As a creator, I tend to check my email frequently to see if I missed any offline messages. Often times those offline messages are a simple "hi" or "hello" that could be first steps of a customer's inquiry. Sometimes that's leads to just IM tag in hopes we're online at the same time. I think it'd be really helpful for the creator community and SL as a whole if we had the option to have "Offline away messages".
For example if a resident messages me while I'm off line, they'll get a response back to the effect of
"Hi I'm currently offline. If you have a request for [store name] please leave me a detailed message or drop me a notecard! Thanks!"
I feel this could help boost engagement between the consumer and business if the person can leave the message/notecard so the issue can be promptly addressed once I'm back online.
Thanks for your consideration!