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I'm just curious to know what people think about submission rejection e-mails. I've submitted to many directories and at times I never get an e-mail from the directory stating if I've been approved or not. I prefer to get an e-mail stating that my site has been rejected or has been approved. Most often I'll get an approved e-mail, but sometimes I won't get anything especially if I've chosen the free site submission option?
What is your view on receiving a rejection e-mail?
1. Should the directory send one?
2. Is it good customer service?
3. Will you view of the directory be negative if you do receive one? Is it worse to not receive one?
Depends if you are a customer or not.
Sometimes the site was badly categorized, in which case I let it languish until I'm bored enough to figure out where to put it. Other times I'll send them a personal email telling them what to fix. But most of the time its people submitting completely off-topic links. Like submitting realtors to a roller coaster directory. These people obviously chose to ignore multiple notes that only directly related sites would be considered. They often submit under multiple categories. They're not being polite or considerate, so I feel little obligation. If they're persistent I might send a note, but haven't found it has much effect on stopping them, if they even gave a valid email address.
When I believe someone is making an honest effort I will always send them a note or find a way to include them.
Once you stopped sending out the rejection e-mails, people stopped sending you hate e-mails?
Perhaps because of the personal preference above, we (Gimpsy) ALWAYS send emails, both rejections and approvals. However, people submitting for free do not have to provide an email address at all, so they do not get any emails.
Sure, we do get abusive emails from time to time, but surprisngly few, considering the relatively high percentage of rejections. I would like to think that this is due to the very explicit and verbose instructions and explanations on site, which allow anyone who is interested, to learn more and ascertain what will be accepted and what not. Moreover, every rejection is accompanied by an explicit and detailed explanation, so people would know why they were rejected. We also state that if the issue will be corrected - they can submit again. Amazingly, we also get 'thank you' emails from rejected applicants, for pointing out what was missing on their site...
Is that 'good customer service'? We would like to think so :)
The way I see it is that the directory is offering the service. Free or not it's still a service that's provided to a customer. Shouldn't that person still get some type of customer service even if it's free. It's the directories' choice to offer it.
The reason I asked the question at the beginning of this thread is because I own a directory and I'm just trying to get a feel of what the customers think of when they get a rejection e-mail. Do they consider it good customer service or do they just get aggravated and think very negatively of the directory.
In my rejection e-mails I state that the reason for the rejection was probably because the guidelines weren't followed. I then tell them that they could respond to the e-mail or post a question in our support forum as to why it was rejected . I can't personalize all of them because of the volume of submissions that are received.
I would like to hear comments from people who are not owners of directories and find out what they think of a rejection e-mail. This will help me decide if I should stop sending rejection e-mails.
So far it hasn't been bad I only received one angry e-mail out of all the ones that were sent out.
So far it hasn't been bad I only received one angry e-mail out of all the ones that were sent out.
I guess it all depends who you think the customer is.
I know at DMOZ, the "customer"/user is generally considered the downstream user of the database. Those submitting sites are not considered "customers" or users. If someone is not a custmer, then they should expect no service.
Of course, some submitters deliberately avoid giving a working email so they never know. I suppose they must have a reason that seems logical to them :).
