I started out replying to this question on LinkedIn
In every print ad it is common to give some contacts for a consumer – be it a website address, infoline number or general email (info@company (product).com). What about email address with name and surname of a brand manager? Does it look unprofessional, or on contrary – gives a sense of credibility and personal touch
but thought of posting my answer in form of a blog post.
So here’s the deal:
While most people who read this or commented on this question might feel/say that they are more likely to respond to a firstname.lastname@company.com than to info@company.com, I don’t think it holds true for me. On the contrary I feel it’s better to have generic email ids for following reasons
1) It gives you a sense of knowing what you are getting into:
While a “firstname.lastname@company.com” might be more personal, it definitely doesn’t tell you about the role/designation the guy holds or if you are asking the right question to the right guy.
2) Easy to remember:
While firstname.lastname@company.com might look and sound good, what people don’t realize is that it’s difficult to remember these email ids. For ex: If every company whose products you use started giving people’s names as ids for things like support would you be able to remember even a few of them ? No, on the other hand think if each one of those companies had an email id like help@company.com or support@company.com. Isn’t this a lot easier to remember and share ?
3) Ease of management:
While giving personal email id’s is not a big deal but it might not be a practical deal, especially for big brands. I for sure know that I won’t be able to handle if I start getting hunderds of emails per day. The way these email accounts are maintained(mostly) is that the emails to them gets forwarded to everyone whose part of the support team or alternatively is assigned to a member from support team. Supporting that sort of thing would be difficult unless you make a fake account and give it out rather than giving email id of a real user.
These are a few points that I could think of in support of using a generic email id.
What do you think about this and why you think that way ?
Personal email in a print ad: personal touch or lack of professional attitude http://bit.ly/106eeW
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Very well thought out reply. Personally, I think it depends on the ad and the service its propagating. If its something to do with personal services, like that of travel agents or insurance agents.
If the ads are generic in nature and talk abt vaccum cleaners and cars, I’d rather have a standard info@[company name].com email address.
Mayank agree with what you are saying here and to a extent makes sense but i feel it all depends on the industry and scale at which that industry/ product is .
as per me i would feel more comfy if i got personal attention to a particular problem then being contacted via different people .
i totally agree to Asfaq
Most of the time, the issue is not the email – thought, concept, name, designation et all – but the execution. Synergy between product/brand manager – Advtg – IT not happening or delay leads to bounce back; no forward etc & finally a disgruntled consumer.
Yes, I agree with you. Even more if it’s a classifieds ad. Also, if the person leaves the company it could become a problem.
The ‘personal touch’ should actually be part of the replies from that email address. Replies must have the person’s name and should not seem like a automated response. That’s what would make a real difference.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your view guys.
@Asfaq: You are right, for services like those we can put personal email id’s no problem at all.
@Shruti: Personal attention can also start from the first reply from the concerned company in question.
@Anaggh: True, synergy and execution is the key here.
@Arun: Incidentally, a person leaving a company didn’t occur to me as a possibilty but it’s definitely is a possibility and hence needs to be taken care of.
Exactly, personal touch should be added once the conversation starts