Why I insist on email only, please.
June 2024:
A bit of a technology rant. I am a little frustrated and annoyed here. Thank you for understanding and considering my personal and professional communication requirements.
Re: texting.
At the beginning of June 2024, my phone texting app crashed. Through my cell phone provider’s techie assistance, I realized I had two texting apps on my phone. Both glitched and neither worked. I ended up getting a new phone and painstakingly going through numerous old messages to save whatever I could of important and or sentimental messages. I admit I probably should have done this many years ago.
I found that I had lost several stored messages, including some from now deceased loved ones. I didn’t have another way to back up these years’ old messages. Very upsetting. I am more than a little pissy with the instability and glitchiness of the text apps with regards to something so sentimentally dear to me.
During my May 2024 trip to the US, I had used my texting app to more conveniently communicate with friends while traveling. Other than this trip, I have insisted for a few years now to have communications through email only.
My reasons are not only because I am old school and non techie in keeping up with the latest apps and technology. It is more because I have numerous clients who do not have any one universal app for communications.
You need email to sign into any of these apps. I just prefer ONE stream of communication across the board. For my own sanity!!
Having clients globally, I also take into consideration that some texting and messaging apps may have costs associated with use across borders.
When I started my business back in 2011, I had clients who would message me through various platforms and sources. I received paragraph long messages of notes meant for their private sessions. Even back then, I had trouble keeping track of which person messaged through which stream of communication. This is frustrating when I need to keep client communications private and secure and, most of all, keep these communications straight! It is embarrassing and unprofessional to ever mix up details between two clients with similar issues and details. Thankfully this has never been a serious issue, but I would like to avoid any potential disasters for sure!
I do my best to give each client my undivided individual attention. This is super important when you are trusting me, a holistic practitioner, to keep your information in one place.
What many people do not realize is that holistic practitioners are human too. As my clientele and business expands, there are many more of you than just me. I want to be able to serve my ever-growing clientele as best I can and this is my main reason for a stipulation and requirement of one universal stream of communication. As of June 2024, my Acuity scheduler has almost 1000 client contacts. This is not including my email contact list. I want to be able to serve each client and contact personally as best I can. I am not yet at a point of hiring a receptionist to handle client communications.
Although I have a lock on my phone, take security measures seriously, and my phone is always with me, there is always a potential risk of loss and or hacking. I do not want any client information to ever fall in to the wrong hands.
So again, texting is not a secure form of communication.
I have right in my website and client intake forms that texting and Messenger notifications are shut off and rarely checked. Even a message of “call me back”, or “I need to change my appointment” are often missed messages here. Email please! My email is open and available on my computer during my working day. I continuously clear out emails and have a method of keeping these communications filed for each individual client.
On to Facebook Messenger… Pause while I take a deep breath here…
This platform has been great for connections in the past and I have several practitioner forums I follow here. In recent years, there have been numerous changes and glitches that have made Facebook and Messenger a cesspool of non sensical censoring, glitching, and spam infested hacking.
I have known several people who have had their profiles hacked or blocked, or banned due to some random years’ old posts and or messages with no method of retrieval or explanations of how or why these things happened.
Messenger was yet again “upgraded” in 2024. Now it seems messages disappear or are not synced to devices meaning I cannot see messages the same on my phone as on my computer.
I constantly clear out and delete messages there, using it only for Marketplace messages and family chats with shared humor and jokes etc.
For all the above reasons with texting, I despise FB Messenger for important communications.
Yes, there are all sorts of new and upcoming platforms as the digital age expands. We cannot get away from that. I do appreciate digital platforms in that we can have instant connections globally. But, yet again, not everyone has access or choice in use of these platforms. Many of these platforms and apps may have connectivity issues or proprietary restrictions. Some have associated costs to the user.
I have several older generation clients who get frustrated with technology and the digital age, and I need to keep my connections with them as simple as possible.
There are numerous reputable businesses who restrict their communications to email for all of these reasons and more. I have chosen to keep this as a requirement in my client communications as well.
I will note here that I do use text for service worker communications when needed. That is just how some of them run their businesses. They do not share as much private health and wellness information through their business services.
Added notes on my scheduling platform and phone calls:
These days it is only occasionally that I might receive a phone call to book an appointment or ask questions. Thankfully in this digital age, most people do visit my website and then book an appointment at their convenience. I do have a few clients who choose the ‘session via phone’ option. Sound and notifications are shut off during client sessions to limit distractions. Quite often I am on a Zoom call with a client or otherwise busy so I do not answer my phone every time it rings anyway.
This is not to be rude or off putting to potential clients. It is for our mutual convenience. My voice mail message directs you to my website to answer the most frequently asked questions.
Honestly, most calls to my phone number are spam and telemarketers. Darn frustrating when running a small business.
It is just much more effective and time saving to take your booking information thru the scheduler than over the phone or email. My biggest reason for loving and living by my scheduler is keeping time zones straight. In order to serve my clients effectively and also respect my own personal time freedom, my scheduler is a life saver. It actually frustrates me when other practitioners do not use an effective booking system. It is an online receptionist and saves time mutually.
I was in an entrepreneurial community for a few years. The most relevant philosophies I learned there and appreciated so much were having a healthy understanding of straightforward integrity, respect for time for myself and others, and respect for boundaries.
Choosing and requiring communication to be through email is just one way I can manage to offer you my best service.
Thank you for assisting me in serving you better by keeping our digital communications to email only.
Thank you! I appreciate you!