 Marketing Tip - Response Time GuaranteeHave you ever used an email form on the contact page of a website and never received a response? This has happened to me many times, and it certainly makes me think twice about sending emails using those forms again. If I'm going to go to the effort of writing an email, I want a response, and I want it in a timely manner! I wonder how many people just like me are out there that aren't using your contact form for the same reason? People want to believe that when they go to the effort of contacting you, they will get a timely response. How can this be done? Here at Excite Media, we have trialled the following guarantee at the top of our contact form: We aim to respond to enquires from this form within 4 business hours. If we don't, please let us know and we'll send you a bottle of wine for your trouble! Skeptics would say it's a coincidence, but since having this sentence on our contact page, we have received more email sales enquiries than ever (and we haven't yet had to send a bottle of wine!). Why not try us out and see if you can score a free bottle of wine :) Maybe you could try something similar for your contact page? If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, please make a comment using our new comments feature (part of our new BLOG Module) below. 3 Comments | Add your own I recently had to advise a client to improve their response times to emails enquiries that came from their web site comtact form. Business was literally slipping through their fingers because they were not minding their business and looking after online customers properly. Australians, especially Australian women are very very tough customers and won't even tolerate a one day response turnaround. that's 12 hours too long to wait. let's face it. we live in a world of instant gratification so if you rely on your site for business, imagine if you left a customer or prospect waiting at the counter for 4 hours? Imagine how you would feel if you were in their shoes. Bet you would have gone to the next shop by then! Great advice Excite Media. It's not just about how great your e-commerce site is. Doing business is also about how you respond to customer/prospect enquiries that help them to make the buying decision. That one lost customer could be the key to major prosperity, simply because of the service you could have delivered and that person's connections! Tricia Quan, Brisbane (www) at 10:13am 29th Jan 2010 I agree that any enquiry needs to be addressed asap and the job should be in the hands of someone who sounds genuinely interested in the customer/prospect. Too often this valuable contact opportunity is delegated to a team member who regards it as just another task....clear the emails coming in on the website contact form.I think the key to a successful outcome from these leads is the way they are handled and this includes a response in a timely manner. Victoria Gill, Brisbane (www) at 10:45pm 2nd Feb 2010 It is my biggest Pet hate in business the turnaround time or the response time for clients and candidates to action my e-mails and enquiries. Too often a valuable contact will slip through your fingers due to the lack of your response time and even how you deal with that client. That client could be worth six figures and also the prosperity of loosing there future network too. Great article excite media - you are very much up to speed in the business world and how a proper business should operate . I love working with other businesses who are completely on the same page as me and of course my business - Kane Consulting. Yvonne Kane, Greenslopes (www) at 12:53pm 3rd Feb 2010 Add your own comment:
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