Dear Mr. Internet: As the number of my online leads continues to increase, so does the time it takes to respond to all that e-mail. Is there some way to keep my responses personal yet cut down on the time it takes? Sam Miller RE/MAX Stars Realty Mount Vernon, Ohio

Dear Sam:

For those professionals like yourself who are successfully growing their online business, handling e-mail leads effectively and efficiently can be a major issue. Fortunately however, there is a way to send the perfect response for most e-mail situations with a simple click of the mouse!
(NOTE: the following discussion assumes you are using Outlook 2000 or similar professional e-mail software that allows you to use multiple e-mail signatures.)

The Magic Of E-Mail "Templates"

When you think about the types of e-mail you receive, chances are most of it will fit into one of several categories of inquiries. Now imagine the time you would save if you had a specific e-mail response or "template" prepared and ready to be used for each type of inquiry.

For example, when a visitor to your Web site sends an initial message requesting more information about a particular property, you could use a special "first response" template as a reply. (NOTE: an example of this was shown in the June 2000 issue of "Ask Mr. Internet!").

Here are examples of some e-mail templates you may be able to use in your own business:

The secret to creating powerful and effective e-mail templates begins with the "end" in mind...

Creating Your "Killer" E-Mail Templates

Choose a situation (perhaps from the list above) that represents a category of e-mail inquiries you receive on a regular basis —the more specific the better. Now using a word processor (like Word®) write an appropriate general response where you would only have to change a couple of details like the recipient's name, etc. For any variable information that needs to be changed depending upon circumstances you might consider using square brackets (i.e. [NAME], [PROPERTY ADDRESS], and so on) so you can readily identify what needs to be personalized when you first bring up the template.

To format your message to be easily readable by most e-mail users, set your font to Courier or Courier New (which are mono-spaced fonts) at 10pt size and margins so that you have 5.5" line length. These settings will ensure that your e-mail message line length will not exceed 65 characters, thus avoiding the problem of recipients receiving your message with unintended line breaks.

Once you've completed the template message, have someone else review and edit it for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and style issues. Then be sure to include your full e-mail contact and signature information at the bottom. Now you are ready to save your masterpiece —in a way that will make it magically appear with the simple click of your mouse!

How To Make Your E-Mail Templates Appear Instantly

There are several important things to keep in mind as you save your newly created template to your hard disk:

1. Name It Descriptively - so you instantly know its purpose;
2. Save As A Text File - that's with a .txt file extension and with "line breaks" so the message will always look the way it should to recipients;
3. Save It To Your Signatures Folder - which is the special folder where all your e-mail signature files are stored. (If you don't know where this is, check your e-mail software help files.)

Using this method you are essentially saving your templates as e-mail "signatures", which means they are instantly accessible with the click of a button on the message window (at least for Outlook 2000 - see figure below).

Once you have crafted, edited, and proofed an e-mail template and saved it as a signature, it becomes a consistent and powerful tool for the situation it was intended. Ideally, you would then create a template for every conceivable e-mail message category. In fact, some Net-savvy professionals like Chris Newell of RE/MAX Blue Springs in Milton, ON (www.new-all.com) use over 30 e-mail templates (as signatures) to help them respond quickly, consistently, and with powerful results.

Receiving a lot of leads online doesn't mean you have to be "buried" by the process of responding to them —not if you set up systems like templates to do most of the work for you!

Published: July 2, 2001

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Michael J. Russer (a.k.a. Mr. Internet®) is an internationally acclaimed speaker, trainer, author, and strategic consultant to the real estate industry and small business. He is also the exclusive Internet columnist for REALTOR® Magazine, the architect of the revolutionary e-ProductivityTM system and leading voice for the use of Virtual Assistants in small business. You can subscribe to his free monthly leading-edge newsletter ePOWER NEWS by going to ePowerNews.com.