With all the wonders of today’s technology, we can still come off as cold and distant to prospects and clients if we rely on it too much or don’t use it effectively.  It’s easy to come off this way with email.   It’s difficult to convey emotion through the written word, so if we aren’t careful, we can give the wrong impression to prospects and clients.  Email auto-responders can be helpful for more than just alerting people to your absences by making you more personable.  Here are some dos and don’ts with auto-responders:

Get The Conversation Going

When people sign up for to receive information on one of your squeeze pages, you can have an email automatically sent to them with a link to the information they’re requesting on your website.  Don’t miss the opportunity for getting a conversation going with this email!  Be sure to ask the prospect something at the end of the auto generated email that’s related to the information they’re requesting.  For instance, if they signed up to receive listings in neighborhood X, write at the end of the email: “I’ve lived in neighborhood X for 10 years.  What interests you about this area?” or “Many of my clients live in neighborhood X as well as neighborhoods Y and Z.  Are you currently living in or near these areas?” or “Are you a first time home buyer?”.  You can have a separate message for each squeeze page and email address for that unique URL.  Be creative and see questions or comments get them responding and which don’t.  This can be the beginning of a drip email campaign, or this conversation can operate alongside a drip email campaign with each campaign cross pollinating with the other.

Don’t Keep Them At Arm’s Length For Long

One very common thing people put in vacation alert auto-responder emails is to contact someone else (eg. an assistant, another sales rep in the office) if the matter is “urgent”.  Think about the message they’re sending here.  They’re basically saying with this message, “During this time I’m away you will not disturb me for ANY reason.  Even if you have a very important matter, I still won’t make any effort to help you myself.  But if you contact this other person they might be able to help you out at some point”.  Such an attitude implies a very poor attitude toward customer service.  It’s also absolutely inexcusable in today’s ultra connected world.  I recently had a prospect call me on a voice over IP phone while he was vacationing in Greece!

Learn more about best practices with email by taking my course The Awesome Power Of Email.  This course has been approved by the Registrar, REBBA 2002 to qualify for 4 Credits.