The Myth of Automatic Email Messages

I'm not sure how or why or when. But somewhere along the lines, photographers - lots of them - decided that setting up a general auto responder that always gets sent was a good idea. (I'll explain in a minute.)

See, I'm in a funny position because I've been a photographer myself for all these years, but I now find myself working day in day out with other photographers. I see things from an outside perspective, yet I've walked (more than) a mile in their shoes. It's a unique perspective to observe from.

One of the things I do in my job is send out certain emails to large groups of photographers (sometimes thousands.) And as soon as my nifty email program gets these all sent out, I suddenly receive a slew (over 100) automated emails from photographers in reply to my email. And interestingly, most of them aren't vacation auto-responders (which are understandable.)

The funny part is that they all go something like this:

"Do to the large volume of emails I receive it may take me a while to get back to you. You can call me if you need something urgently, but I appreciate your patience as I dig through my pile of emails."

Here's the thing.

If you really can't manage your email inbox, you have some time management problems. (Sorry, just saying it how it is.)

If you're actually that popular that you're receiving hundreds or thousands of emails a day, you're probably in a position that you should hire an assistant or someone to help you.

If you're doing something so right that you're receiving a lot of emails, there's a number of different tips and tricks you can use to get things under control. Lots of CEOs and other people receive thousands of emails a day and can still manage their inbox.

If I'm a client who's writing you and receives the automatic email, I could care less about how many emails you receive. It's just not my problem. And more than that, if the first email response I get from you is that you're so busy and I can't expect to hear from you for a little while, it's going to make me question if you're always going to be too popular for me. As a client, I want to know that you aren't going to disappear after I book you.

Lastly. These emails are simply annoying. I can't quite tell if you're just touting how popular you are or if you're just trying to make excuses for yourself, but honestly, all I care about is that I get a reply from you (if it's necessary.)

So, for whatever it's worth....reconsider that automated email reply.

PS. Sorry if I'm offending some photographer friends who read through this. I still love you even if you're participating in this annoying practice. :)