A typical auto-responder system "knows" who your valued customers are and treats them accordingling by essentially thanking them for sending you an e-mail. It quiets their concerns about whether the mail got through and saves extra telephoning that often make e-mail redundant! Why not let the mail system work as intended, and keep your clients happy as well! Here is my solution to this web challenge...

This product, an Auto-Responder, is written in Object Perl and runs on any UNIX platform that supports Perl. It has some very unique features in regard to the range of responses that it can return. (It is similiar to the well-known "vacation" program except it goes far beyond it in applicability.)

1. Highly Personalized:

The responder can be configured to be highly customized in the way that it responds to email. It can send out many different types of letters based on who sent the original letter. It can respond to just a domain name, or a personal name, or a company name. It can select from a repertoire of pre-designed text and html forms that are filled in based on the original sender.

General "Broadcast" messages may also be included as well as a personal message, making this a useful memo and messaging service. Also, additional documents may be included as attachments to the main letter body, such as FYI information files, or force-feed files. These may be bundled and sent as attachments or as standalone emails.

If certain files are requested, the responder can act as a file server, sending the requested documents along with the acknowledgment letter, again, as attachments, making this approach a handy way to distribute many types of encoded formats, such as: text, html, pdf, jpg, or even binary code files.

2. Appropriate Response:

Many types of response forms may be designed to fit just the right "occasion" and business transaction! These can be triggered from either a cue in the subject line, or based on who sent the letter, or some combination of both. This flexibility can make your site or company look like an active participant in the email dialogue, taking on many forms:

1. It could be the first line of defense in a Customer Service Response System.
   
   
2. It could be the "Receptionist" and official "Greeter" in A Sales Operation.
   
   
3. It could be a "Thank You" note after a purchase!
   
   
4. It could be an "Invitation" to a special event...

An appropriate response can be designed for every client and every occasion, making your operation look very friendly and very responsive to the individual needs of your customers! Please see below for a few of the examples that I use on my system:

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This is an example of the "short" response form. In appearance, it is intended to look like a page from a website. If you were to use this response system, the "page" could be custom designed or cloned from one of your websites, presenting a consistent and coordinated "look" with all your promotional and advertising venues.

Additionally, this page is created dynamically and has today's date and time inserted into the page, as well as all relevant information extracted from the e-mail header. It could be much more dynamically built including such items as: special links to your website, special annoucements, or special images. The responder "knows" who your recipient is and can completely custom design a page on the fly just for that person!

The Short Response

03-10-15 10:23:05 KBNorton Computer Systems Page 1 of 1 [nortemp@worldnet.att.net]  Hello Bill, Confirming that your e-mail: <RE: Business Meeting>, originating from ABC-Corp@somedomain.net , was received on this date: 10-15-03 10:00:00 Thanks for your e-mail note! - Karl :-) (Courtesy of KBNorton Computer Services)

Suppose the sender is not known by the responder system and it is not detected as spam. This could be a "new" client calling! We can respond with a general annoucement supplying information about our company. (Notice that the response format is nearly identical to the home page for my business site. And if required, it could be made to look exactly like the business site!)

The "Advertising" Response

Welcome to KBNorton Computer Services! Confirming that your e-mail: <What's it all about?>, originating from ABC-Corp@domain.net, was received on this date: 10-16-03 10:25:29 — Thank You for Your Inquiry — We develop, and custom design, both server-side and client-side software to motivate your customers to increase their business activity with you, using such proven business strategies as responsive e-mail documents and client-maintainable, continuously-updatable web pages. On the server-side, we offer a complete email management solution to your sales, marketing, customer service, and email information distribution needs! You supply the content, and we supply the "transport" technology... Whether it be selective or phased mailing lists, highly personalized auto-responders and messaging systems, or file servers via email, we offer a complete and integrated email management system for your particular business needs. On the client-side, recent product developments include content management software that helps you to update your web site at anytime! Take charge of your site and update important, time-critical information at your convenience whenever you need to! Discover the profitable relationship between dynamically created e-mail documents, assembled on your local e-mail file server, and the storehouse of 'burried' information at your web site. Make you customers feel 'in touch' and uniquely appreciated, and keep them coming back for more business opportunities with you! Thank you for your inquiry about KBNorton Computer Services. Sincerely,     Karl Norton If you would like to know more about our company, and how we may serve the needs of your organization, please contact us: Contact Information: Karl B. Norton, Owner and CTO KBNorton Computer Services Wellesley Hills, MA 02481 781.235.1306 KBNorton-Comp.Serve@worldnet.att.net nortemp@worldnet.att.net KBNorton Computer Services (Courtesy KBNorton Computer Services)

If a known business client sent you an e-mail, here is an example of how you might respond. Remember, this is just the response, it is not the "big" follow-up letter that will need to be written later... This is your acknowledgment of his letter to you.

The Business Response

10-15-03 11:02:34 KBNorton Computer Services Page 1 of 1 Organization:   Jones Cement, Inc. Department:   Purchasing Name/Title:   Mr. William H. Jones/CPO  Hello Bill, Confirming that your e-mail: <Billing Updates>, originating from JonesCement@domain.net, was received on this date: 10-15-03 09:30:07 *** Thank you for contacting KBNorton Computer Services! *** [http://KBNorton-Comp.Serve.home.att.net] We offer a wide range of products and services to help you and your customers stay in touch via e-mail, web pages, and their various inter-relationships! Visit our web site to learn more about how we may help you with your business communications needs... Personal Message: Hi Bill, We will get back in touch with you as soon as we can in regard to your recent inquiry... Thanks again for contacting us... Sincerely,     Karl Norton Affilliated Professional Organizations: Small Business Service Bureau Contact Information: Karl B. Norton, Owner and CTO KBNorton Computer Services Wellesley Hills, MA 02481 781.235.1306 [http://KBNorton-Comp.Serve.home.att.net] KBNorton-Comp.Serve@worldnet.att.net nortemp@worldnet.att.net

Please note, these formats serve as examples only. As you can see there is a mix of information types on the above pages. Each company has its own style, culture, and approach to doing business. These pages respresent only one "take" on achieving this end. (We can custom design any type of format that reflects your business style.)

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(Courtesy KBNorton Computer Services)