votrechien - 10:42 pm on Feb 4, 2013 (gmt 0)

Do you want your customers to get the type of service that the big shops give them? If you reverse your attitude and actively welcome this type of communication, you may find you generate some extremely loyal clients.

Exactly. Offering a legitimate personal email back is one of the few competitive advantages a small biz can offer over a huge corp. I can't tell you how many times I've had someone ask for a tracking number and then say "thanks for the response! BTW, do you guys have xxx?"

Regardless you will always get people asking obvious questions, especially tracking numbers. More over, the customer isn't really stupid for asking for a question that is 'in their account'. How do they know they have an account on your website? If they're a new user, are they going to be familiar with your interface (or worse, what about if they're a new internet user in general!). And the questions go on. I hate to criticize, but if you're singling out a particular segment of your customers and calling them stupid it's likely at some point along the customer relationship line this attitude has been conveyed to your customers which hurts your business.