Let me tell you a modern-day horror story.

You finally decide to purchase the item that’s been sitting in your cart all week, but when you receive your confirmation email you realize there’s a mistake on the order. Maybe you ordered the wrong size item, maybe your old address is listed as the shipping location, or maybe you just have buyer’s remorse. Either way, you’ve got to contact customer service.

Your next mission is to find contact information or a support line where you can get the issue resolved. You scroll to the bottom of the email and look around for a place to contact the company, but all you find is some copyright junk and an unsubscribe option. Tempting, but it won’t solve your problem. Your last hope is to reply to the confirmation email, so you hit that trusty reply arrow and…nothing. It’s a no-reply email. Cue the high-pitched screams.

Customers should not have to sort through your website and emails with a microscope to find contact information or a customer service line. With high customer expectations and fierce ecommerce competition, business owners can’t afford to use no-reply emails anymore.

Intended or not, no-reply emails send your customer the message that you really don’t want to hear from them. In an age when you can DM major airlines on Twitter and expect a response, this is just not going to fly anymore.

Fixing this issue doesn’t need to be a huge burden on your company. A simple solution is to create a persona for your email marketing or customer service emails, it could be member of your team or even a company mascot. Rather than using noreply@company.com you can use john@company.com and make that email a place where your email list can respond to questions and communicate concerns. Remember, the whole point of email marketing is to create a conversation with your customers.

Another great strategy for avoiding a million customer service emails where you don’t want them? Include customer service contact info in your emails. Place a thoughtful message near the bottom of your template letting people know where they can go if they’re having an issue with the product or service. This simple change will save you, your customers, and your team so much time in the long-run.

Your goal as a business owner is to build a trusting relationship between you and your customers, so leave the no reply emails behind. They’re annoying and they might even get you marked as spam.

Mobile phones take great photos now. Anyone who spends a decent chunk of change for the newest iPhone or Android phone can take beautiful shots. But still, with real estate listings, we see crappy cell phone shots or pictures that may not be awful, but simply don’t capture the beauty of a home like a photographer can.

Let’s face it, you may be able to grab an amazing shot, but photographers can take something hideous and make it beautiful (as seen in the “ugly location photoshoot challenge” – seriously, nothing proves the value of a professional photographer more than this challenge).

When it comes to your business, your listing photos are a lot like your headshot on your LinkedIn – it’s your chance to make a solid first impression for potential buyers. You know that.

You want people to be captivated by the image they see enough to come see the property in person. And while you may be able to get some basic shots on your iPhone XS, you’re not going to be able to do what a real estate photographer can do.

Dallas real estate photographer Terry Wolfe tells us why professional photographers offer you more for your real estate listing and what they can do that a phone can’t.

1. The right tools – Real estate photographers know what tools to use for the job. Specifically, the use of wide angle lenses to help open up a room and not make it appear small like a cell phone camera would.

2. Know-how – The photographer knows how to display and frame the shots to show what is marketable and what stands out about the home. It’s what they do. They can make small rooms seem bigger, make dark rooms standout, and make the image closer to how they will actually experience it. The photographer thinks about how people will live in that space and what to focus on.

3. Post Production – The work done in post-production to help ensure the shots follow a consistent image and convey the necessary atmosphere. This is technical knowledge that most people with iPhone or other camera won’t be able to do.

TL;DR – nothing replaces an expert.

Much like how you would hire an HVAC specialist for your AC or a roofer for your roof; professional photographers are technical experts who know what to do, how to do it, and can do it in a way that ensures quality.

A home is an investment, and marketing listings is a major piece of business – don’t skimp out on the images to help make it shine.

Will you read this article? According to the research, if you got as far as reading that question, the answer is more likely to be, “yes.”

The study was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that asking someone a question about a behavior made much more of an impact than telling someone what to do.

Just asking someone a question about a behavior increases the likelihood that they’ll do it.

It’s called the question-behavior effect. According to lead researcher, Eric Spangenberg, the question-behavior effect is most notable when the question encourages behaviors that are already socially celebrated. For example, will you try to eat healthy in 2016? Will you exercise today?

Exactly why questions are more effective than statements remains unknown, but it probably has to do with the mindset of the answerer. If someone tells you, “you should volunteer for this charity” you are more likely to bristle at being told what to do, rejecting the authority and advice of an outside opinion.

But when asked, “will you make a donation?” even if you don’t answer right away, you become more open-minded to the possibility.

Your options become expansive, rather than set, which makes you feel empowered and self-confident that you can make a positive decision for yourself.

The study also found that the effect was strongest when questions were administered through a computer or on paper, rather than orally, and when the question called for a direct “yes” or “no” answer. Perhaps having to type out or write down an answer made people feel more accountable to following through with the behavior.

Could you use the question-behavior effect to improve your business? (You see what I did there?) Asking an employee, “will we see your report in time for the deadline?” may just increase the chances that you will. And perhaps asking if your customer wants to purchase your product will put them in an open-minded state to say yes.