Proper email etiquette?

[Bride010101]

Random question... but how long should it take for people to respond via email?

 

I am currently a student and am expected to check it daily. In reality I check it mutliple times a day to keep my inbox under control. So it drives me nuts when people don't respond in a timely manner!

 

I'm trying to be patient though... as I realize not everyone are students like me whose life resolves around the internet. So I guess I was curious what is an acceptable amount of time to wait (particularly with business stuff - such as travel agents or service/product inquiries?) I am inpatient by nature, but there has to be a point where the wait becomes too long.

 

Thought I would throw it out there and see what others think.

[StephanieMN]

I think you are on the right track as far as when people check it. I check mine too much so people expect a quick response. I usually try to respond once I read it or within the day. I guess a day or two is normal.

[alex]

I'm kinda like you, but as opposed to being a student - I'm just unemployed! lol So I reply to e-mails like an hour after I get them so I have NO IDEA what the normal response time would be Therefore, I am no help, but I am curious to see what the answers are!

[nikkianddean]

I think a day or two tops is reasonable for responding to emails. I think most people communicate regularly through email and are pretty responsive...Although I have a personal email that I sometimes check daily or weekly. I just forget!

[lilywu@ladhs.org]

I work 10 hours a day sitting in an office environment and constantly on the computer and communicating mostly via email. It really depends on the type of email and who is it to. If it's a product inquiry, I say two days top. Travel inquiries usually responds faster especially those bigger companies that even have online live chats that are wonderful....they respond faster than phone. But if you're sending an email to coordinating a meeting or inviting folks to an event, it's always best to state a date you need a response back by. But there are occasionally, the other end gets tied up with unforseen issues especially if they are in different parts of the world with being snowed in or blackouts that it sometimes takes as long as a week to respond. In those cases, I usually do a followup phone call to folks who don't respond after the second day. FYI - in my opinion, if you're inquiring about a product or service and they don't respond in a timely manner, i suugest you look for another vendor who can give you a better customer service.

[Birdie07]

I'm worse. I get emails to my iPhone I respond within seconds. Unless I'm super busy. But usually an hour. Though if it's a loooong email I wait till I get home to type it on a keyboard. So no more than a day.