Comments on: E-mail vs. Carmen… A Serious Dilemma

By: Tom Gray

Tom Gray — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 02:37:27 +0000

Seems kind of obvious but with all of the psychic and actual energy being expended on this issue, why don’t you just call the client. Even if you only leave a message you can at least explain your efforts. If you actually do talk to them you can find out what actually is going on on their end rather than guessing or assuming. By the way, found you on Squidoo - what do you think of that as a platform and how’d you get to #9 on the Top 100 list?

By: Carmen Maranon

Carmen Maranon — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:59:33 +0000

Hi there BZ!

Do you do this by sending your clients an autoresponse notifying them of the 48 hour turnaround each time they send you a message, or do you simply state that on your website?

Sometimes it feels as though it takes more time trying to get messages delivered, than to actually provide the service.

Thank you for your great suggestion, and I’m glad to hear it’s been working for you!

Smiles,
Carmen : )

By: Carmen Maranon

Carmen Maranon — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:46:23 +0000

Hello Dave : )

That’s so weird, because like I said on my post, there are people who are able to receive the “spammiest” messages from me (of course, it’s not spam, but ones where I use lots of CAPS and exclamation points), with no problems at all… then there are those who can’t even receive my simple “please visit my forum for more information” messages. These same people tell me they don’t even find my messages in their junk folder, nor have they “blocked” my messages from getting to their inbox.

I was thinking about Jerry’s suggestion (above) again, and maybe VOIP (or even instant messaging) would work if I enforce a strict “I will only answer the original question asked during this chat” policy. I’m sure most people wouldn’t have problems respecting that, but I also know there are those who will try to milk as much as they can for free. I dunno… something to think about, I guess.

Thanks for being here!

Carmen : )

By: Carmen Maranon

Carmen Maranon — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:24:46 +0000

Hi Jerry,

Thank you for the compliments : ) [note to self: release episode iii of "sushi roll"]

I have an account with skype.com, and it’s great when people don’t take advantage of it. I’ve stopped using it (for now) because it came to a point where I’d find dozens of text & voice mail messages asking “when can we chat?”, “when will you be online?”, each time I logged in… with all the projects I’m working on at the moment, I simply have no time for all that.

That’s why I prefer e-mail communication because it allows me to answer support requests & inquiries throughout the day without having to schedule a “meeting” time with the other party… with e-mail, I can remain focused on the topic of the message, while during a voice conversation, the other party never fails to “expand” the conversation to many other things.

What I’ve been trying out over the past few weeks is the Kayako eSupport system. This way, even if either party fails to receive a message, they can still monitor the conversation by logging into the account. We’ll see how this works out.

I appreciate the great suggestion, and good luck with your podcasting!

Warmly,
Carmen : )

By: BZ Riger-Hull

BZ Riger-Hull — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 21:56:48 +0000

Carmen,
When you start working with a new client, you might want to assess their level of knowledge about sending and receiving email and the ability to white list your email addresses.
This will let you know who needs things spelled out more clearly and those who are more familiar with the fact that some emails just get eaten up.
I tell my customers and clients that they will get a reply to an email in 48 hours. If they have not heard from me, it means I did not receive their email. I have found this helps a lot, they do not even bother stewing they just resend the email with a note and it works beautifully. No angry emails and if I missed theirs by mistake I can answer right away.
Here’s to no angry emails BZ

By: Carmen Maranon

Carmen Maranon — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 17:20:19 +0000

Hi Chris,

Thank You for the suggestion!

However, from what I understand, the user/subscriber must download a separate desktop “icon/reader” for each ezine or sender they want to receive messages from. I can’t imagine anyone wanting more than one (if any) of these things blinking whenever there’s a new message!

I’ve been opening new support tickets for those who doesn’t seem to be receiving my e-mails, and it seems to be working well so far…

In any case, I appreciate your idea!

Warmly,
Carmen : )

By: dave

dave — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:15:29 +0000

There are so many places for email to go with all the filters being used. I have a person that has quit using email to contact me because he could never get it to me. This went on for over a year. ISP filters, Company network filter, server filter, and personal filter; can’t be too safe. How do we get anything now!

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 02:40:58 +0000

Hey Carmen,

I found your podcasts on iTunes as I am an up and coming podcaster. Great podcasts and websites as well. First class all the way!

You may consider downloading http://www.gizmoproject.com and/or http://www.skype.com for free. These programs would allow you to be able to communicate both domestically and internationally with your clients for free using voice (VOIP) technologies.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 11:23:44 +0000

What about using something like the Desktop Marketer software that the Internet Marketing Center sells ? - http://www.marketingtips.com/desktop/

NOTE - Could have stuck in an affiliate link, but didn’t
I don’t think it’s an alternative to using a mailing list, despite what they might say, but is certainly gets around the problems you are describing.