Do You Underestimate E-mail Etiquette?
From what I see on a daily basis, way too many online for commercial gain do.
I’ve championed the topic of e-mail etiquette for over 15 years with six sites and four books that cover this important topic. Both from an every day perspective with my site NetManners.com and from a purely business point of view with BusinessEmailEtiquette.com.
My involvement started when working with PhD’s, professionals and those that excel in their fields. To my surprise, I noticed that they communicated as though the didn’t make it out of the 6th grade. Educated people communicate in an educated manner, right? Wrong!
Every day e-mails come in from what I know are otherwise educated and college degree holding individuals typing in all small case, typos, no greetings or closings. Terse, blunt and sometimes rude communications from otherwise nice folks. Are they uneducated? No. Are they lazy? Maybe. Are they underestimating the power of perception with electronic communications. Definitely!
If you don’t know by now that everything online, including how you choose to use e-mail, is all about perception, you’ve missed the boat. What do you think when you receive a business e-mail:
- …where the Sender doesn’t capitalize their name.
- …that has typos.
- …where the author doesn’t use proper sentence structure.
- …where there is no friendly greeting; just a request/demand.
- …when the Sender doesn’t close with a Thank You or Appreciate your help, when e-mailing for assistance.
- …when an e-mail reply only has a comment at the top (top posting) instead of addressing the issues point by point thereby avoiding unnecessary back and forths and potential misunderstandings.
- …when sentences are ended in ?????????????? or !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
The above are just a few of the things I experienced today in the business e-mail requests I have received through my various sites or directly from established contacts. Not personal e-mails — business e-mail!
Now, one could say the above doesn’t matter. But I have found that train of thought is held by wishful lazy thinkers who do not want to put the minuscule effort into communicating with the written word in such a way as to be taken seriously. And in doing so they can forget about the “taken seriously” part.
If you want to succeed online, whether you have a WordPress site or Blog, a Blogger site, a plain old HTML static site — you will have to communicate with potential customers or contacts by e-mail or site comment areas. Communicate with them without any sense of courtesy or reflection of the education you received in grade school and the fact is you won’t impress.
That’s called lost opportunity!
Know for a fact that your competitors who “get” the importance of communicating with clarity and courtesy by presenting themselves as educated professionals will rule the day.
So, are you one of those that still underestimates the importance of e-mail etiquette? If so, get on board and read, absorb and apply my Business E-mail Etiquette Basics before more opportunity passes you by. That train has left the station!
At your service,
Judith
You may also enjoy:
- So Business E-mail Etiquette Doesn’t Apply to You?
- First Impressions Happen!
- Business E-mail Etiquette Basics
- E-mail Explicitness
- Business E-mail & First Impressions
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