Yesterday I had a question about an event I’m scheduled to attend, so I emailed the info@ address on the Web site to ask my question.

Much to my surprise, the response was almost immediate.

So I excitedly clicked open the email only to read:

<The answer to your question> is on our Web site,

Sincerely,

info@conferencewhosenameiwonttellyou.com

What?  Is that it?  Their Web site is huge and hard to navigate.  Why not give me the direct link?

So I wrote back, “Where can I find it on the Web site?  Can  you send me a direct link?”

Quick reply (kudos!) and this time with the direct link, followed my a P.S. “Access to this area of our web site requires a password.”

Mercifully, the info@ responder did include the password I needed to find out the info.

Oh, and did I tell you, I was trying to make a purchase? I wanted to pay to add something to my registration.

I eventually got what I needed but it required twice as many emails and too much of a headache.

In the time it took to reply to my original email, the direct link to could have been included too.  And a thank you might have been nice

So, here’s the lesson: when people email you, are you giving them all the information or are you leaving their question partially answered?

As I was preparing this post, I received an email from someone in our church wanting to automate their giving.  I could have replied back and said, “It’s under Online Giving” from our home page.

Instead, I replied back, gave them the direct link to the page, some quick instructions on how to complete the form and thanked them for honoring God with their finances.

Lesson learned.

Nelson