How's your email etiquette?
By Ingrid Wren
Telephone discussions, particularly those on mobile phones, are often held under less than ideal circumstances.
Office noise can affect your concentration. You might be trying to read reports or meet deadlines so you may answer
a question or provide an instant solution to a problem without thinking things through. This can end up causing problems
further down the track.
Email is the ideal fast communication medium and can be more efficient than the telephone, but to be truly useful it has to be used properly.
Some ‘Netiquette’ techniques
1. Draft email responses
Drafting a response to an inquiry forces you to think through the issue at hand and enables you to gather all the
relevant information to make a considered response.
2. File copies of the conversation
Emails can be printed out to provide a written record of the conversation. This can be good for business, assuming
it is handled properly.
3. Be polite
Email was designed as a short message medium. You should treat it in much the same way as you
would a phone conversation. There is no need to be formal, but do be polite, friendly and to the point. Never use
CAPITALS in your emails – this
is the electronic equivalent of shouting.
4. Avoiding spamming
Good email management requires you to write specific subject headers. With all the spam people
receive these days, the only way to make sure your email is read and not deleted or caught by a spam filter is to
title it correctly.
This is why our company newsletter is titled “March newsletter from Global Online Marketing”. No sell, no hype, just a statement of fact that tells you what the email is and who it is from.
5. Respond when you say you will
There’s nothing more annoying than sending an email to someone and never receiving a response. If you need
time to gather information to draft a response to an email, send a brief reply to your inquirer, stating exactly
that, e.g. “I need to check on X to give you the correct information. I will get back to you this afternoon.” Then
get back to them promptly.
6. Acknowledge receipt of emails
If someone sends you positive feedback about your business and services,
send them a brief note to say “Thanks
for your feedback” or “Thanks, it’s great to get positive feedback.” It’s not a lot,
but the sender then knows you have received and read their email. You’ll be surprised at the effect this will
have on your customers!
It’s much easier to reply with a short message via email than typing a letter. Simply hit the reply button and away you go.
The response mechanism you have in place is particularly important for large documents such as quotations, specifications and tenders. The sender of this material needs to know that you have received it, that you can read it, and that you will respond to it. Even something as simple as “Received your documentation, thanks” covers it.
7. Check emails regularly
The other thing you must do to make email work properly for you is to check it regularly.
I don’t know how many emails I have sent saying “your website update is complete, please check it and let me know what else needs to be done” and then hear nothing in reply. If you do not check your email you won’t know the work has been done, and will then receive a bill for work you haven’t checked.
Email costs less than a phone call and can be even more effective. Talk to your customers and prospects more often via email, start building a culture of polite conversation and you’ll be amazed at the results.
Ingrid Wren moved into the IT sector four years ago. She specialises in the development of online and offline sales and marketing strategies and writing for the Web. She has an excellent understanding of the client side of website development and what’s needed to create strong selling sites. Tel: (03) 6224 1911. Email: ingrid.wren@global-online.com.au