A great discussion evolved on the Etsy forum over the weekend, and it is a subject that I feel passionately about. As a work-at-home mother of two - with a husband that works 40-70 hours per week - I know first-hand that "life balance" is a very tricky topic. Most shop owners are willing to bend over backwards for their customers, but if they're not being careful, they risk becoming a slave to their electronic devices. Time slips away, laundry piles up, friends get put on the back burner... you know how it goes.
So this morning while I ate breakfast and drank my coffee, I came across an Etsy forum thread titled:
To summarize, the Etsy shopper said, " I can't tell you how many times a seller has lost my business though because they don't reply to my questions over the weekend. Monday through Friday I get a response within hours. Saturday and Sunday, forget about it."
So here we have a potential customer with a valid concern. Why does this happen?
I tried to pick a few responses to illustrate both sides of the argument: should sellers be available every day of the week? Or do they deserve to take time off on the weekends?
Argument One: Etsy sellers should always be available for customer service
"I always hate seeing posts like this. It makes me angry as there are lots of sellers who definitely respond to inquiries. With today's technology there is no excuse that a shop owner can't get back to a customer in a timely manner." - Amanda Jayne from MsAmandaJayne
"In the online small business world sellers have to put more work into their customer service to hopefully win over customers. And I agree with this buyer, if I don't recieve an email back after a couple of days I have the same concerns as him. Even if I'm at work and receive a question about an item, I find the time to take 2 minutes to write back and say "Thanks for your question and I'll be sure to get back with you and answer it as soon as I get home as I am at work at the moment". It only takes a minute to show the customer you care." PoppyFandango from PoppyFandango
"While I can appreciate the fact that we all have lives outside of Etsy, everyone should make the time to check on their businesses on a daily basis. It only takes a few minutes of my time to check and respond to my messages. " Debbi from ThirstyOwlVintage
Argument Two: Etsy sellers have lives outside of their work, and deserve some time off
"If a business owner is in it for the long haul there have to be limits and boundaries. Excessive work hours, cutting prices and other behaviors to satisfy every possible customer will put you out of business. And if I am out of business I am truly useless to the customer" - Maryanne Fender from FenderMinerals
"With technology at your fingertips, everyone now expects IMMEDIATE results. FYI- typical business turn-around time for responses is 24-48 hours. this is fairly standard across ALL stores including online (some places will even send notification emails of this after you send them questions). Just because we're small business owners, doesn't mean we're expected to respond within 2-5 hours of your request. If you DO get replies that fast, consider it a perk or 'above average' customer service." Mary from CharmedByWine
"Not every business has 7 business days a week. It's very common for single-person businesses to not be open every single day. When there is only one person to do everything for a business, that person does need time away. It simply isn't healthy to never take a break from working." Rebecca McKee from SalsolaKali
"I don't have a smartphone or notebook because I don't want to become someone who is glued to technology no matter what, and to lose touch with simpler things. When I'm away from my laptop, I want to enjoy whatever I'm doing in its full intensity, not think about checking email every so often. I am here a lot, because there is a lot of work to be done, but I also have a right to be away at least one or two days a week, to rest.
It make take only two minutes to respond to a customer, but it takes a lot more to respond to 20 or 30 customers per day (on a slower day) with responses every hour. I don't mind, but sometimes I want a clean break for a day or so.
A healthy business doesn't take your every wakeful minute." WinchesterLambourne
My opinion
While I am usually available to answer messages on the weekends, I don't believe that a shop owner needs to be accessible 7 days per week. Texts, instant messages, emails, and social media has created the illusion that we all live online now, and that communication is instant. It is the right of every human being to be away from electronics, and out spending time in the real world: running errands, caring for children, enjoying nature - without the constant distraction of technology.
In addition to that, many sellers get a high volume of messages. What may be logging on to check messages, and having to respond to one message, my actually be a 1-2 hour task for other sellers with 20+ messages (as WinchesterLambourne pointed out). So even just "checking in" on the weekends may take quite a bit of time.
The Solution: find your boundaries. Be consistent.
If you're the type of seller that needs some work-free time away, post the hours that you WILL be open for customer service in your shop announcement.
If you're the type of seller that wants to be available 24/7, announce your expected response times.
Be consistent, and when at all possible, put up a shop announcement when you know you won't be available, or will be out of town for the weekend.
The Bottom Line
Everyone has to run their business in a way that works best for them. Sellers who choose to have some sacred, work-free time-off have to be okay with potentially losing a sale if they don't respond to a message in 12-24 hours; likewise, those that never unplug have to be okay with their work blending into their personal life 24/7.
There is nothing wrong with taking time off - it should be encouraged - but I think the key here is communication.
It's great that this Etsy shopper came directly to the sellers to vent his frustrations. Constructive feedback is what makes us all better, and as a result of this discussion, I will I am going to post my "open hours" in my shop announcement - I just have to decide what those hours will be.
If you're a seller, do you take time off, or are you constantly available? If you're an Etsy shopper, how quickly do you expect a response?
So this morning while I ate breakfast and drank my coffee, I came across an Etsy forum thread titled:
Why do Etsy shop owners completely disappear on the weekends?
To summarize, the Etsy shopper said, " I can't tell you how many times a seller has lost my business though because they don't reply to my questions over the weekend. Monday through Friday I get a response within hours. Saturday and Sunday, forget about it."
So here we have a potential customer with a valid concern. Why does this happen?
I tried to pick a few responses to illustrate both sides of the argument: should sellers be available every day of the week? Or do they deserve to take time off on the weekends?
Argument One: Etsy sellers should always be available for customer service
"I always hate seeing posts like this. It makes me angry as there are lots of sellers who definitely respond to inquiries. With today's technology there is no excuse that a shop owner can't get back to a customer in a timely manner." - Amanda Jayne from MsAmandaJayne
"In the online small business world sellers have to put more work into their customer service to hopefully win over customers. And I agree with this buyer, if I don't recieve an email back after a couple of days I have the same concerns as him. Even if I'm at work and receive a question about an item, I find the time to take 2 minutes to write back and say "Thanks for your question and I'll be sure to get back with you and answer it as soon as I get home as I am at work at the moment". It only takes a minute to show the customer you care." PoppyFandango from PoppyFandango
"While I can appreciate the fact that we all have lives outside of Etsy, everyone should make the time to check on their businesses on a daily basis. It only takes a few minutes of my time to check and respond to my messages. " Debbi from ThirstyOwlVintage
Argument Two: Etsy sellers have lives outside of their work, and deserve some time off
"If a business owner is in it for the long haul there have to be limits and boundaries. Excessive work hours, cutting prices and other behaviors to satisfy every possible customer will put you out of business. And if I am out of business I am truly useless to the customer" - Maryanne Fender from FenderMinerals
"With technology at your fingertips, everyone now expects IMMEDIATE results. FYI- typical business turn-around time for responses is 24-48 hours. this is fairly standard across ALL stores including online (some places will even send notification emails of this after you send them questions). Just because we're small business owners, doesn't mean we're expected to respond within 2-5 hours of your request. If you DO get replies that fast, consider it a perk or 'above average' customer service." Mary from CharmedByWine
"Not every business has 7 business days a week. It's very common for single-person businesses to not be open every single day. When there is only one person to do everything for a business, that person does need time away. It simply isn't healthy to never take a break from working." Rebecca McKee from SalsolaKali
"I don't have a smartphone or notebook because I don't want to become someone who is glued to technology no matter what, and to lose touch with simpler things. When I'm away from my laptop, I want to enjoy whatever I'm doing in its full intensity, not think about checking email every so often. I am here a lot, because there is a lot of work to be done, but I also have a right to be away at least one or two days a week, to rest.
It make take only two minutes to respond to a customer, but it takes a lot more to respond to 20 or 30 customers per day (on a slower day) with responses every hour. I don't mind, but sometimes I want a clean break for a day or so.
A healthy business doesn't take your every wakeful minute." WinchesterLambourne
My opinion
While I am usually available to answer messages on the weekends, I don't believe that a shop owner needs to be accessible 7 days per week. Texts, instant messages, emails, and social media has created the illusion that we all live online now, and that communication is instant. It is the right of every human being to be away from electronics, and out spending time in the real world: running errands, caring for children, enjoying nature - without the constant distraction of technology.
In addition to that, many sellers get a high volume of messages. What may be logging on to check messages, and having to respond to one message, my actually be a 1-2 hour task for other sellers with 20+ messages (as WinchesterLambourne pointed out). So even just "checking in" on the weekends may take quite a bit of time.
The Solution: find your boundaries. Be consistent.
If you're the type of seller that needs some work-free time away, post the hours that you WILL be open for customer service in your shop announcement.
If you're the type of seller that wants to be available 24/7, announce your expected response times.
Be consistent, and when at all possible, put up a shop announcement when you know you won't be available, or will be out of town for the weekend.
The Bottom Line
Everyone has to run their business in a way that works best for them. Sellers who choose to have some sacred, work-free time-off have to be okay with potentially losing a sale if they don't respond to a message in 12-24 hours; likewise, those that never unplug have to be okay with their work blending into their personal life 24/7.
There is nothing wrong with taking time off - it should be encouraged - but I think the key here is communication.
It's great that this Etsy shopper came directly to the sellers to vent his frustrations. Constructive feedback is what makes us all better, and as a result of this discussion, I will I am going to post my "open hours" in my shop announcement - I just have to decide what those hours will be.
If you're a seller, do you take time off, or are you constantly available? If you're an Etsy shopper, how quickly do you expect a response?
Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention!
ReplyDeleteI honestly never except same-day responses to ANYTHING I send out unless I'm at work and emailing someone in the building. I do think that if a seller is really strict about not working on weekends (which is a decision they are absolutely entitled to make for themselves), that should be included in the policies notice, but if it isn't, that's okay. The thing I love about Etsy is the sheer number of one-of-a-kind gift opportunities. And I'm not going to decide not to work with someone because (s)he didn't get back to me on a Sunday.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you feel this way! I think most customers are very reasonable like you are, but you are right - if a shop owner isn't going to be around, it's a great idea to leave some notice of that in the shop.
DeleteI agree with you ashley. It has gotten to the point that people act as if 'online' is all there is to life. but there is so much more. i don't want to forget that and i want to always take time for that. however, if someone has a question, I do try to get back them as soon as possible, because that's the flip side of selling online. it's probably a good idea to put 'store hours' in our policies, just so it's right there and upfront.
ReplyDeletethanks for your take on this.
Thanks for your input, Pam! Would you suggest people list their hours in their shop policies, or in the shop announcement - or both?! I wonder which is more likely to be seen.
DeleteThis is an excellent post! I run into the same issue all the time since I also have a full-time day job. In my busy season, it can sometimes take 3-4 hours a day to clean out my unread convos!
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I don't like to leave a convo hanging. If I know I'll be busy, I'll shoot them a quick convo acknowledging I've received their convo and I'll get back to them at "X" time - and I never let a convo go unanswered for more than 2 days. I design for brides (mostly) so a client's stress/deadlines can run higher!