Every day I wake up to enough emails to fill up an entire morning. It can be overwhelming. You begin to answer one email as you reminded of three more you need to address and five more waiting as you finish up answering those. Some days it feels like all you accomplished was answering emails or replying to comments on Facebook or Tweets. It is no wonder some larger businesses hire social media experts and secretaries. The work of answering emails, phone calls and requests coming through social media is a job unto itself. It is easy to want to take a vacation from your inbox. It is easy to say you will put off sending that email for another day. But is that a wise move?
It is never a wise move to leave an email message unanswered for more than twenty four hours. If you conduct your business online and need up to two days to return an email then post under your contact information to expect an answer within forty-eight hours. People tend to get impatient in a virtual world. Since email is fast as lightening, many mistakenly feel answers should be just as fast. Or they have experienced a long wait for email responses and because discouraged quickly. That may beg question, should you have auto respond emails? The short answer is no. Yet, there is an “unless”. If you are on vacation or will be gone for an extended amount of time then an auto-respond is courteous. However, for day to day use it becomes annoying and wastes the recipient’s time.
Let’s face it, without all those emails you would not be in business. Communication is an important aspect of business. Your clients need you to respond to them. If you do not, they will find someone who will. Think of yourself as the client. What is a reasonable? How do you expect to be treated? I am always thanked and noted for responding quickly to emails. I have the advantage of working online so responding to emails is not difficult for me. Regardless, I have learned the importance of responding to clients and being responded to by those I hire.