The use of email is that which the majority of businesses rely on. Whether it is for contacting customers, chasing debts, or settling accounts, email is prevalent in offices, warehouses and shops everyday.
Despite the requirement of email, I have found that in business there is a varying degree of email etiquette, differing opinions on what is an acceptable response time, and the respect for what is written in an email is somewhat different from person to person.
Here, I discuss my experiences in email.
Response Times
I guess that depending on the environment in which you work somewhat affects your availability to email, and therefore is likely to affect your response times. I, for example, work predominantly in my office at my computer. That said, I would consider myself to be pretty “email available”. Consequently, I often find I receive responses of “thank you for your prompt response” and “thank you for giving it your attention so quickly”. In my role, this is something I take as a vote if efficiency each time it happens.
Throughout my years in this role, however, I have found that I am both not alone in this “email availability” but also there is a large group at the opposite end of the spectrum.
ICMI looked into this and proved my theory of the varying camps; 29% respondents replying within 4 hours and 39% replying over 24 hours later.
Clearly, in a way, anything goes. Saying that, I am firmly of the belief that prompt response says a lot about the way you work. Being efficient, methodical and informed surely says this about the way you work?
Respecting the Content of an Email
Gone are the days where legally binding documents were signed, witnessed and stored in locked cabinets.
Email conversations are a step further from verbal agreements and handshakes. The black and white solidity of the content of an email facilitates revision of agreements months into the future, as the two-way discussion is there to be reviewed. Personally, I think this an enormously positive move into the 21st century with customers, contractors and suppliers knowing where they stand, in text. Misconceptions can be avoided and misunderstandings are a thing of the past; provided one emails with clarity.
Considering this, one really ought to be mindful of how things are worded. Clarity in emails is vital. Emails can be misconstrued in exactly the same way as a text message can. Being too concise can be interpreted as curt. Yet being too wordy can appear unprofessional. The hardest line I have found to detect is that between informative and lecturing. I’m sure everyone has their difficulties, what are yours?
Free or Paid Email Accounts
We all have our own personal thoughts when we receive a business email from a free email account. prospectiveclient@gmail.com, possiblenewsupplier@hotmail.co.uk. I think there’s a certain snobbishness that we feel when we see this and I really do believe that someone making use of such an email account for business purposes affects what their contacts think.
Attempting to put this feeling into context is more difficult than I anticipated, but I consider along the same lines as what you wear to a business event. If you arrive in your jogging pants, scruffy t-shirt and dirty hoodie this speaks volumes. I would be thinking the following; young business, new to networking, unprofessional. Conversely, arriving in your ironed shirt, smart trousers and neatly done hair speaks equally as loud. For this look I would consider one to be taking their business seriously, in their business for the longhaul and a true professional. I do appreciate that, granted, I am reading a book by its cover; but don’t we all? At least at a business event you have the change to show your content, your personality, your professionalism. In email, you don’t have this opportunity. The Sender is the first thing a recipient sees, not the content, not the sign off block and certainly not your passion, proficiency and professionalism at what you do.
Do others think the same as me?
