E-mail Is A Communication Tool
| Category: E-mail Marketing | Date: 2002-06-12 |
Electronic mail, or E-mail, is a communication tool.
There are real people behind the printed text appearing on your computer screen. The way they communicate via E-mail says a great deal about them.
Technology has brought us closer, regardless of religious or political beliefs, across national and international borders.. Electronic mail is cost-effective, fast and easy to use.
But it is still basically, an interaction between two human beings: the sender and the recipient. That is why we need to apply all the communication skills we have been taught and have acquired along the way, if we want to make this communication effective . It is called "E-mail etiquette". Your E-mail message will reflect who you are. When you do it wrong, you will create a bad impression, and a bad impression will affect your business.
So do it right! Remember? - "First impressions last". (or the Clichй : You dont get a second chance to make a first impression). The rules below are mine - rules that I follow when sending E-mail to anybody. They are simple communication canons applied to a modern message carrier. They work well for me.
1. To Whom to Send?
To the ones you believe might have a reason to read your message.
"Unsolicited E-mail" means sending your message to an addressee unknown to you, when you were not invited in any way to do so. In my opinion it means also sending something to a known addressee when you do not have a firm belief that he or she wants to read it. How can you know about it? Well, this is a communication skill...
2. How to Start a technology ?
Like a letter: with a nice opening.
Three details will create a very good impression when used at the beginning of your message:
Thanking for his or her previous message - very often forgotten.
If it is an introduction or contact after a long break in communication: greet him or her.
If the reply message had been delayed - apologize.
3. Make it Personal
People like their names. They love their names. Use it to make the addressee happy. This way they know that the E-mail is not a universal template and the recipient is not one of millions. It will make him or her feel unimportant.
Even if you send a newsletter to many of your customers you can make it more personal - yes! Instead of "The product can be delivered within five days", say "We can deliver the product to you within five days".
4. Make it Readable
There are a few basic rules to adhere to:
Do not use CAPITAL LETTERS. Apart from difficulties in reading, it always makes the impression that the author is raising his voice or shouting at me.
Do not use long lines, extending across the window on the computer screen. You can easily adjust length of the lines in your E-mail program. Respect the fact that the others can have different programs than yours and will have to scroll from left to right trying to read. It irritates the recipient very easily
Separate paragraphs by white spaces and make paragraphs short.
Use numbers, letters and other signs like * or - or => when quoting your points and always start each point with a new line.
If you follow the above simple rules, your message will not only look nice but will save lots of a reader’s time - and "Time is money" in business.
5. Keep Your Message ASCII
How important!
Do not send E-mail messages in rich text formats like bold or underline or italics or different font sizes or colours - it can create a problem on the other side. Again: respect the fact that your contact can have different software
Do not use HTML formatted messages:
it takes longer to download,
some of the computer users must open an Internet browser to read it (time consuming),
it appears on incompatible software as a long row of symbols which make no sense.
If you wish to use formatting tricks, please use your website.
6. Use Signature
Sign your message. Apart from the fact that it is the right thing to do (otherwise you can create the conception of being ashamed of what you have just written) it is a powerful marketing tool: you can advertise your services there briefly.
A signature can include:
your name
company name
address
telephone and fax number
website link (if any)
short description of services
7. Suppress Names of Recipients when Sending to Mailing List
Please! Nobody wants to read 200 E-mail addresses at the beginning of your message. This can be done by adjusting the set up on your E-mail software.
8. Do not Forward Somebody’s Message to Others
How would you feel if your personal letter to somebody was copied and posted further? It is an invasion of privacy and definitely not the nicest thing to do. It is also called a "chain letter" and is regarded as one way of "spamming" - so do not start spamming on your own! If I feel that my message should be forwarded to more than one person I will certainly do it on my own.
If you feel that a message is worth distributing for a higher purpose and could be of great value to others - first ask the author for permission.
9. Include Author’s Message when Replying
So he or she remembers what the business is all about.
Please do not quote everything but only relevant pieces of the previous message - to make it more readable and less time consuming.
Do not quote all previous 20 messages - it will increase the size of your E-mail, extend the time of downloading and, anyway, nobody goes through all previous correspondence. It is a waste of time.
10. Be Polite
Being rude, aggressive, abrupt etc. is not nice in any kind of communication. If you have anything not very nice, that you feel you must communicate, do it rather by phone or face-to-face.
11. Do Not Use Attachments
There is not enough of space to emphasise this point. What is even worse, in spite of warnings and pleadings, users of the Internet still send attachments with no respect to others’ requests.There are two major reasons why this practice should not be continued:
a) It takes time to download an attachment:
Some of the recipients use their telephone line for other purposes than E-mail and blocking this line for 30 minutes is not a nice thing to do (especially when E-mails are retrieved during working hours - downloading time increases even 10 times! - not everybody has a satellite connection...).
In many countries users of the Internet pay according to time on-line: you might save a few cents by avoiding fax communication, but your addressee does not.
b) It is the best way to pass a virus on to your associate. You do not have to know much about it - a virus is simply an undetected program on your software and transmitted with your document to your friend.
If you wish to send any document as attachment to anybody - ask for permission first. You can copy and paste the contents of the document into the body of your message.
The safest document format is GIF or JPG, but still you need permission for transmitting it.
Please note that the more experienced computer users do not open attachments and immediately delete your message when the program indicates the presence of an attachment. You can simply lose a very valuable contact.
If you would like to present your products or services in the form of an electronic catalogue place all documents on your website - there are many services free of charge for this purpose. In your E-mail you can simply direct the recipient to your site.
And when you are "friends" with your business contact and you trust each other? Well, this is what Wanda Loskot wrote about "friends" and attachments (AIB discussion group):
"With the computer viruses it is a bit like with AIDS - it is not only important that we know them, but equally important is to know if they practice *safe* computing. And frankly, anyone who sends a file as an attachment before asking for permission seems to me way too careless. If they expect me to open unsolicited attachment - they probably do the same, and that is like playing with fire.And because the consequences for my database (and yours) can be as bad as with AIDS, I suggest being more careful than that.
Here is the rule I have - unless it is someone whose *computer habits* I know, I will not open attachments. If I receive it - I send it back kindly and ask the person to cut and paste the content in the body of the E-mail or to direct me to where I can read the document online.
With the recent new breed of computer viruses it is not only the .exe files that can be harmful!"
Please, by all means: DO NOT use attachments.
Referring to what Mrs Loskot said about "friends" and E-mails I will come to the last point:
12. Knowing Your Business Partners Better Does not Mean That You can Break the Rules
If you break the rules of "E-mail etiquette" it will have a disastrous effect on your business relationship. Personally, I will always care for my friends and all of the above are just ways of exercising this care and respect.
They are simple guidelines on how to use E-mail properly. If followed, you will have gained much:
your correspondence, and by default, you, will be more communicative,
the recipients will appreciate you more for saving their time and money,
you will get a better response - guaranteed,
overall, you will feel better about yourself.
Breaking the rules means effectively that:
you will be the source of "chain-letters", you will be initiating "unsolicited mail", that is, "spamming", you will pass viruses on your clients,
you will support "hoaxes",
you will lose valuable contacts and, effectively,
your business will start to suffer,
overall, you will become frustrated and depressed by lack of response, not even understanding why it is happening.
E-mail is a communication tool. To make it work properly and bring in results, your communication skills must be of a good standard.
Your E-mail message will say a lot about you - use it to your advantage.
Copyright © 2000 Fabian Krause
About the Author
Fabian Krause is the founder of The Internet Clinic. His teaching is based on simplifying seemingly complicated business issues in three steps: (1) in-depth analysis (2) extracting the most practical aspects of a given problem being analysed and (3) presenting results to the public in a form that is easily understandable, educational, entertaining and practical. His publications are usually enhanced with diagrams, tables and pictures since there is no language in this World that can describe a given problem better than a simple graphic.
fabiankrause@internetclinic.org
http://www.internetclinic.org
There are real people behind the printed text appearing on your computer screen. The way they communicate via E-mail says a great deal about them.
Technology has brought us closer, regardless of religious or political beliefs, across national and international borders.. Electronic mail is cost-effective, fast and easy to use.
But it is still basically, an interaction between two human beings: the sender and the recipient. That is why we need to apply all the communication skills we have been taught and have acquired along the way, if we want to make this communication effective . It is called "E-mail etiquette". Your E-mail message will reflect who you are. When you do it wrong, you will create a bad impression, and a bad impression will affect your business.
So do it right! Remember? - "First impressions last". (or the Clichй : You dont get a second chance to make a first impression). The rules below are mine - rules that I follow when sending E-mail to anybody. They are simple communication canons applied to a modern message carrier. They work well for me.
1. To Whom to Send?
To the ones you believe might have a reason to read your message.
"Unsolicited E-mail" means sending your message to an addressee unknown to you, when you were not invited in any way to do so. In my opinion it means also sending something to a known addressee when you do not have a firm belief that he or she wants to read it. How can you know about it? Well, this is a communication skill...
2. How to Start a technology ?
Like a letter: with a nice opening.
Three details will create a very good impression when used at the beginning of your message:
Thanking for his or her previous message - very often forgotten.
If it is an introduction or contact after a long break in communication: greet him or her.
If the reply message had been delayed - apologize.
3. Make it Personal
People like their names. They love their names. Use it to make the addressee happy. This way they know that the E-mail is not a universal template and the recipient is not one of millions. It will make him or her feel unimportant.
Even if you send a newsletter to many of your customers you can make it more personal - yes! Instead of "The product can be delivered within five days", say "We can deliver the product to you within five days".
4. Make it Readable
There are a few basic rules to adhere to:
Do not use CAPITAL LETTERS. Apart from difficulties in reading, it always makes the impression that the author is raising his voice or shouting at me.
Do not use long lines, extending across the window on the computer screen. You can easily adjust length of the lines in your E-mail program. Respect the fact that the others can have different programs than yours and will have to scroll from left to right trying to read. It irritates the recipient very easily
Separate paragraphs by white spaces and make paragraphs short.
Use numbers, letters and other signs like * or - or => when quoting your points and always start each point with a new line.
If you follow the above simple rules, your message will not only look nice but will save lots of a reader’s time - and "Time is money" in business.
5. Keep Your Message ASCII
How important!
Do not send E-mail messages in rich text formats like bold or underline or italics or different font sizes or colours - it can create a problem on the other side. Again: respect the fact that your contact can have different software
Do not use HTML formatted messages:
it takes longer to download,
some of the computer users must open an Internet browser to read it (time consuming),
it appears on incompatible software as a long row of symbols which make no sense.
If you wish to use formatting tricks, please use your website.
6. Use Signature
Sign your message. Apart from the fact that it is the right thing to do (otherwise you can create the conception of being ashamed of what you have just written) it is a powerful marketing tool: you can advertise your services there briefly.
A signature can include:
your name
company name
address
telephone and fax number
website link (if any)
short description of services
7. Suppress Names of Recipients when Sending to Mailing List
Please! Nobody wants to read 200 E-mail addresses at the beginning of your message. This can be done by adjusting the set up on your E-mail software.
8. Do not Forward Somebody’s Message to Others
How would you feel if your personal letter to somebody was copied and posted further? It is an invasion of privacy and definitely not the nicest thing to do. It is also called a "chain letter" and is regarded as one way of "spamming" - so do not start spamming on your own! If I feel that my message should be forwarded to more than one person I will certainly do it on my own.
If you feel that a message is worth distributing for a higher purpose and could be of great value to others - first ask the author for permission.
9. Include Author’s Message when Replying
So he or she remembers what the business is all about.
Please do not quote everything but only relevant pieces of the previous message - to make it more readable and less time consuming.
Do not quote all previous 20 messages - it will increase the size of your E-mail, extend the time of downloading and, anyway, nobody goes through all previous correspondence. It is a waste of time.
10. Be Polite
Being rude, aggressive, abrupt etc. is not nice in any kind of communication. If you have anything not very nice, that you feel you must communicate, do it rather by phone or face-to-face.
11. Do Not Use Attachments
There is not enough of space to emphasise this point. What is even worse, in spite of warnings and pleadings, users of the Internet still send attachments with no respect to others’ requests.There are two major reasons why this practice should not be continued:
a) It takes time to download an attachment:
Some of the recipients use their telephone line for other purposes than E-mail and blocking this line for 30 minutes is not a nice thing to do (especially when E-mails are retrieved during working hours - downloading time increases even 10 times! - not everybody has a satellite connection...).
In many countries users of the Internet pay according to time on-line: you might save a few cents by avoiding fax communication, but your addressee does not.
b) It is the best way to pass a virus on to your associate. You do not have to know much about it - a virus is simply an undetected program on your software and transmitted with your document to your friend.
If you wish to send any document as attachment to anybody - ask for permission first. You can copy and paste the contents of the document into the body of your message.
The safest document format is GIF or JPG, but still you need permission for transmitting it.
Please note that the more experienced computer users do not open attachments and immediately delete your message when the program indicates the presence of an attachment. You can simply lose a very valuable contact.
If you would like to present your products or services in the form of an electronic catalogue place all documents on your website - there are many services free of charge for this purpose. In your E-mail you can simply direct the recipient to your site.
And when you are "friends" with your business contact and you trust each other? Well, this is what Wanda Loskot wrote about "friends" and attachments (AIB discussion group):
"With the computer viruses it is a bit like with AIDS - it is not only important that we know them, but equally important is to know if they practice *safe* computing. And frankly, anyone who sends a file as an attachment before asking for permission seems to me way too careless. If they expect me to open unsolicited attachment - they probably do the same, and that is like playing with fire.And because the consequences for my database (and yours) can be as bad as with AIDS, I suggest being more careful than that.
Here is the rule I have - unless it is someone whose *computer habits* I know, I will not open attachments. If I receive it - I send it back kindly and ask the person to cut and paste the content in the body of the E-mail or to direct me to where I can read the document online.
With the recent new breed of computer viruses it is not only the .exe files that can be harmful!"
Please, by all means: DO NOT use attachments.
Referring to what Mrs Loskot said about "friends" and E-mails I will come to the last point:
12. Knowing Your Business Partners Better Does not Mean That You can Break the Rules
If you break the rules of "E-mail etiquette" it will have a disastrous effect on your business relationship. Personally, I will always care for my friends and all of the above are just ways of exercising this care and respect.
They are simple guidelines on how to use E-mail properly. If followed, you will have gained much:
your correspondence, and by default, you, will be more communicative,
the recipients will appreciate you more for saving their time and money,
you will get a better response - guaranteed,
overall, you will feel better about yourself.
Breaking the rules means effectively that:
you will be the source of "chain-letters", you will be initiating "unsolicited mail", that is, "spamming", you will pass viruses on your clients,
you will support "hoaxes",
you will lose valuable contacts and, effectively,
your business will start to suffer,
overall, you will become frustrated and depressed by lack of response, not even understanding why it is happening.
E-mail is a communication tool. To make it work properly and bring in results, your communication skills must be of a good standard.
Your E-mail message will say a lot about you - use it to your advantage.
Copyright © 2000 Fabian Krause
About the Author
Fabian Krause is the founder of The Internet Clinic. His teaching is based on simplifying seemingly complicated business issues in three steps: (1) in-depth analysis (2) extracting the most practical aspects of a given problem being analysed and (3) presenting results to the public in a form that is easily understandable, educational, entertaining and practical. His publications are usually enhanced with diagrams, tables and pictures since there is no language in this World that can describe a given problem better than a simple graphic.
fabiankrause@internetclinic.org
http://www.internetclinic.org
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