their unfiltered auto-reply messages.
If you are going leave it on all of the time, be sure to set it up with the proper filters to NOT respond to spam and don't try to sell the consumer on how important and busy you are. They don't care. Instead, simply and quickly let the client know that their email made it to you and didn't wind up in your spam folder. Something like: "Thank you for your email. I am away from my computer right now, but will get back to you as quickly as possible. If your needs are urgent, please feel free to call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx." That let's me know my email didn't end up in your spam box and doesn't require me to "insure" that my need is urgent.
What's your opinion?
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