Auto reply option!

[garaphicx98]

Hello Fiverrians!
what are your opinions on this ?
i think there should be an auto reply option in fiverr inbox.
it will help sellers for example when we are out of office or when we are sleeping then an auto reply option help us !

[garaphicx98]

this will help to maintain our response rate otherwise 89% response rate is enough to decrease our level

[alhajislam5]

Thanks for your idea . I think it will helpful for us but fiverr will not do this

[humanissocial]

Buyers don’t want to hear from a robot or get two messages: one from a robot and then one from you.

If you want to save time, create a form response that you can tailor to the buyer. That’s what that function is there for.

What you are proposing will annoy buyers and prevent sales.

[garaphicx98]

Buyers don’t want to hear from a robot or get two messages: one from a robot and then one from you.

If you want to save time, create a form response that you can tailor to the buyer. That’s what that function is there for.

What you are proposing will annoy buyers and prevent sales.

you mat be right but the auto reply will also help seller,sometimes we are not available on fiverr and we got messages and orders and and we can not respond them and this will decrease the response rate and leads to level decrease

[garaphicx98]

Buyers don’t want to hear from a robot or get two messages: one from a robot and then one from you.

If you want to save time, create a form response that you can tailor to the buyer. That’s what that function is there for.

What you are proposing will annoy buyers and prevent sales.

so don’t you think there should be any system which will help both buyer and sellers and i think the auto reply system is the option,may be a better then that of Facebook or any other social network

[garaphicx98]

Thanks for your idea . I think it will helpful for us but fiverr will not do this

yeah i think fiverr should have to introduce this kind of system.

[humanissocial]

so don’t you think there should be any system which will help both buyer and sellers and i think the auto reply system is the option,may be a better then that of Facebook or any other social network

There IS a system. All you have to do is click a button to send that message. You can do that when you return to your computer. If it is a good client and you provide a good service, you don’t need to respond within minutes in order to get a sale. And any buyer who wants a response within minutes wants a PERSONAL response, not a canned automated one. Once they see that, those buyers will go elsewhere. Those buyers don’t want to work around your time zone, anyway. I’m speaking from experience selling hundreds of orders on Fiverr.

The costs of what you are proposing outweigh the benefits. It annoys the people you think it will engage.

Yes Facebook Messenger has automation, but that isn’t appropriate for personally fulfilled, time sensitive services. People want to talk to a person live when they message a Fiverr Seller. You’re comparing apples to oranges.

[frank_d]

you mat be right but the auto reply will also help seller,sometimes we are not available on fiverr and we got messages and orders and and we can not respond them and this will decrease the response rate and leads to level decrease

You should definitely think over how you are doing business on here if you aren’t available for days at a time and/or are worried that you can’t respond to messages or orders.

With the mobile app and the template response tool there’s no excuse.

[mariashtelle1]

you mat be right but the auto reply will also help seller,sometimes we are not available on fiverr and we got messages and orders and and we can not respond them and this will decrease the response rate and leads to level decrease

auto reply will also help seller,sometimes we are not available on fiverr and we got messages and orders and and we can not respond them and this will decrease the response rate

Then what’s the point of response rate and response time if system will send auto responses immediately?

That defeats the whole purpose of it. Fiverr giving 24 hours to respond on messages which is more than enough time.

[gwyneth_galvin]

You only have to respond within 24 hours.

You sleepin for 24 hours?

I don’t worry about my response time, and I don’t even check my messages after like 9 PM. It can wait til morning.

Buyers can see time zones when they message you, and it will even say “this user may take a while to respond, they’re offline and it’s night where they are” or something like that.

Don’t sweat it, just get back to them when you can.

[uk1000]

There IS a system. All you have to do is click a button to send that message. You can do that when you return to your computer. If it is a good client and you provide a good service, you don’t need to respond within minutes in order to get a sale. And any buyer who wants a response within minutes wants a PERSONAL response, not a canned automated one. Once they see that, those buyers will go elsewhere. Those buyers don’t want to work around your time zone, anyway. I’m speaking from experience selling hundreds of orders on Fiverr.

The costs of what you are proposing outweigh the benefits. It annoys the people you think it will engage.

Yes Facebook Messenger has automation, but that isn’t appropriate for personally fulfilled, time sensitive services. People want to talk to a person live when they message a Fiverr Seller. You’re comparing apples to oranges.

And any buyer who wants a response within minutes wants a PERSONAL response, not a canned automated one. Once they see that, those buyers will go elsewhere.

But surely it would be better for some buyers if they got the response (even an automated response) faster. eg. if an automated message was set up that could respond to particular questions in text like “can you design a logo? or design a logo…” and you have no gig for that/don’t do that (but maybe have related gigs) an automated response could probably help the buyer faster than waiting hours to be told almost the same thing manually by the seller. It would allow them to get the required gig from another seller if necessary before returning (if they want to) for any other gigs you have that might be relevant.

Maybe automated responses could also deal better with spam messages that can follow a particular pattern.

[arty182925]

Nobody wants robot messages.

No wonder why Fiverr added “Prove that you aren’t robot” messages

[uk1000]

Nobody wants robot messages.

No wonder why Fiverr added “Prove that you aren’t robot” messages

Nobody wants robot messages.

I would if it answered my question properly and saved me waiting eg. 6 hours. Or at least gave me more relevant info and maybe let me know when I’d receive a response from the seller if it wasn’t answered properly with the auto-message.

[arty182925]

If I got robot message I wouldn’t bother with seller at all. I want to communicate with seller directly not with robot. If they can’t answer right away, they shouldn’t. I would rather wait for seller to answer my question instead of getting robot message

[smashradio]

Firstly, the response rate. What’s the problem? I sleep during the day, so buyers don’t get the “It’s night, and might take smashradio time to respond”-notice when they send me messages. I respond when I wake up at 10 or 11pm, to all the messages. My response rate is perfect. As long as you respond within 24 hours, you won’t have any problem with that.

When it comes to an auto reply fixing this issue: how exactly does your suggestion solve the fact that you are not responding to your buyers? An auto reply is just that. An automatic reply. It’s meant to be used for “Thank you for your message. I’ll get back to you soon.” type of messages, and not as a tool to save you from being slow to respond to buyers.

If you can’t respond to your buyers within 24 hours, that is not a symptom of a lacking auto reply functionality, but a symptom of bad customer service.

If you’re away for more than 24 hours, you can use the Out of Office function. Works great if you have to take a couple of days off, or if you know you won’t be able to respond.

To conclude:

• If you’re not able to respond to buyers within 24 hours, that is not indicative of the need for such a functionality, but indicative of poor customer service, and should be addressed by improving your support-skills.

• If such a function were to be released, it should not affect your response rate or response time, because the buyer isn’t looking for an automated response when they contact you in the first place.

• Since the inbox works just like any inbox elsewhere online, I would assume there’s no need for an auto-reply to let the buyer know the message has been received anyway, as they can visually see that the message is received - and now, they are waiting for your reply.

[uk1000]

If I got robot message I wouldn’t bother with seller at all. I want to communicate with seller directly not with robot. If they can’t answer right away, they shouldn’t. I would rather wait for seller to answer my question instead of getting robot message

But many people might not want to wait 6-8 hours or however long for a response and if a proper answer can be given right now, that could be beneficial for the buyer. There’s no point in the buyer waiting 8 hours to be told the seller doesn’t design logos if an auto-response could have told them that within a second. They could have then gone to another seller and probably had their logo designed in that time, and could go back to the original seller if necessary for services they do provide.

[smashradio]

And by the way - the level system is there for a reason. It is an indication of the trustworthiness, professional level, and seniority of the seller. If you take the sellers response time out of the equation, that would counteract the very purpose of the level system, which is to indicate the quality the buyer can expect. A seller who provides excellent customer service and high quality services has deserved that level. A buyer who sleeps while letting an auto-reply maintain their response rate, has not deserved that level.

Basically - if you get demoted, it is your own fault. I actually experienced this once. I was overworked and simply couldn’t handle the workload. So I ended up with a few late deliveries, and got demoted from Level 2 all the way down to no level at all. It felt horrible. I worked my way up to Level 2 again by providing an even better support and offering than I did before i lost the level, and now my business has nearly doubled.

The moral of the story is: you are responsible for your own success, and to maintain a certain level, you have to earn it, every single month. If you don’t, you’ll end up demoted, and it isn’t because some function wasn’t there, but because you made mistakes. If that happens to you, you can learn from them, improve, and grow from the experience. None of us are perfect, and what might seem like a quality-of-life function right now, might end up undermining the quality of the entire marketplace in the future. That is something to reflect on.

[smashradio]

But many people might not want to wait 6-8 hours or however long for a response and if a proper answer can be given right now, that could be beneficial for the buyer. There’s no point in the buyer waiting 8 hours to be told the seller doesn’t design logos if an auto-response could have told them that within a second. They could have then gone to another seller and probably had their logo designed in that time, and could go back to the original seller if necessary for services they do provide.

How is an auto-reply a proper response? What you’re suggesting is basically a chat bot function that could answer questions, but something is seriously wrong with your gig if the buyer can’t tell what you’re providing in the first place. That is what your gig page is for.

You also have an FAQ function for that.

In my opinion, there’s no point in the buyer taking time to contact you, only to receive an automated reply, and then still having to wait for a proper answer. It would first of all undermine the customer service experience, the level system, and the importance of personalized support to your buyers.

And if the buyer can’t tell immediately from your gig page what you’re offering, that is a serious marketing flaw.

If you don’t design logos, then why would a buyer contact you for a logo design - unless you have made some serious error in your gig naming, category, og description?

[humanissocial]

And any buyer who wants a response within minutes wants a PERSONAL response, not a canned automated one. Once they see that, those buyers will go elsewhere.

But surely it would be better for some buyers if they got the response (even an automated response) faster. eg. if an automated message was set up that could respond to particular questions in text like “can you design a logo? or design a logo…” and you have no gig for that/don’t do that (but maybe have related gigs) an automated response could probably help the buyer faster than waiting hours to be told almost the same thing manually by the seller. It would allow them to get the required gig from another seller if necessary before returning (if they want to) for any other gigs you have that might be relevant.

Maybe automated responses could also deal better with spam messages that can follow a particular pattern.

That is what form responses are for. All the seller has to do is select the form they want and click send. I wouldn’t want to work with a seller who doesn’t even want to do that.

[humanissocial]

How is an auto-reply a proper response? What you’re suggesting is basically a chat bot function that could answer questions, but something is seriously wrong with your gig if the buyer can’t tell what you’re providing in the first place. That is what your gig page is for.

You also have an FAQ function for that.

In my opinion, there’s no point in the buyer taking time to contact you, only to receive an automated reply, and then still having to wait for a proper answer. It would first of all undermine the customer service experience, the level system, and the importance of personalized support to your buyers.

And if the buyer can’t tell immediately from your gig page what you’re offering, that is a serious marketing flaw.

If you don’t design logos, then why would a buyer contact you for a logo design - unless you have made some serious error in your gig naming, category, og description?

I agree. It doesn’t save either party time and is an extra message for the buyer to respond to. It’s annoying. People are busy.

In any case, personalized responses always perform better.

[smashradio]

I agree. It doesn’t save either party time and is an extra message for the buyer to respond to. It’s annoying. People are busy.

In any case, personalized responses always perform better.

Of course they perform better. This is the very same thing I tried to tell the buyers who go “nobody is buying even if I post the same answer to all requests”. They simply copy and paste a premade message, instead of reading the request and crafting a personalized response. I tried using the function a couple of times, and I always end up sifting through 50 copy-pasted messages that has nothing to do with my initial request.

Quality over quantity, I say.

[humanissocial]

Of course they perform better. This is the very same thing I tried to tell the buyers who go “nobody is buying even if I post the same answer to all requests”. They simply copy and paste a premade message, instead of reading the request and crafting a personalized response. I tried using the function a couple of times, and I always end up sifting through 50 copy-pasted messages that has nothing to do with my initial request.

Quality over quantity, I say.

Yes and these are the same people who come here asking why they never get responses. They don’t understand why relevance and credibility and courtesy matter.

[uk1000]

How is an auto-reply a proper response? What you’re suggesting is basically a chat bot function that could answer questions, but something is seriously wrong with your gig if the buyer can’t tell what you’re providing in the first place. That is what your gig page is for.

You also have an FAQ function for that.

In my opinion, there’s no point in the buyer taking time to contact you, only to receive an automated reply, and then still having to wait for a proper answer. It would first of all undermine the customer service experience, the level system, and the importance of personalized support to your buyers.

And if the buyer can’t tell immediately from your gig page what you’re offering, that is a serious marketing flaw.

If you don’t design logos, then why would a buyer contact you for a logo design - unless you have made some serious error in your gig naming, category, og description?

Even if you never say you design logos in your gig (eg. a gig where you animate someone’s logo) and you even put an FAQ line saying you don’t design logos, you can still have people messaging you asking if you design logos or to design them an animated logo (where they don’t have a logo).

Also, there is very limited number of characters available in FAQ questions/answers and also limited space in a gig description. An automated response could allow better than that (doesn’t have to be as limited) and can be as specific to the buyer’s question as the seller can create the responses and give a fast answer. It could also mean the buyer won’t need to spend a long time going through everything in the gig description - the auto response could give the a fast and accurate enough answer

The above thing about the logo was just an example though. There could be many times were a response 8 hours earlier than the seller’s response could be beneficial to the buyer. It could save them a lot of time and maybe also money.

In my opinion, there’s no point in the buyer taking time to contact you, only to receive an automated reply, and then still having to wait for a proper answer. It would first of all undermine the customer service experience, the level system,

They might not need to wait for another message from the seller if the automated reply tells them everything required. It wouldn’t undermine the level system - it’s based on more than just response rate and Fiverr could still require a manual response if they thought it necessary. Or they could have an option like “This fully answered the question” after automated responses that they could press or not which could determine whether a manual response later was required. And that could be taken into account in the evaluation stats.

Also they wouldn’t need to be “waiting” for an answer later from you. eg. if they know you don’t design logos they can go immediately to one of the thousands of sellers who do to get their logo done. It’s saved them a lot of time instead of having to wait eg. 8 hours to know the answer.

[uk1000]

That is what form responses are for. All the seller has to do is select the form they want and click send. I wouldn’t want to work with a seller who doesn’t even want to do that.

But they can’t necessarily be made as specific to the buyer’s question and they might have to wait many hours for a response where the full answer could have been given to them immediately with a proper auto-response. Waiting eg. 8 hours has wasted their time and probably money.