I continue to get custom requests which I respond to, yet only 1 out of 6 times does the customer actually respond to my email.  It is frustrating, and to me, unprofessional for GCU to offer this service yet have no way of communicating to the customer that their inquiry will be responded to via an email from the artist.
 
PLEASE guys, either create an automated email response to all custom requests which states something along the line of "your custom request will be answered by the artist who created the card you have inquired about.  Please note their name and store.  This email will not have a GCU signature, please look for it in your in-box within 24hours."
 
Either do that or create a way for our responses to carry a GCU signature.  This is ridiculous, those of us who can quickly and easily respond to custom requests spend more time trying to communicate with a customer that doesn't know our email than we do creating the card...And the bottom line is, both the artist and GCU are losing many potential bulk orders.  I truly believe if this process was improved upon so that the customers first response was from the URL they inquired with, we all would have better response.  

Thanks for the support Joan!
 
I agree with you 100%.  Your suggestion has been offered in the past so thought I'd offer at least a small solution which I KNOW is a simple task at GCU's end.  For me, my email address is the same as my store and all my sites since SalonOfArt.com is a business and even that does not get a response.  
 
Appreciate another vote for something to change in this area, have a great day!

Oh, sorry, I forgot to add one other thing...
 
I really believe that people submit a request, then have second thoughts about making the request.  Sometimes they change their minds, see another card, or even realize that the price is more than they are comfortable spending, so that could result in lack of email replies from customers.
 
I also make sure I send a confirmation email before I do any work, with mixed results.  If I don't hear back, I send another email in a day or so, after that, I don't worry about it.  Recently I've only had one person tell me that she wanted the cards, then not buy them, but, it was a birthday party invite and she only needed a different year, which is now in the public market, so someone will buy it!
 
Okay, that's it!
 
Penny

I don't know how feasible this would be, but perhaps if artists who want to participate in custom requests could sign up for a GCU email address (ex., metheartist@gcu.com) that would solve the problem. Of course, artists would have to check their email from this address on a regular basis.
 
For now, as a temporary solution (but this will only work for artists participating in custom requests): there is an option to add an automated personal message to the customer (I think it's in Global Preferences, but I'm not 100% certain). In this automated message, you could state something like:
 
"Thank you for your interest in my greeting cards at GCU. I will respond to your request within 24 hours (though it may take a little longer on weekends and holidays). PLEASE NOTE: I'll be getting in touch with you via my personal email - youraddyhere@whatever.com - so don't forget to check your spam folder if you don't receive a reply from me within 24 hours. Kindest regards, Your Name Here."
 
Maybe this helps a little.
 
Corrie
http://www.corrieweb.nl

This is the exact message I have set in our Global Preferences:
 
Thank you for your interest in my custom cards. I will get back to you within 24 hours (except during weekends and holidays, when it may take a little longer). PLEASE NOTE: I will be getting in touch with you via my personal email - juliet1966 (at) gmail.com - so be sure to check your spam folder if you haven't heard back from me within 24 hours. Kindest regards, Corrie Kuipers
 
If it doesn't fit in yours because of a long email address or something like that, I suggest you tweak the message to get it to fit, especially if its a case of just a few letters running over.
 
Corrie
http://www.corrieweb.nl

Thank you Corrie!  I used that section and had no indication that anyone read the message that I was unavailable for custom requests during a certain time frame while I was moving...I got custom requests anyway, so I figured the customer must not read that section.
 
So you are telling us that this is an automated email that gets back to the customer?  I have changed my message to reflect your suggestion and we'll see if it improves things.
 
Thanks again!