B2bs, a quick question if I may?

This is a hard one - I work in the marketing I industry I day we get better feedback from call backs but sometimes people prefer email. I'd suggest call black then if no answer email. X

My keyboard is.playing up so.sorry about errors x

I dont think I would be bothered as long as they got back to me although I wouldnt begrudge a phone call. If you have any questions they can always be answered there and then in a call and not back and forth via email.

I have been emailinga photographer recently. Sounded brilliant. Went to book her yesterday and its then that she decided to tell me that she kives 80 miles away and will charge quite a bitbfor travel. Cue search for new TOG. This situation a call would have been nice and saved hassle x

I always reply by email, that way the couple can look in their own time and not feel pressured to talk to you.

It's a tricky one isn't it. The reason I ask is because I always reply by email with plenty of details but a lot of the time I just never hear back from them and it makes you wonder if they received your email. I'm then tempted to call but don't want to give the impression of being pushy. It's hard to know what to do!

I prefer email as I don't always have the chance to answer my phone at work. Also with email you can keep track of the conversation and keep print outs etc.

In this case do a follow up friendly call. The if they are leaving a number for you.I doubt they'd mind a call x

My God forsaken hdudbwjsbdhshwbs keyboard!!!

Thanks everyone, not sure why I posted under a new id. It's good to hear different opinions. How about a follow up text a few days later, something along the lines of 'just checking you received my email, if you need any more info please let me know and I will be happy to help' - would that be annoying?

I prefer email. I work 10 hour days and can't answer the phone at work, emails mean I can communicate at my pace.

As a supplier, make sure you get the little details right when replying - spelling names incorrectly is a real annoyance to me, I disregarded a venue because they couldn't spell my name correctly - my opinion was if they can't get that right, what else can't they do.

I think you should respond via the method the customer used, so email in response to an email, call in response to a call. One supplier actually lost my business because they insisted on calling me (several times) in response to an email. The reason I emailed in the first place is because I don't have the time or inclination to be taking lots of calls during business hours. So the supplier that quoted via email got the business.

It is v unlikely your emails are going astray, I think it is more likely that people make lots and lots of enquiries (e.g I emailed about 8 photographers before choosing), to get a sense of prices/different packages etc.

I think if they've emailed you then an email response is probably what they'd prefer.

I think there is no harm in a text a few days later if you haven't heard back from them too

Thanks everyone. I'm not great on the phone anyway, I come across all wrong.

I personally hate being called as I'm not a 'phone person' and am often at work so can't answer and want to deal with wedding stuff in allocated time. I am a big fan of emails as I have a crap memory and can just look back at emails. There's definitely no problem in sending a follow up email a few days later - I've received some of those and thought it was good and sort of gives brownie points if you're still weighing different suppliers up.

I have no problem with receiving obvious template responses as they're detailed (and save the supplier time for something that might not come to a booking) but you must proof read each time. I got a reply from a do saying our music taste was 'up his street' but wee hadn't mentioned our taste in music. Easy mistake to make but it did put me off in the end.

Thanks everyone. Spelling and punctuation is a particular bugbear of mine so no chance of me getting that wrong. I had to laugh when a bride I'd been emailing addressed me by the name of one of my competitors. That was quite amusing.

I think it really depends. funnily enough, a supplier phoned me in response to a query email the other day and I really liked it - it meant I could get a feel for what she's like/ask more question and generally have a bit of a chat about what I was looking for, she wasn't pushy at all and I haven't booked anything yet and she hasn't chased since.

Phoning to chase me would really annoy me and likely put me off. But I like a phone call generally as it's more personal

I've got to say though that emails do go astray a lot! After I'd booked my photographer, I we were having an email exchange and she didn't get the last email and I thought she wasn't replying, until she sent an email to me chasing for a response and it turned out she hadn't got it as she was having a problem with her emails forwarding (or something similar). Also I sometimes send emails that I think have gone and later find out it's my phone playing up and they haven't gone.

I've also found the supplier's emails have gone straight into my junk folder (I think maybe because of the business address?) and I don't always check this regularly. Especially if the supplier is using contact forms on their websites as this means I haven't used their email before and it often goes into junk.

So either in first instance give them a call but if no response or they say they're busy, offer to send an email and do. If you don't hear anything back then try sending another email (thought this wouldn't solve the junk mail problem) but I wouldn't call to chase. I would try to avoid contact forms though.

Personally I prefer email because, in my case I contacted about ten venues and with working full time as well I can't always pop away from my desk to answer my mobile. With email, I can collate all the information in my inbox and keep it in some semblance of order. Writing notes from phone calls would get lost.

Plus I never answer unknown calls. I have had a few random unknown numbers calling me recently, but they never left a message so I presumed it was PPI or something.

I'd prefer email personally. If I wanted to speak to a supplier on the phone then I'd have called them myself. I probably wouldn't mind if a supplier emailed and then phoned a few days later to check I'd got it and "see if there was anything else you needed" - but it would depend a lot on the conversation and how far I'd got with my research. If they started asking me questions that were ahead of where I'd got to then I'd find it too pushy and probably not consider contacting them again.

Email. That way I can look at it, digest it and then share with OH. This way we get to chat about it and develop out questions ect. I think an email back with an added line of please call me with any querys you may have is the way to go.

If I email them I prefer an email response. But if I call them and leave a message I prefer a call back.

I do most of my supplier comms while at work so email muich easier (and less noticeable!)

This ^^^^^^ but I always send a text message just in case they never got the email & that's why I always ask for a mobile, email is so unreliable.

I prefer liaising with suppliers via email as you have a record of what they are saying so if they change prices or something you can say "no you told me this" etc. I keep it all in a wee wedding folder in my email account.

Email!! although it really irritates me when some suppliers send a generic response and have not read my email and responded to my query properly .... lots of suppliers have done this and I don't bother with them if they do xx