Can We Please Have Out of Office (Automated) Message Replies

[cyaxrex]

At present, I’m trying really hard to not start screaming at people in my inbox. 90% of messages all go pretty much the same way:

• A buyer says “I have a website and need content.”
• Someone asks me for a quote for a single article project.
• A buyer asks me to give them a quote for their entire site and sends me a link.

In most cases, buyers then either can’t for the life of them explain clearly what they want, or they can’t understand how I don’t have time to go through every page on their site to get an overview of how much work we are talking about. If I do that, you can also guarantee that in most cases, buyers will disappear as soon as I quote them my standard rate. (Not a discounted price.)

Just responding to most messages represents a monumental waste of my time. It can also be highly stressful. Because of this, I often just end up sending out a template “sorry, I can’t help” message.

Now, I have tried sending out questionnaires that ask people for their full project details. This works maybe 50% of the time. However, it also REALLY upsets some people.

It upsets some people because they complete my questionnaire and think we are about to start working together. However, when I won’t give people a discount, they see me as having wasted their time.

I’ve also tried using various template responses, but all of these need to be edited to make them relevant to specific leads. In this case, there is no point in using them.

What I believe would save me a ton of time, is something like an automated message from Fiverr that buyers get immediately after sending an inquiry. This would ideally be something sellers could customize and would read something like:

Thank you for your message.

To help your seller respond faster, make sure you have let them know exactly how you hope they can help. At present, Cyaxrex can help best if you:

• Tell him what kind of content you are looking for and how many pages.
• Give him a link to your website.
• Let him know what your budget is. (At present Cyaxrex charges a fixed basic rate of $20 per 500-wortd article.)

If you have provided all this information already, that’s great! If not, send a quick follow up below.

Please note, this in an automated message from Fiverr. Cyaxrex will reply personally to your inquiry as soon as he is able

Of course, I could send this as a template message myself. I have also tried sending similar templates. The only problem is that as soon as I do, people assume I am available to chat and we end up going through the usual "okay, how many pages do you need, what do you do, I’m sorry but I still need this and this, etc, etc."

With an automated message from Fiverr, (that would not count as an official response as far as response rate metrics are concerned), buyers would hopefully use their loaf to supply the basic information I need off their own back.

If this was a feature I could use, I would respond within a couple of hours to people who do provide basic order details, but send my usual "I’m sorry I can’t help" message to anyone who doesn’t.

This would, (at least in my mind) shave off a lot of time involved with messaging buyers back and forth. It would also improve buyer buying experiences. For example, as soon as most people looking for a discount see the words like ’fixed basic budget,' they will likely go looking for a seller who can work for however much they are willing to spend.

I think this feature would add value to Fiverr and is at least worth a bit of a beta test.

[misscrystal]

At present, I’m trying really hard to not start screaming at people in my inbox. 90% of messages all go pretty much the same way:

• A buyer says “I have a website and need content.”
• Someone asks me for a quote for a single article project.
• A buyer asks me to give them a quote for their entire site and sends me a link.

In most cases, buyers then either can’t for the life of them explain clearly what they want, or they can’t understand how I don’t have time to go through every page on their site to get an overview of how much work we are talking about. If I do that, you can also guarantee that in most cases, buyers will disappear as soon as I quote them my standard rate. (Not a discounted price.)

Just responding to most messages represents a monumental waste of my time. It can also be highly stressful. Because of this, I often just end up sending out a template “sorry, I can’t help” message.

Now, I have tried sending out questionnaires that ask people for their full project details. This works maybe 50% of the time. However, it also REALLY upsets some people.

It upsets some people because they complete my questionnaire and think we are about to start working together. However, when I won’t give people a discount, they see me as having wasted their time.

I’ve also tried using various template responses, but all of these need to be edited to make them relevant to specific leads. In this case, there is no point in using them.

What I believe would save me a ton of time, is something like an automated message from Fiverr that buyers get immediately after sending an inquiry. This would ideally be something sellers could customize and would read something like:

Thank you for your message.

To help your seller respond faster, make sure you have let them know exactly how you hope they can help. At present, Cyaxrex can help best if you:

• Tell him what kind of content you are looking for and how many pages.
• Give him a link to your website.
• Let him know what your budget is. (At present Cyaxrex charges a fixed basic rate of $20 per 500-wortd article.)

If you have provided all this information already, that’s great! If not, send a quick follow up below.

Please note, this in an automated message from Fiverr. Cyaxrex will reply personally to your inquiry as soon as he is able

Of course, I could send this as a template message myself. I have also tried sending similar templates. The only problem is that as soon as I do, people assume I am available to chat and we end up going through the usual "okay, how many pages do you need, what do you do, I’m sorry but I still need this and this, etc, etc."

With an automated message from Fiverr, (that would not count as an official response as far as response rate metrics are concerned), buyers would hopefully use their loaf to supply the basic information I need off their own back.

If this was a feature I could use, I would respond within a couple of hours to people who do provide basic order details, but send my usual "I’m sorry I can’t help" message to anyone who doesn’t.

This would, (at least in my mind) shave off a lot of time involved with messaging buyers back and forth. It would also improve buyer buying experiences. For example, as soon as most people looking for a discount see the words like ’fixed basic budget,' they will likely go looking for a seller who can work for however much they are willing to spend.

I think this feature would add value to Fiverr and is at least worth a bit of a beta test.

The only problem is that as soon as I do, people assume I am available to chat and we end up going through the usual

Yes true. And then I end up waiting for five minutes each time they type each question or response.

Then when I give a detailed answer a few times… crickets. They’ve moved on to one of the cheaper gigs shown on my gig page.

I too would like a way to avoid going through the ordeal of back and forth messages so much although it does give me a way to judge how much I want to work with someone.

I spend many hours answering questions and as you say it’s 99% a huge waste of time. Lately over half the time their questions are not even related to anything my gigs offer.

And the rest of the time they are freewheeling sessions of them seeing how much I will try to convince them to buy my gigs. Rambling, try any and all tactics by them, with frequent flattery and frequent mentions of how so many others scammed them so much. All to see how I will try to convince them. Probably new sellers in my category.

[gig_freak]

If I am correct Fiverr does send similar prompts after messaging a seller is located in a time zone where it is late at night.

Perhaps, this can be implemented in a similar fashion as the prompt I had mentioned above. Such thing can safe a lot of trouble.

I’d also not allow for initial messages to be sent that say “Hi.”,“Hello.”, “How are you?”. This is not a platform where you should start your conversation with just “Hi”. I can’t read people minds and just answer them everything.

[misscrystal]

I still have to chat a few minutes to see if they understand English and what I’m describing. Some are confused about what I offer. I don’t want someone to order who thinks I’m a fortune teller. Or thinks I’m offering a job of some kind. Some write English so poorly I have no idea what they are trying to say.

I wish when I tell them I can’t help them, usually because their level of comprehension of what I’m offering or ability to understand what I’m saying is bad, they would simply accept it instead of continuing to send multiple messages.

I don’t know if other sellers have these problems or not.