Email/message response time

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
1
What do people consider a reasonable time to expect a reply to an email/text message/other message form?

I'm talking about messages about things such as work to a colleague or employer, messages to a company of which you are a customer or member, not just an unimportant text to a friend.

Nothing annoys me more than unanswered messages/emails, especially when I know they have definitely been read.

2
I never reply to emails that have no direct relevance to me, regardless of what the other person thinks. If you need a direct and immediate answer then you call me, that is assuming you are one of the people who I've deemed it necessary to have my number.

Edit: you need a "never" option on the poll

3
Assume it's an email that needs a response/asks a question specifically to the person it is sent. Ie "Dear Head of Department X, is it Ok if I come to the meeting about Y on Friday" etc etc.

4
one of the most important lessons I have learned in life is that 99% of other people's problems, when ignored by me, have a magical way of getting resolved without the need of my assistance. I let that lesson inform whether or not I respond to e-mails, etc., including how I prioritize my need to respond.

5

It would be nice to get any response from a company. Recently tried to get an electrician to do the installation of a new oven/hob I planned to buy from netto.ch (they don’t do the electrical installation). Tried the company that did the rewiring of our house twice and go no response either time. Tried another company, no response. These attempts were written in French so it’s not as if they didn’t understand the query.

Eventually I contacted Groupe E to see what sort of prices they did for the appliances I wanted and as their price was pretty close to the quotes I’d had from netto.ch I decided to buy from Groupe E who of course did the full installation as well. They responded by phone the same day as my e-mail query, the guy came out to measure up the next day and I had the appliances installed the next week.

It seems to be either one end of the scale or the other here. Either you get a good, fast response or absolutely nothing at all.

6
I always try to give at least some kind of answer the same day, and usually manage within the hour unless I'm in an offsite meeting or something. At worst, it will be "Sorry, I can't look at this right now, I will get back to you tomorrow".

Nothing worse at work than asking for/giving important information and seeing your mail disappear into a black hole... Luckily where I work this doesn't happen a lot, and anyway, you soon get to know the serial non-responders and find other ways of contacting them when it's really important.

7
Exactly. It only takes 2 minutes to reply saying "I'll look into it/get back to you" etc etc.

8
Exactly what my daughter would say ... people who have time to reply to useless e-mails have obviously nothing more important to do...

9
That would be a classic time wasting email that would get binned straight away. You know already whether you should be at the meeting or not, and if you were to send an email then it should simply state that you "will be at the meeting as it pertains to aspects critical to the success of the current project" or whatever management BS you want to put.

It doesn't need or warrant a response.

10
Depends on who sent the message

I can't give a general answer here - might be anything from a few hours to several days. Really depends on the urgency and importance of the issue addressed in the message, and both are highly subjective Just because the sender thinks their message is urgent doesn't mean I see it the same way.

I have colleagues who can get extremely aggressive, especially if they've forgot to do something and then think I have to drop everything when they finally think of doing it, probably because they got some pressure on the issue. I'm usually very not impressed by this and the more aggressive they get, the less I care and the longer I take to respond. Yes, I'm stubborn like that.

And agree with others, I have three phones, so call, leave me a VM (another thing I hate - people who call 5 times but never leave a message ) if you really need an answer immediately.

Generally, e-mail for me is less urgent than call. I deal with it the same way if I want something. If I really need an answer basically NOW, I'll call. If I send an e-mail, I have no problem waiting for a week or two.

11
I had colleagues like that in the past. I always liked to remind them "Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."

12
If I get spam they can even wait up to ten years and I won't reply.

Family email - same minute or phone call.

Work email - same hour.

Friend emails - may take days.

Inlaws - redirect to better half.

Financial advisers and product offers from China - months

13
I like that and will try it next time

One especially aggressive colleague come to mind (who I generally like very much, just not in such situations) - she once managed to send me three e-mails marked high importance, several messages in our internal messaging systems and call about four times on each landline and business cell. All within 30mins.

I went offline and waited two days before I responded

14
when sending a mail: response expected within an hour because it is important.

when receiving a mail: be happy if you ever get answer because I'm busy.

doesn't it work like that?

15
I actually hate being called on the phone at work. I work with my hands, so often I have to rush and leave my protocol to answer the darn thing. It inconveniences me - just send me an e-mail, which I will answer promptly but at my convenience.

Also, I hate people leaving voice mail; it means I have to press several buttons and wait a minute or two before I can get to the thing - an e-mail is an order of magnitude simpler to get to.

So, you see, what you think of as preferred way of communication I see as an absolute drag.

16
You must be a slow typist

When receiving emails i ponder the following:

1. Like mentioned above; ignore it and it will resolve itself. I do this maybe 20% of the time when I deem it low-risk to me. If i get a reminder - get on it and apologise you "forgot" about it.

2. Answer immediately that i will look into it. I hate a-holes that doesn't answer, esp when i can see them in the other room reading my email. (however, said a-hole could be pulling a no. 1 on me, so i guess thats karma)

17
I have rules that move any emails where I'm not in the "to" into a "cc" folder. I scan those once a day just in case there's an "@NAT..." or important information I need. Then move them into the CC-read folder.

For emails sent to me, I generally reply well within a day. But if I'm busy, or need more information, then it may take longer. I notice most people seem to operate on reply within 24 hour basis, so I don't feel I need to hurry.

I had one programmer working for me who used to deal with his emails, once a day, at 2pm. The business analysts complained to me and I told them: if it is urgent, then they can always walk down and talk to him. or phone.

So get off your backside and go and talk to them!

18
If the need and timescale for a reply is not clear or included then you may not get a reply from me.

Any email I send where I need a response by a given time gets the following:

- a clear subject

- a return receipt

- bulleted requirements from me

- a deadline

It's simple. Otherwise it may not get a response.

If you need something from me, you can speak to me or chat me and you'll get a quicker response.

19
Add me to the list of people who detest voicemail. The little red light on my phone has been illuminated for the better part of six months, but I'll be damned if I can muster the enthusiasm to actually retrieve the messages.

Email or an SMS are the way to reach me.

20
If possible I always respond the same working day, even if it's just a short message to say that I'm working on it, or that the person can expect a more elaborate e-mail by [insert day].