Mastering the fine art of electronic communications.
E-mail is simple. With the touch of a few keys you can send thousands of messages around the world and back. And that's just the problem: Because it offers a speedy exchange and far reach, e-mail is fraught with potential pitfalls that can lead to misunderstandings, offended colleague and clients, and even lost business.
"Because e-mail can be sent so quickly and anonymously, people tend to ignore many of the rules of good communication," says Susan Macri, vice president of client services for eSupportNow, a Boston-based firm specializing in customer care solutions.
Perrin James Cunningham is the founder of Ethologie, a Colorado consulting firm specializing in business etiquette, and also the co-author of Business Etiquette for Dummies (Hungry Minds, 2001). "E-mail is a mix of the phone call and the letter," Cunningham says. "It's a crossroads of new technology and an old format: written correspondence. It brings up all the issues people have relating to both of those things." As fast and as convenient as e-mail may be, it's still the written word and has staying power, unlike a phone conversation. "Remember you're creating a written record. Don't write anything you'd be embarrassed about if it came back to you," Cunningham adds.
The Basics
When people see your name attached to a message, it should matter to them and not be a waste of their time.
As with any correspondence, there are some basic rules. "Mind your Ps & Qs," Macri says. "Improper spelling and grammar are inexcusable. They make both the company and the sender look unprofessional." And remember to "put a pertinent subject in your subject line." People receive dozens, sometimes hundreds, of e-mail messages each day. If they don't recognize your name and don't know what the message is about, they may treat your message like spam and delete it. "Be crystal clear, so they know what you want when they open it," she notes, and follow the tone set by the sender. If you're addressed as "Ms. Smith," don't respond "Hi, Jim."
Eschew stream-of-consciousness style and create logical paragraphs. "Break up the text by thought as you would in any letter," Cunningham advises. "It's especially important not to wax poetic like [James] Joyce in e-mail because the computer screen makes reading unbroken text particularly hard on the eye.
E-mail can be a little looser and less formal than other forms of communication, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't pay attention to these cues. When in doubt," she adds, "treat e-mail like a letter with a formal opening and salutation."
Special Delivery
As in all written communication, it's difficult to strike just the right tone. But it's important, especially in "soulless" electronic communication, to convey a sense of warmth and friendliness. Being friendly doesn't mean being cute, warns Macri. "Emoticons--using keys to convey a smile or other sentiment--are unprofessional and can be off-putting," she says. Instead, convey warmth through your tone and language, and by weaving in personal references that relate back to earlier communication.
Personalize your e-mail, even if the gist of your response is standard issue, something you've answered dozens of times before. Always "refer to the person's previous e-mail," she says, "and the specifics of the issue you're addressing."
Yet you cannot forego the niceties. "Say something friendly as you would on the phone before launching into what it is you want," Cunningham recommends. "It's perfectly appropriate to say something personal like, 'Hope your cat is feeling better' or 'Go Packers!'"
Stop The Avalanche
E-mail is a great tool for disseminating information, but it can also be too much of a good thing. Don't over-send e-mail, warns Cunningham. Send it only when it needs to be sent and only to those who must have the information. "Be respectful of other people's time," she says. "Consolidate information so you're not sending lots of messages with pieces of information to everyone." If you become one of those people who sends out too much e-mail, or dashes off messages that aren't always pertinent to the receiver, you run the risk of being resented--or even worse, ignored. When people see your name attached to a message, it should matter to them and not be a waste of their time.
Lag Time
One of the biggest faux pas in e-communications is letting too much time elapse before responding to a message. When you're dealing with a business associate, colleague, or client, "Treat e-mail the way you would a phone call," Cunningham says. "It's rude to wait any longer than one day to respond to a message." In all cases, at the end of every business day, you should attempt to contact everyone who e-mailed you during the day. "Even if you can't answer their questions or get into specifics, send a quick note back letting them know you got their message and will get on it the next day."
Different industries tend to play by different rules when it comes to acceptable response times. "In retail, a customer should hear from you in response to their e-mail within a few hours. If it's more than a day, you've lost them," Macri explains. "In business-to-business you can take a little longer, but not longer than a day." If individual, personal responses seem too overwhelming, another alternative is to set up an auto reply feature. "It's OK to use [auto reply] if you're going to respond personally within a few hours or the next day," Macri says. "It lets the sender know that you got their message and will be responding."
If you'll be away on vacation or will be out of the office for several days, auto reply serves a different purpose. "Auto reply should indicate that you won't be picking up messages," Cunningham maintains, "and should refer the sender to an alternate contact at the company."
Use It & Lose It
Increasingly, e-mail is replacing other forms of communication in the workplace. People are becoming so comfortable with it, in fact, that they're opting to transmit sensitive information. A recent report by Vault.com found that more than 20 percent of surveyed professionals said they'd report wrongdoing to management via e-mail. And there are the horror stories of the insensitive manager who announced layoffs, a colleague who hit the boss up for a raise, and the long-time client who abruptly cancelled his contract--all through e-mail. Remember: E-mail is not always the best mode of delivery. It may be convenient, but it often lacks the human touch necessary for some communications.
Knowing when to send e-mail and when to choose another mode of communication goes to the heart of Business Netiquette. "As a general principle," Cunningham says, "bad news and sensitive information should always be delivered in person. If one-on-one face time is impossible, then a phone call is the better way. As with all communication, good judgment matters."
