TRUE CONFESSIONS TOP 5 E_MAIL SINS AND HOW TO COME CLEAN
Last Friday, Jo received the final volley in a series of irritating e-mails from a prospect she had been courting for an important sale of spa products. It was the last straw in a stressful week. To relieve her tension, she composed a spiteful e-mail saying things like: "This woman sure needs our products because she's a mess; her English is so bad she can't understand half of what I'm saying." Jo thought she forwarded the correspondence to her pal in customer service so he could share a laugh. Instead, she accidentally hit "Reply all" so both the prospect and her boss got the wicked remarks. This week, she is spending most of her time explaining, begging forgiveness, and grovelling. But her carelessness lost her the sale-and maybe her job.
This type of thing could happen to anyone, as thousands of stories attest. Here is how to spot and avoid those nasty business e-mail blunders so you do not have to beg forgiveness, do penance or, God forbid, lose customers.
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Carelessness is the cardinal e-mail sin. It wastes time, creates havoc, and is completely preventable.
Tips: Consider your words carefully. Think how your message would look if it fell into the wrong hands-as a newspaper headline, evidence in a lawsuit (yes, e-mails are legal documents), or content for a blog. If you are composing an important e-mail, save a draft and review it a few times before it goes. In the draft, remove sender information in case you accidentally hit Send before you are ready. When you do send, check the To: and cc: fields, because your e-mail program may automatically fill in the wrong name from one or two letters you key in. -
Mass forwarding can create spam and invite viruses. Every time you forward an e-mail, it contains leftover information such as e-mail addresses and names of people who got the message before you. As messages are forwarded, the list of addresses builds. If any recipient's computer has a virus and forwards the message, it can spread that virus to every e-mail address that has come in. Or someone can lift those addresses to sell them or spam them.
Tips: To avoid such risks, click the Forward button, then edit the body and headers (forwarding adds characters and messes up formatting). Sometimes it makes sense to delete the FW: in the subject line and change the subject. Delete all the addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top), unless for business reasons you need to display them. Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, instead of using the To: or cc: fields for adding e-mail addresses, use the bcc: (blind carbon copy) field. This ensures people will see only "undisclosed recipients" in the To: field. -
Spelling and grammar mistakes are simply sloppy, and some people find them insulting. Mistakes reflect badly not only on writers, but also their employers. They slow down the reading process, too, so busy recipients may just ignore or trash your message.
Tips: Use spell check in your e-mail program to catch common errors, and proofread your messages before sending. Time permitting, have a colleague double-check an e-mail for mistakes. -
Tone and attitude can easily be misinterpreted in an e-mail. For example, using all capitals means you are shouting. Direct words like "I want" and "you must" instead of indirect, softer versions ("I would appreciate" and "you might") can make your message seem harsh.
Tips: Read your e-mails thoughtfully before sending-maybe even out loud so you can hear the tone-and ask yourself if anything can be misinterpreted. If you are not sure, ask a work mate for feedback. Be careful with emoticons (like smileys)-especially if you are talking to someone in authority-because they could seem too familiar. Avoid acronyms (e.g., ROFL, LOL, etc.), since not everyone understands them. -
Long-winded, messy e-mails can confuse and frustrate your readers so your message is lost on them. As well, lots of attachments can delay downloading and add confusion.
Tips: Business e-mails and their subject lines should be clear and to the point. Begin with a quick summary of what the e-mail is about, and then follow with increasing levels of detail. Put spaces between paragraphs, or use bullet points to break up longer text. Think before sending attachments-does your prospect really need a hi-res photo of every spa product you sell, or would a low-res PDF of a brochure do?
E-mail sins can be avoided by following basic rules of online etiquette (netiquette) that apply anywhere. And if you practise thoughtful netiquette, you can become an "angel" in the eyes of your colleagues and customers.
E. Lisa Moses is a founding partner of The Mallard Group (www.mallardgroup.com), a marketing and communications firm serving the private, public and notfor- profit sectors. In addition to writing, editing, and communications consulting services, The Mallard Group delivers business-writing workshops to groups of employees (www.mallardgroup.com/ebBWSWorkshop.htm). To book a workshop for your organization, contact Lisa at 905-768-9190 or lisa@mallardgroup.com.