If you’ve ever connected with a company on LinkedIn or followed a self-proclaimed marketing guru on Twitter, chances are you almost immediately received a response in your inbox. Chances are even better that the response was automated or, at the very least, scripted.
Auto or scripted responses are pre-written replies used by businesses to establish immediate communication with a potentially new client. They can either be sent out automatically (hence the automated part) or sent by a staff member.
These types of responses are common practice—especially on social media—though they can often seem a bit impersonal or contrived. Still, there are times when using scripted responses is appropriate and economical for your marketing plan. You just have to know when and where to use them, and how to use them correctly.
But wait…
Let’s get this straight first. If you have the money, time, and resources to connect with new people using real responses in real time, do it. A personal connection is always best.
However, if you don’t have the ability, scripted responses are a viable option, so long as they don’t replace actual personal connections. Really, the auto-response should only be used to immediately reach out and buy you some time until you can get a real person to make contact.
Good Form vs Bad Form
Your scripted response is likely to be the very first line of contact with a new person. Remember that.
The recipient of an automated or scripted response can tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not. So your best course of action is to focus on communicating, not selling. Too many people make the mistake of looking for favors before establishing a relationship. Like this for example:
This painfully obvious automated message is impersonal, spammy, and a half-hearted attempt at a sales pitch. Not to mention, the sender comes right out of the box asking for a favor. That’s bad form.
No one is going to bite if you approach them this way. In fact, you’ll probably end up losing more connections than you gain. Yet, we see messages like this ALL THE TIME.
If you ask for anything in your response, ask for more communication. Other than that, keep it short, sweet, and personal, like this guy:
Simple, polite, and though most likely automated, establishes communication with a new follower in a way that isn’t imposing. He even takes it a step further and offers a favor, which bring us to another point: Don’t be afraid to give something away.
If you come right out with the charity, people respond. It’s a great way to hook new followers and get them to your website without blatantly asking for a favor.
That’s good form.
Direct Contact
Of course, there are some exceptions.
When someone contacts you directly, as in a Tweet or a direct message, throw out the scripted response and talk to them, person to person.
Here’s why.
Social media is a level play field—a chance for businesses to show that they are, in fact, humans. You can’t treat your audience like they’re beneath you and expect them to not notice. When someone reaches out to you directly, responding with a scripted or automated response is just insulting.
And if you’re not careful, it can cause a serious communication gaffe.
Take Progressive Insurance for example. In 2012, a user took to social media to complain about Progressive failing to pay insurance on his sister’s automobile death and defending the other driver in court. Guilty or not, Progressive responded with an
autoresponse–and used the exact same one for anyone else who tweeted Progressive about the incident, making a bad situation even worse:
You cannot rely on automated messages for everything. Some businesses, like Progressive, have to learn this lesson the hard way. Don’t let it happen to you. When it comes to direct interaction, have someone on board to can communicate in person.
Overall, auto responses have an important role to play in marketing—albeit a sparse one. Just be sensible when utilizing them, and never let them take the place of person to person interaction.
If you have anything to add, or would like to ask us something, leave us a comment below or tweet us at @widenet. Our responses aren’t scripted, we promise.
