Better use of email
Over the past few weeks I’ve been in the midst of client dramas through the poor use of email, and the communication breakdowns that occur as a result of improper and inappropriate conduct.
Most of the flurry was caused as a result of simply forgetting to check who the recipients were, and could largely have been avoided if that simple care had been taken.
The lesson learnt is that if you intend to defame someone, it is probably not a good idea to send the email to them — or better yet don’t defame them.
Simple ways to avoid email conflict
So that you can ensure you've communicated and responded to all requests within an email it is a good idea to use inline quotes when composing a reply. In OS X it is as simple as selecting the text you’d like to quote, copy/paste and indent the quote level with cmd+’ and cmd+option’ to remove the quote indent. You can also indicated quoted text with a greater than symbol, and some mail clients will pick that up as a quote automatically.
Ensure that each time you send an email that you’ve checked the recipients, and that you’ve correctly either forwarded or replied to the email properly. A lot of internal communications are done with the use of forwarding emails, and it can reduce the awe of professionalism if a client (or worse, the service provider) accidentally receives comments on a decision made, a quote or complaints about a request.
The latter is of great importance as a complaint about a specific person could easily be interpreted as defamatory and cause great issues within a working relationship.
- Change the subject of the email as the email topic changes. Communicating electronically is quite a difficult task to get right, and often the topic of emails change the general tone can easily change and as a result the message can be easily lost.
A simple way to avoid this is to change the subject of the email to match what is currently being discussed (this is better than starting a new email conversation, as previous messages may be relevant).
Overall it is quite simple to maintain good email conduct if, like most things in life, you simply think about what you’re doing, use clear and correct english, and avoid calling the recipient (intended or otherwise) a girl bitch.
Comments
Twitter:
Thanks man, interesting blog.
I did laugh @ the girl bitch section. It's ok. I'd rather than than being told that the client will arrive at your residence in an hour to remove your head.
Nice blog girl bitch.
>Send to All? Yes.