LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

Biggest pain in the world isn't it....? Trying to enquire about placing an order (about £1k's worth), and you'd think they'd jump right on it and email you back pretty soon, or atleast in a day...

2 days now and still no reply, but this seems to be the case with a lot of businesses who never try to get back to you, and it seems to me that they like to think that they are doing YOU a favour??

I'll give them a ring tomorrow

dpb

They'd have to pay someone to answer the phone

Turbohot

Depends what business it is. 1k could be a drop in the ocean for them. They could be chasing much bigger orders that the need to prioritise.

robby

I buy most if not all my cars over the internet after seeing them on PH, AT, ebay, etc
I email dealers asking for all the details, etc and 70% of them never reply - i think if they can't reply to an enquirey then their aftersales will probably be worse so avoid them

Turbohot

Or, they are too small to meet your demand, so they aren't calling you back, and you need to go to the wholeseller. But if they are already a wholeseller, they might have much bigger squids to fry than your bitesize 1k shrimp.

Moley

iTrader: (9)

The flip side is that e-mailing takes much more time.

Sometimes an e-mail coversation could be spread over 7-8 messages taking 20 mins or more (depending how much you have to type), whereas it could be sorted with a 2 minute phone call.

billythekid

This is my pet hate! My general rule of thumb is if I dont reply to an e-mail within an hour and its a week day then I am probably dead!

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Try e-mailing a French company. If you get a response, let me know

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Written about this before on here, it's pathetic isn't it? Why have an email address or contact form if you are not going to reply to it? Why allow an answerphone message to be left if you never call back or probably even listen to it?

And the next thing we hear is hiow hard it is for these businesses in the recession.

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

dpb

your guaranteed a response if you order, automated

Then cancel a day later jus ta f**k em up lol

Jamescsti

I've had it recently with one or two car tuning firms where I genuinely want to spend a decent ammount of money, a couple of thousand. Some just don't bother replying or take days to respond.

My view also is one day I may be enquiring about something small but if I get no response I sure wont return to a company when I have bigger purchases.

Adrian F

a lot of companies have cut staff levels so far they cant quote for work i keep finding this at work you need to invest to grow but they wont

Moley

iTrader: (9)

Sometimes the bosses who put the email address and answerphones in place don't realise how busy the workers (who are trying to deal with them) get.

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

i agree its suprising how busy you can get on min wage i have at work 3phones 2ears and 1mouth, so i can't answer 3 phones can i , but we still get told off for missed calls

urban

iTrader: (1)

Yes, that's best I'd say, plus when calling them you might then try and haggle over the price and save yourself a few quid

Emails are not a guaranteed way of communicating, yes they can be very handy, but not totally reliable.
But a number of factors could see them fail to reach their destination - I see it all the time.
Plus, points can get lost/mixed up in textual form.

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

I sell caravans for a living, and find that email enquiries on a whole are a waste of time. I find that most of the time people just want a valuation of their van and never respond back. With regard to replying back, ours go to a central address initially so I might not get it straight away, so people thinking you should reply within the hour are living cloud cooko land there are other things to do than just sitting at a desk waiting for emails.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Aren't they just, I find emails are generally a distraction.

Because of this, many companies are stating that emails should only be checked at certain times of the day to keep employees productivity up.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Any company treating emails as a distraction in the digital age should be out of business IMO!

Phone calls and emails both have their place and are equally as important for their relevant uses.

If I email a company I expect a reply within a few days not hours (if it's urgent I will call them), but in many cases they never reply in which case why have an email address/contact form at all?

urban

iTrader: (1)

Emails are a distraction in the workplace with particular roles in any company.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Plus - you are not guaranteed that the email will reach its destination

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

urban

iTrader: (1)

Run along and see if you've got any emails fanny
Bound to be some automated crap you've subscribed to

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

All is forgiven, had a phone call first thing this morning and they also appologised for the delay, seemed nice and polite too.

Saxo Boy

I have an auto-responder on all contact forms on all of my websites. The message explains that the communication has been received and the expected timescale for a response. I then make every effort to respond well within that time frame. Even if I can't assist a person, it takes two seconds to write a quick two-liner. Doing this you make a better impression than ignoring someone and that, in the long run, might lead to new and better leads.

Why other companies fail to see the value of having strong and effective communication with all enquirers into the business is beyond me.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

Exactly how I feel about it and how I deal with it Too hard for some obviously

billythekid

Well, its not how we do things. We reply quickly and our website invites people to contact us by e-mail rather than phone - we always reply the same day, and we try and reply within an hour. They can still phone but e-mail is much easier.

This helps us drive our e-commerce sales and often the questions people are asking are silly and the answer is often in front of them! But its a call to action and we answer the question quickly and they in turn place an order. It also generates trust with customers as they know we are here and will always reply quickly.

I keep a record of how we do on conversion rates for enquiries and so far this year its 30.6%, so for us 1 in 3 (ish) enquiries via e-mail result in an order.

Of course each business is different but I still cant understand companies that take days to respond to e-mails.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, thats grand if they contact you via your website.
In my business customers simply fire off an email from their email client.
These email don't always make it to their destination - usually because of email filters and the customer will not be any the wiser.

Sales related is fine, not a problem.

But there are roles within companies, where those individuals should not be interrupting their workload by responding to emails all day.

Anyway, what you do all depends on what line of business you're in.

ronjeramy

iTrader: (1)

Don't get me wrong I'll respond within a day of receiving the email, once it's been forwarded.

Saxo Boy

Set an auto-responder from that email address (for example, for "info@yourbusiness.co.uk"). Then set the auto-responder to not send the same email to that same person unless a specified period has passed (say, 3 months).

This way when they first email they get an auto-response. However, if they email again within 3-months they don't (in other words, they don't get constant auto-emails if you engage in back and forth dialogue).

Regardless of your business or industry there is always a tool, aid or system that will allow you to provide a first-class service to new leads, existing customers and previous customers. What it comes down to is how much priority you are willing to give to upholding such a service.