Poll: Do automated communications from potential clients affect your decision to work with them? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do automated communications from potential clients affect your decision to work with them?".
View the poll results »
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 12:20
Spanish to English
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it would, because I prefer the personal touch. However, it's not really applicable to my situation, as I currently have more clients than I could shake a stick at and it would be irresponsible of me to take on any more without a very good reason.
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I don’t like automated communications, even when they are “tailored”, and they make me rather wary of how things will work going forward. I have two types of clients: 1. SMEs and boutique agencies and 2. large public organizations. So far none of my regulars uses automated communications.
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Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 12:20
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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The only thing that matters is how difficult the automated system is to use. I have a few clients whose automated systems are so bad that I regularly just ignore all requests except for ones that look highly profitable. In one client's system, clicking the link to accept the job simply doesn't work, but copying the link and then pasting it into a new blank tab does. Much of the automated communication is in the form of notifications, which can be useful (e.g. when a file becomes available).<... See more The only thing that matters is how difficult the automated system is to use. I have a few clients whose automated systems are so bad that I regularly just ignore all requests except for ones that look highly profitable. In one client's system, clicking the link to accept the job simply doesn't work, but copying the link and then pasting it into a new blank tab does. Much of the automated communication is in the form of notifications, which can be useful (e.g. when a file becomes available).
Oh, and I want the ability to communicate with a human, when necessary. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 12:20
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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| Depends on what you mean | Jan 24, 2023 |
I receive sometimes (but never only) automated messages from the system of some of my clients, but from potential clients ? Or do you mean bulk e-mails from agencies looking for translators for their immense projects ? In that case, yes, I don't want to work for them. I don't even reply to them because I'm always suspicious about agencies that apparently aren't able to form a pool with more or less regular translators. Pretty sure they are low-cost agencies fishing for cheap translators.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 12:20
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
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Samuel Murray wrote:
The only thing that matters is how difficult the automated system is to use. I have a few clients whose automated systems are so bad that I regularly just ignore all requests except for ones that look highly profitable. In one client's system, clicking the link to accept the job simply doesn't work, but copying the link and then pasting it into a new blank tab does. Much of the automated communication is in the form of notifications, which can be useful (e.g. when a file becomes available).
Oh, and I want the ability to communicate with a human, when necessary.
I have one whose systems sends 20+ emails for a tiny job. Eg. “We just sent you files” is one email, “You just received files” is a separate email, and so on. It quickly clogs my inbox and all I can see in it is their numerous unnecessary emails. I also ignore them unless it’s a big project (which is rare).
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 12:20
French to English
Nothing as bad as what Lingua 5B has experienced, just emails that all follow the same format. I often make little remarks to see if I get a human reaction, and I have done, so there are human beings overseeing the process even if they didn't type out "Hello, can you translate this file?" especially for me.
If I didn't get the impression a human being was involved in sending me the work, I'd be worried about hiccups in the process, if I have questions to the point that I simply can't finis... See more Nothing as bad as what Lingua 5B has experienced, just emails that all follow the same format. I often make little remarks to see if I get a human reaction, and I have done, so there are human beings overseeing the process even if they didn't type out "Hello, can you translate this file?" especially for me.
If I didn't get the impression a human being was involved in sending me the work, I'd be worried about hiccups in the process, if I have questions to the point that I simply can't finish the job without client input especially. ▲ Collapse
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:20
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| THIS IS AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE | Jan 24, 2023 |
ProZ.com Staff wrote: This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do automated communications from potential clients affect your decision to work with them?". View the poll results »
NO
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 12:20
French to English
Tom in London wrote: ProZ.com Staff wrote: This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do automated communications from potential clients affect your decision to work with them?". View the poll results » NO
Yeah, as we were saying yesterday, we can totally tell when messages are automated haha
| | | | Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 06:20
Japanese to English
+ ...
| automated communications | Jan 24, 2023 |
Unless the communication mentions my name specifically, I ignore it.
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Automated communications from potential clients affect nothing except the size of my "Deleted mails" folder.
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Cogs in a machine | Jan 25, 2023 |
If a client sends off a bulk message, it means that they see no difference between myself and others on that mailing list.
If I have been unable to differentiate myself, it means that I have failed to add value.
If I cannot add value, it means that clients will not pay good rates for my work.
That's why I don't work for those who don't communicate with me on a one-to-one basis.
Regards,
Dan
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Samuel Murray wrote:
The only thing that matters is how difficult the automated system is to use. I have a few clients whose automated systems are so bad that I regularly just ignore all requests except for ones that look highly profitable.
Sometimes (see above), but in general, no. I do prefer personal contact by far, but a job is a job. I got bills to pay!
[Edited at 2023-01-25 16:37 GMT]
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