eBusiness Weekly
Robert Gonye
There’s a saying, “Don’t worry about the small things in life”. Very true, however, when it comes to emails, the opposite is true . . . it’s the small things that matter in email correspondence.
Making the right impression via email to your clients is critical.
Making errors seriously impacts how people see you. In one study, participants who read an email with grammatical errors thought the writer was less reliable, intelligent, and trustworthy than those who read the same email without errors.
It’s common knowledge, if you have ever sat in an interview process and you reviewed a resume with grammatical errors, the person who applied are less likely to receive a favourable response with a document full of spelling mistakes.
This shouldn’t be too surprising. If you read an email riddled with typos, you probably think one of two things:
The sender doesn’t know basic spelling and grammar.
The sender didn’t care enough about this message to review it before sending.
Neither bodes well for your relationship. So, to avoid prospects coming to these conclusions about you, here are a few email etiquette tips every professional (especially client-facing ones) should know and follow.
Email etiquette rules dictate what’s appropriate and what’s not when you’re sending a message to a prospect, business partner, co-worker, manager, or acquaintance. They help you avoid miscommunications and mistakes.
- Keep your tone professional
You still don’t know your prospect well after a discovery call, so it’s best to keep your subject line descriptive and your greeting formal. Remind them of your earlier conversation and keep things personal and friendly. Confirm your scheduled meeting and called out the tidy agenda via an attachment so it doesn’t get lost.
Finally, sign off formally, which is fitting for any stage of the sales process. And proofread.
- Avoid vague subject lines
The subject line of any email should tell the prospect something about the contents, if not why would they open it? Sending long URLs is also an email etiquette no-no. The sign off should not be too casual, and any typos make it clear the person writing it either has very poor grammar or didn’t take the time to read it through. Keep it short and straight to the point. - Use proper email punctuation
Punctuation is subtle when you use it correctly and obvious when you don’t. Don’t make your recipients cringe, memorise these rules and follow them religiously.
Terminal punctuation
Every line should end with a terminal punctuation mark, i.e. a period, question mark, or exclamation mark. If you skip terminal punctuation, it’ll look like you never completed your thought.
Practice good grammar
Unless you devote your full attention to studying grammar (which is much less lucrative than sales), you’re bound to make the occasional mistake. But no one will care if they’ve never heard of that esoteric rule, either. Just steer clear of basic mix-ups that your prospect will definitely catch, and you’ll be golden.
- Resist emojis in email
I understand the urge to add a smiley face to a potentially harsh sentence or cap off a joke with a laughing emoji.
However, unless your recipient has already used one, resist temptation. According to research including emojis in work emails is bad for your reputation: They make you look less competent (and they don’t have any effect on how friendly you seem).
- Keep subject lines descriptive and short
Your subject line should be descriptive and relatively short. Ideally, it should give the recipient a good idea whether they want to open your message.
Choose your email salutation carefully
Above, we covered which punctuation to use in the salutation. You also need to pick a greeting — which can be formal or informal, depending on whom you’re emailing and what your relationship is like.
Most of the time, the casual salutation is appropriate. You’ll set a friendly, easygoing tone and communicate confidence.
- Triple-check your recipient’s name
Triple-check you’ve spelled your recipient’s name correctly. It takes two seconds: Just pull up their LinkedIn profile and compare their headline to the name you’ve used. And don’t shorten their name unless they’ve signed their email accordingly. You might assume “Michael becomes “Mike”, but he could prefer going by the latter. Check his signature. If it reads “Mike”, you can use the nickname; if it’s “Michael”, that’s what you should address him by. - Always use standard fonts and formatting
Want to make your recipient’s eyes hurt? Use weird fonts, fun colours, and offbeat formatting.
Yes, your email might be more memorable, but you’ll look like you’re completely out-of-touch with communication norms.
Always use the standard font. Never use a colour besides black. Stick to the standard font size. Don’t bold or italicise more than one word (or string of words) in a single email.
And if you’re copying and pasting text, make sure you highlight it and clear the formatting. If you don’t, the snippet will appear differently than the rest of your email.
- Perfect your email signature
A bad email signature can really do a number on your relationships. Even if you write the most eloquent, persuasive message in the world, a poorly designed signature will make you seem like an amateur.
Keeping in mind less is definitely more, yours should be relatively small, simple, and restrained. Now isn’t the time to include your favourite inspirational quote, head-shot, or every possible way to reach you. Stick to your name, job title, LinkedIn URL and/or company website, and phone number.
The views given herein are solely for information purposes; they are guidelines and suggestions and are not guaranteed to work in any particular way.
Robert Gonye is a business growth expert and influencer. He writes in his personal capacity. Comments and views: [email protected] twitter@robert_gonye
