Welcome to the Listening Post!

Nothing Says You Care Like NoReply@Example.com

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If you subscribe to this blog by email, my address is the Reply-To. You can click the reply button and ask me a question. (Please do!) This means most mornings I get a lot of Out Of Office messages, but even that tells me a little bit about my readers. I appreciate the opportunity to reach your Inbox, as I know how crowded it is.

If you subscribe to the comment thread on one of my blog posts, though, you’ll get an email from noreply@hubspot.com. I hate that, but it’s not something I can configure.

Chances are some of your own organization’s marketing materials go out with an address of the form noreply@example.com. And chances are your surveys do as well.

Or maybe your surveys come from a generic email address (surveys@example.com) but it’s not a mailbox anyone in your company monitors.

If you’re conducting customer surveys, please send out email invites from a real person. Not only will you get a higher response rate, but you’ll be able to respond to your customers and work to improve satisfaction.

Now you’ll need a plan for this – I’d recommend having the customer service department monitor the emails, as well as someone from the MR department. Because some of the email replies will be requests for service or support, some will be complaints about the survey and some will be general feedback. And, if you are in a business that matters, some will move you to tears.

I can’t say more in a blog post, but some customers will pour their hearts out about financial issues, health problems and the work your organization does. All because you asked them to take a survey.

You have the privilege of emailing customers. You have the responsibility to return the favor.