The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss - Latest Comments in The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

FS — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:25:51 -0000

Need a vacation but afraid of the email mountain that will face you upon return? Try declaring an “Email Sabbatical” - Template at: http://tiny.cc/lcKii

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

HELLO, my name is Scott! — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:16:20 -0000

Hey Tim! Killer post. Great comments too.

This post inspired me to write a similar one:

How to Create Autoresponders That Customers Print Out & Show to Their Boss:

http://tinyurl.com/cgsvgr

See ya

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Marieke Hensel — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:34:19 -0000

Make your point in 140 characters is my motto.
Therefore, my autoresponder is as follows:

Dear email sender,

I highly appreciate it that you sent me an email.
I will read your message, unfortunately I dont have time to respond to all my emails.

In an effort to increase productivity and efficiency I am beginning a new personal email policy. I’ve recently realized I spend more time shuffling through my inbox and less time focused on the task at hand. It has become an unnecessary distraction that ultimately creates longer lead times on my ever-growing ‘to do’ list.

* Are you looking for product information?
Check out my website: http://www.brandingpersonal...

* Need a quick response to your message?
Send me a message on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/hensel

* Want to schedule an appointment?
Please check my agenda to see which dates & times are available and send me a Google Calendar invite.
http://www.mariekehensel.nl...

* Anything else?
For all longer or irregular requests, one of my assistents will be happy to help you 24/7 on the phone: +1 877 747 3263

Here's to life outside of my inbox,

Marieke Hensel
We take your name to fame!

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Atlanta wedding photographer — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:46:34 -0000

dude, I love this.....what it makes me think is that if you are this busy then you must be great at whatever you do and you know the value of your time. I think that the first one said something about increasing lead times. Well, if you have a service or product that you are sending out to customers then I think that the customers are going to think that you are working to get things out as soon as possible but that you will get back to them in a timely manner.

It's sets expectations and most people can respect that

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Kai — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:15:08 -0000

I have now 'enforced' my new email policy to varying effects. Ironically enough in the first week the vast majority of email has been collegues just wanting to see the reply. Please also see my response to anyone who flips out about it. My message below:

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In an effort to increase productivity and efficiency I am beginning a new personal email policy. I’ve recently realized I spend more time shuffling through my inbox than I do focusing on the task at hand. It has become an unnecessary distraction that ultimately creates longer lead times on my ‘to do’ list.

Going forward I will be checking/responding to email that has been sent directly to me at 11am and 4pm on weekdays. Emails that have been cc’d to me will be read and replied to, if required, twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday therefore if you require me to take action please send it to me directly. I will try and respond to email in a timely manner without neglecting the needs of the business.

If you need an immediate time-sensitive response…please don’t hesitate to call me on my mobile (XYZ).

Hopefully this new approach to email management will result in shorter lead times with more focused & creative work on my part. Cheers

All the best,

Kai

Responding to someone getting a bit angry that every time they send me an email they get the out of office reply......

I thank you for your frank feedback - yes I do understand that this will happen. If you seriously have an issue with receiving this automated reply, and understand my new email policy, I will be more than happy to come up to your office to set an email rule that will send it to the trash whenever it reaches your inbox :)

My favourite - Here is a friends very humourous modification.......

I will be out of the office starting 22/05/2008 and will not return until ever.......

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In an effort to increase personal productivity and efficiency I am beginning a new personal email policy. I’ve recently realized I spend more time shuffling through my inbox than I do focusing on my personal life.

It has become an unnecessary distraction that ultimately creates longer lead times on my ‘social interaction’ list.

Going forward I will be checking/responding to email that has been sent directly to me at 8am-8.05am on weekdays. Emails that have been cc’d to me will be read and replied to only if they are humorous. I will try and respond to your email in a timely manner without neglecting the needs of my personal business.

If you need an immediate time-sensitive response…please don’t call me.

Hopefully this new approach to email management will result in shorter lead times with more focused & creative socialising on my part. Cheers

All the best,

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

patrick — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:04:25 -0000

Hello, this is Carl Kasell of the NPR news quiz, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Patrick will be out of the office until next Tuesday, at which time he'll be able to read your email.

Have a nice day.

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Graham — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 04:19:51 -0000

I send a few huge files to myself just before going on holiday. We only have 500MB of storage per user, so anything sent while I am away gets bounced back, and its the 'systems' fault not mine:)

I have done the same with voice mail - our provider lets you store 50 messages - just leave plenty and its soon message full time.

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Raina Gustafson — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:58:34 -0000

I re-read the post just to find the dig at GW. Thanks for the heads up, Justin.

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

juanlanteri — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:34:57 -0000

Tim, subo la oferta:

Hacemos un Terrazas Cabernet, cómo la ves?

Aparte te presento a los organizadores de Palermo Valley (ayer juntamos 300 personas en un bar sólo a través de twitter) y a los de StartMeUp Argentina, que llenamos 500 lugares para el evento en 36 horas.

Cóom la ves?

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Justin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:04:02 -0000

Besides the cheap shot at our President it was a good post.

Justin

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Stef — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:42:03 -0000

Hi Tim & Everyone,

I love reading this blog since there is always something interesting and new in there.

IMHO, the real trick lies not in autoresponders and the such, but in formulating your instructions in a way that people don't need to doublecheck or get back to you for further instructions. That way all the email you ever get are confirmatory "job done" emails and loveletters from your friends and family. Besides, if people don't get a reply straight away they usually find a way to solve the problem without your input, autoresponder or not.

Cheers,
Stef

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

juanlanteri — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 01:31:38 -0000

Come on Tim!

What do you need to tell me when you´ll be again in Baires?

Ok, I´m raising my invitation: not a Finca Flichman, but a "Fond de Cave Reserva" Is that enough?

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Kelly — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:19:27 -0000

Thanks for the great post Tim! I just picked up a copy of your book last week, and I love it. I have to say, I didn't pick it up earlier, because I thought it would be some kind of get rich quick scheme-y thing. So glad I was wrong.

That is what I get for judging the book by the cover ;)

A couple resources I have found:
#19 Pascal:
I am with you - I hate the phone. I signed up for Callwave.com's visual voicemail, so all of my voice mails arrive transcribed in my email box now. The cost probably isn't worth it for many, but the service is a huge timesaver for me. There is a free trial.

#38 Ken: Notetaking/Organizing:
I use Microsoft OneNote and have no idea how i lived without it (yes. i did say that in the same sentence with the word 'Microsoft'). It lets you set up notebooks with sections & pages.

The 2 nicest features:
1) when i copy and paste from a website, it automatically generates a link back to the page i copied from, so when i am reviewing my notes, i can find/reference the source material very easily.

2) Can save directly from outlook to OneNote, so I no longer have a 4BG outlook backup file. (which makes your whole computer drag).

You can download a 30-day trial and the best price on OneNote is at Amazon for about $60.

Thanks to all the follow-up comments on the posts on this blog. They are really helpful!

Cheers,

Kelly

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Blue Fungus — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:06:49 -0000

These are some excellent points indeed! Now that I've adopted a personal policy of reading less email, I have more time to check out blogs like this one! Keep up the great suggestions!

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Lisa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:33:36 -0000

Love the 4-Day Work Week. If you are only 31 years old - you look really old per your picture. Bad photographer? I would have guessed you in your fifties.

Are your interests and driving personality wearing on you? This is not meant to be a criticism - just an observation.

###

LOL... wow. I'm not sure how to answer that. Most people guess mid-20's when they meet me, so I guess it must be the photographs :)

Tim

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

EJ — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:25:08 -0000

Hi -- I read recently, perhaps in the NY Times (inspired by the 4HWW?), where a reporter gave up email for a week. Instead, she relied on the telephone. As usual, she initially suffered the usual anxiousness one experiences when giving up a habit; nervousness, irritability...a sense of impending doom! But after a week she found she focused less on the trivial and more on the important. And by using the phone she developed actual relationships with those she communicated with that she never did before.

With regards to the auto-responder, I forgot to mention I don't use one. As mentioned, I check email everyday at 3:30 pm so I usually am able to respond to everyone the same day. And I don't give out my cell phone number. I let most of my calls roll into voicemail that I check a couple of times a day and that I return as well in the afternoon. I have to say, I feel quite liberated breaking free (sort of) from the email ball and chain. A wonderful feeling.

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Melody F. — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 07:43:12 -0000

Hi Tim! I've been inspired to put an auto-response on my work email. I think it's working since people have actually called to tell me that their email is a "must read". So far, so good! I've been in the military for 17 years, have worn the "Bat-Belt" on/off over the years (Blackberry, Palm & mobile phone) and am continually appalled at how people (read: BOSS) will email rather than walk 20 feet or call, just so that the conversation is well-documented. That's the CYA concept for ya!

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

EJ — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:38:55 -0000

Before Tim, so to speak, I checked email perhaps 2-3 times per hour. After Tim, I tried the 10:00 am / 4:00 pm sked. but found my high-energy mornings were interrupted trying to deal with the 10:00 am emails...many filled with unimportant problems etc.

It was a very tough habit to break but I now check email only once at around 3:30 pm in the afternoon. I feel my best in the morning so I now reserve that precious time to get my most important/exciting projects done. At the end of the day, I can usually look back and call my day a success.

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Jose Castro-Frenzel — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:23:06 -0000

Hello Tim,

I hope you had a rocking time at the party, that was a great movie that won. Any suggestions on how to increase traffice to a blog site?

Cheers

Jose

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Chad Kettner — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:13:39 -0000

Tim - you remind me of the guy at school that would run everywhere he went so that he would save 15 minutes a day in "transportation time." I agree checking email can be distracting, but surely there's a better way to limit yourself than telling others that they're emails are a pain in the ass.

I will laugh at the day an "I don't answer my email during the day" autoresponder gets sent to somebody with the same policy - sending hundreds of autoresponders back and forth in utter chaos.

muahahahaha.

###

I was the kid who ran between classes to lose weight for wrestling, but that's another story ;)

Tim

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

thom singer — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:02:09 -0000

I am a busy guy, and I get a lot of email. Yes, much of it is a waste of my time, but I do go through it. I am not sure I would put an autoresponder on telling people I am too busy for them....I think that is sort of arrogant and self centered. It says "I am more important than what you have to say" (even if you feel that superior to others, you should not tell them, that is rude).

I got an auto responder recently that said "Thanks for your message. I am on vacation in the Bahamas until February 23rd. This vacation is necessary because of all the BS I have to put up with regularly. Therefore I am not checking email, as anything you have to say is not important to me while I sip drinks on beautiful beach while you slave away at your dull job".

I got a person email upon his return saying he was sorry for his rude email. He had meant to be funny, but discovered it was not taken well by most of the 300 people who got the auto responder.

Think twice before you put something on your auto-resonder. Think of how others might view your message.

thom

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

juanlanteri — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:27:03 -0000

Hi Tim! This is an off topic comment.
Do you have any idea of when you´ll be in BsAs again?
I´m part of the "internet startups" community here and we´re having some informal meetings that we call Palermo Valley Nights (palermovalleyDOTcom, so I don´t spam here :)) and I´ll be glad of share with you a bottle of Finca Flichman ;)

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Adryenn Ashley — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 13:40:26 -0000

OMG Isabelle (comment #1)! I love it! And since I spend 8 hours a day on email, obviously I need rehab. Using Tim as the excuse is brilliant. I'm setting my autoresponders now! Thanks for giving me the final push I needed to kick the habit!

And thanks Tim. I see my world transforming every day because of the tips you give. Very soon, I forsee an actual life! Now if you could address mini-retirements with preschool/kindergarten age children, you'd solidify your place as my new God. :)

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Josh — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 15:01:07 -0000

I know this post is highly off topic, however I wasn't sure where else to post it or to make sure that Mr. Ferriss would see it.

One thing I think Mr. Ferriss has done quite well was to have lead us all by example, but here I am asking for more. I was hoping he might do a blog concerning a few of his dream lines but much more in-depthly. That means not only completely filling out the forms he has given to us but going the extra mile by providing superfluous explanations and pie charts. Why, you might ask. Well we'd all like to know where the majority of his money comes from.... does the majority of his cash come from book proceeds? Could he have led this life and continue to do so without the cash flow from the book? In fact I hereby challenge Mr. Ferriss to prove to us that he can.

Also, everyone else might be able to help me with this one, how does he find the deals that he does? I saw one of his videos where he got a fully furnished apartment in Buenos Aires for $250 a week, is that just the price of things there or can he find such deals across the world? In fact how do you find an apartment on that short of notice and that doesn't make you sign at least a 6-month lease?

Thanks for your time, and your research in lifestyle design!

###

Hi Josh,

Thanks for the comment. The book was turned down by 13 out of 14 publishers, and I've written about this before, but here's the short answer: publishing is a TERRIBLE bet for income generation, at least directly from the book. I didn't need the income from the book to actualize my lifestyle, as evidenced in the examples and costing in the book. Though the cash-flow has become substantial from the book, it's going directly into investments (more on this in another post soon). I'm not going to give a line-by-line account of my finances for many, many reasons, so sorry about having to decline that, but once you have a stalker or two show up at your mailbox, you realize that keeping some things private is important.

For good deals, it's a matter of asking friends, testing different options, and smart Googling :) Try virtualtourist.com for finding gems for traveling.

Cheers,

Tim

Re: The Best (and Worst?) Autoresponders of 2007

Donovan — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 22:54:38 -0000

@Mike:

I can see that it would help some people to limit their email sending usage, but how often do you regulate your email usage based on others?

I help to regulate their sending habits using free market principles - not responding to give them a supply... =)