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Auto-Responders & Fulfillment Pieces
The number one complaint regarding business
websites is, "I never get a response" or "It took days for
them to respond to my email". We have all been on the opposite
side of this problem. You visit a website and send an email
with an inquiry and never hear back from the site owner or it
takes so long for them to respond that you have already found
the answer to your question. Will you ever go back?
Most of us won't return to a website whose
owner is unresponsive to emails. The real question is
are you that website owner? Do you ever find yourself replying
to one or even two day old emails? If so, there are a few
things you can do to professionalize your response.
Auto-responders are a great way to let
prospective customers know that you received their email
and take it seriously. An auto-responder can automatically
notify an individual that inquires through your website that
you will respond, when you will respond and that you value
their inquiry.
Match your auto-responder to a fulfillment
piece and you have created an atmosphere of professionalism
that is very seldom rivaled on the internet. Your
auto-responder can provide a link to exclusive online content,
information, discounts, catalogs etc. that are only available
to those who inquire. This not only creates one more contact
with a prospective customer, it also provides the inquirer
with additional information about your business while they
wait for your personal reply.
Is this starting to sound expensive? Well it
isn't. You already have the ability to create auto-responders
with your website email account, and you can do it for free.
The exclusive content may be a uniquely informative brochure,
a small discount certificate, a catalog that provides
information about your products that isn't found anywhere else
or any number of other creative items. A link to the exclusive
content can be provided in your auto-responder.
Make certain the exclusive content is of
high quality. Many brochures and informative booklets can be
reproduced as PDFs which makes them easy to download. Be
creative, unique ideas will help you stand out from the crowd.
It is important that your auto-responder
state when you will be replying to their email and you should
be certain to reply within the time stated. |
Gone With The Wind ... Temporarily
As many of you know each of the websites
hosted by PPP Design are hosted on servers we contract for
that purpose. This weekend several of our sites experienced
approximately 11 1/2 hours of down time do to the wind storms
in the North East. There was no damage to the data center that
manages the servers, but the wind storm knocked out power and
communication lines over a broad area. While back up
generators assured that each site was available on the
servers, the power and communication outage made it impossible
for them to be reached.
As you may or may not know, this is one of
two data centers available to our contracted host. Each data
center has multiple connections to the ATT backbone (access
speed), a full time security network and technicians available
to respond if there is a problem. These are the reasons we
host each site with this contractor. However, in this case it
made little difference because outside access was interrupted.
After carefully reviewing the events of this
weekend we have decided to continue to contract with this
provider, after all, the negative events were out of their
control. The fact that each site was available the moment
power and communications were restored reflects well on our
host.
We do apologize for any inconvenience the
down time may have caused to those of you that were affected.
Attention Monarch
Country Sponsors
The winter season is fast approaching and this season we will
be offering something new. Each sponsor will receive Monarch
Country Cards with the Girls and Boys Basketball and Wrestling
Schedules printed on the back. You can distribute these cards
to customers, suppliers, friends and family to show that you
are a proud sponsor of Monarch Country. If you would like to
sponsor Monarch Country for the winter season please contact
Pam. |
