How Long Should I Take to Respond to Replies from My K-12 Email Lists?

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How Long Should I Take to Respond to Replies from My K-12 Email Lists?

A beautiful thing happens with email marketing. You get responses!

From a K-12 perspective, these messages are opportunities to connect with people in your community. They aren’t unknown entities or “keyboard warriors.” They’re the invested families with students coming to you (hopefully) each school day.

When you receive a response to your outreach efforts, you have three options: don’t respond, hold the email, or send a message immediately.

We can likely agree that most replies will benefit from a response, but how long does it take to create one without producing a net negative effect?

Treat Replies Like They Are Professional Correspondence

Most emails you receive for work will fall into a same-day response category. That means the goal is to try to answer it by the end of the day if you receive it in the morning or within 24 hours if you get a message in the afternoon. In some cases when you receive an emaail from your principal email lists or superintendent email lists you might consider shortening that time given these are school and district decison makers.

Think of it as an email from a colleague about an ongoing project that needs to be on your radar but doesn’t require something immediate.

When would a reply fall into the category of needing an immediate response?

• Any email marked as a high priority by the marketing team because of what the information in the reply contains.
• The message contains a time-sensitive task or describes an emergency situation.
• You believe that a fast response to the inquiry will enhance that individual’s satisfaction with your school or district and reflect positively on what you’re doing.

In most situations, an immediate response is defined as a reply to an email received within an hour of someone reading it – not when it was received.

Remember: not responding is, in fact, a response.

Can Some Emails Wait for More Than a Day?

If less urgent matters require your attention in the reply, it is generally accepted to respond within 48 hours. These messages typically contain non-critical feedback, like someone complaining about “not liking the marketing” or “you didn’t include a picture of my kid playing basketball in the newsletter.”

Replying to these messages within 48 hours is typically suitable. It might be tempting just to ignore some of them since they feel like people are venting or complaining about nothing, but that person had a strong feeling that led to them clicking the send button. Providing them the favor of acknowledgment can lead to a positive outcome for your district.

And yes, it can also open the floodgates to lengthy complaints about more things that are important to them but may have nothing to do with your schools.

When people feel like you’re listening to them, they are more likely to work with you.

Can I Wait Longer Than Two Days?

You might be the only person in charge of your K-12 email marketing. If you’re out on sick leave, it might be better to wait until they return so that your brand voice continues.

However, anything over three days will likely be seen as unprofessional, even when offering profuse apologies.

The time investment in this process is worthwhile. Each response is an opportunity to build a stronger relationship, which lets you develop a more invested community.