A little goes a long way: Don’t forget your inbox

Posted at October 27, 2009 | No Comments

On average, I receive about 100 or more spam emails per day via the contact form posted on postdotcom.com. Like most directory owners that have a job, a life, and a family,  there were not enough hours in the day to be spent slowly sorting through the massive amounts of spam emails everyday. I’ve noticed that spam emails were the majority of emails being received so being the noob that I was, I stopped dealing.

One day,  I received an email in my paypal inbox notifying me of Paypal disputes. Turns out, a buyers link was mistakenly rejected and did not receive a refund. They had contacted me via the main email many times and had no response for weeks. Though they had the benefit of doubt for us to wait, after more than two weeks, a dispute was finally open.

I’m going to be honest here, I was new to the business. I was unprofessional and paid the price for it as I  could have lost a recurring submitter. Filled with miscommunications as I tried to solve the issue and save the directory’s reputation, I knew I would never see the submitter again. Losing business is no fun. When you’re new and the excitement builts up, a small misstep definitely teaches you a lesson.

It eventually adds up as this incidence occurred twice. If I was the buyer and paid for a directory submission and had no response for weeks as to why my link was rejected with no refund, I will probably never return again nor would I recommend others to. In the end, you could be labeled as a scam or fraud. The submitter could have been someone working from an SEO company that would have recurring submissions to your directory, or simply an internet marketer that runs through lists of directories for website submissions daily. Every little thing counts.

For those who run hundreds of directories, make sure you do keep up with your emails. Free or not, it’s a business, and the service you provide must include customer service. For the gurus out there, I know they are on top of it, but here is a simple tip for the newbies. A little goes a long way, because one day, you maybe one of the big guru directories out there and you want a good reputation from beginning to end.

As small as this incident is, it is still a mishap that needs to be corrected. I’ve noticed that many directories take more than a week to respond, and that is an unacceptable wait because you are a company, a service, a business.

Two years later, we are definitely on top of it.