Should you have an auto responder on your emails?

The answer is yes!

Communication is key and this phrase has never been truer when dealing with wedding couples. Wedding couples are overwhelmed and emotional, emotions are high and at the very beginning they are overwhelmed with options.. Do they have a destination wedding? Do they get married close to home? Do they want a summer wedding? A winter wedding? Small wedding? Big wedding?

It’s very likely that the wedding coordinator is the first wedding professional that couples speak to, this means you are interacting with them at the very height of emotion and overwhelm. With all the unknown that’s ahead of them also they can sometimes be very anxious also.

This may sound scary however for wedding coordinators it’s a GOOD thing, along with all the emotions and overwhelm it means you get the chance to be their shining light, their guidance into the unknown and it’s your opportunity to really trigger emotion and make an impact.

This starts at the very beginning, the couple have looked on your website and social media, they like what they see and decide to get in touch. If you could send a personalised email back to every couple within 24 hours this would be great but in reality it’s just not possible to do that every day. I do recommend you aim to respond to all couples within 48 hours but a auto email does the job in-between.

An auto responder lets couples know that you have their email and that you will be back in touch, it takes out the guessing for the couple. It allows them to relax knowing they have a timeframe, without this couples are wondering if the email reached you and may lead to them resending.

The auto responder should include the following:

· A message to current clients, reassuring them that they are your number one priority and you’ll get back to them as soon as possible. This is for couples who have weddings coming up!

· A message to those new potential couples, let them know you are so looking forward to speaking with them give them a timeframe of when they should hear back from you. In the meantime give them some information that your current couples have found helpful early on in the process. They’ll love looking through this information until they hear back from you, this could be a link to helpful blogs for newly engaged couples in what they should look for in venues or another example could be a link to your recommended photographer with a venue album from previous weddings.

· A message to all your suppliers, let them know you’ll get back to them soon!

This covers everyone who may get I touch with you, it reassures any upcoming weddings and informs suppliers. This email is really vital for those newly engaged wedding couples who are potentially emailing to book you for their wedding.

This auto responder shows them:

· Your attention to detail

· It reassures them with a timeframe

· It lets when know that upcoming weddings get your full attention, just like they will get when it’s their wedding day!

· It gets them excited to chat with you

· It gives them some helpful resources to look over in the meantime

This may take a little time to put together but once it’s done you don’t have to do it again!