E-Mail Firm Responds When Others Weren't Supposed to

NEW YORK -- DM Days exhibitor Email Response answers the e-mails normally left unread.

The service began as a response to e-mails that were being sent in reply to do-not-respond e-mails sent from firms.

"Most of the responses come from spam-filtering systems that are just looking for a response to verify that the e-mail is being sent from a real person," said Paul Westhorpe, director of Email Response. "Also, you'd be surprised at how many people don't see that little print and go ahead and reply with a change of address or a customer service request."

Email Response reads these response e-mails for its clients and provides responses for the various problems that may occur.

Soft filtering e-mails asking for a confirmation that the e-mail is coming from a real business and not a spammer make up 74 percent of the e-mails, 17 percent are from people who want to be unsubscribed; 7 percent are a change of address and 2 percent come from customers looking for customer service.

The service offers automation and a live human customer service component.

"Our goal is to help those customers not slip through the cracks," Mr. Westhorpe said.