Melon Corporate Blog
(don’t) reply to this email
One of the strengths of email is that it is a medium that lends itself to both one way and two way communication.
Why is it then that so many companies display something similar to the following message in their email newsletters?
"Please do not respond to this email. If you would like to Contact Us, please click here for details."
The above is an example from a Centrebet (insert link) email that I receive regularly. Curiously if I click on the "click here for details" link, I get taken to a page with a list of email addresses - why not just let me hit reply?
Business is about relationships - with your customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
Anything that can help deepen this relationship is a GOOD thing.....
Another example is wine.com.
Their email newsletter has the following in the footer:
"To contact our Customer Care department, please do not reply to this email. Visit our Customer Care Help Desk then use the Ask a Question section to contact us for assistance and/or read common questions and answers."
Just to provide a further example (to indicate that we are not picking on the booze and gambling industry): The regular Target email newsletter footer states.
"Please do not reply to this e-mail as we are not able to respond to messages sent to this address. You can find answers to your questions through our online Help department. To contact the sender of this e-mail, write to Target Guest Relations, Target Corporation, Mail Stop 1A-X, P.O. Box 9350, Minneapolis, MN 55440-9350."
What are these organisations thinking?
If a customer wants to hit reply to a newsletter and send a message through to the company why not allow them? Why not even ENCOURAGE them?
These companies are merely making it difficult for people to do business with them.
Receiving emails doesn't cost anything and there are a multitude of tools that can assist with customer service type inboxes.
There really is no excuse to force people back to a website.
In this real time commercial environment customers are too savvy to waste time with companies that are clunky about the way they engage with their customers.
Smart companies make themselves available in ways that their customers prefer.
Smart companies find out where their customers are spending their time online so that they can intelligently build a presence in these same "spaces".
Smart companies aim to fit in with their customers' preferred ways of doing business - not the other way around.
For example Deacons Australia (a large traditional law firm) has a twitter feed. Twitter is a "microblogging" service that allows people to "follow" multiple microblogs - it sounds more complex than it is.
Delta Airlines has a Facebook page which allows for easy communication between the airline and its customers.
Any organisation that is still part of the "Please don't reply to this email" school of thinking is at risk in getting left behind.
My theory on why this "Please don't reply to this email" attitude is so common: I think in many cases IT departments are provided with the responsibility of setting up newsletter broadcasts on behalf of the marketing department.
IT departments usually seek to avoid responsibility for any incoming client emails. And since marketing staff are usually set-up as contacts via the website - an easy solution is to direct newsletter recipients to the website.
What are your thoughts on the topic?
Comments - oldest entries appear first, most recent entries at the end.
Yes - us “marketing” types are often “at war” with the “IT types”.
Polly
By Polly De Bono on 29 08 2008
I loved this topic! I totally agree - this frustrates me so much. It’s really annoying when it’s at the top of the email, as the first thing you read (makes me instantly defensive, like “well I don’t want to reply to you anyway!) - and it’s even more annoying if they offer you no alternative contact option at all.
By sarah on 29 08 2008
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