Message In A Bottle: How Efficient Are Your Email Communications?
J. Kelly Hoey
Design your future around the relationships you're building today // Author + Coach + Speaker + Strategy ???????? focused on high-achieving networks along with the networking strategies women need for success
5 Email Templates appeared in my Twitter feed this am.
Email. At once our communication lifeline and at the same time the absolute bane of our professional existence. It is my most essential app (and truth be told why I miss my Blackberry) yet I, like so many people, agonize over dealing with email.
Why?
Simple - there is a person (and likely a consequence) behind every email. An ask, answer, outcome. Until we "get" the email there is possibility ...until the reply lands in our inbox. Sending an email? Well, that checks an item off our to-do list! Euphoria of the email variety as we've given the recipient something to do or information they have asked for! Email isn't human but it is between humans. Each email is being sent by or to a person - someone we may see face to face and then (theme for Jaws would do well inserted here) we'll have to deal with additional consequences for not having answered the email or for having answered it or for mis-interpreted nuances...
Having an email ulcer yet?
Back to 5 Email Templates. Templates are like the one size fits all gift, one template does not fit every email introduction. It's ok, adequate but not gifted. A template is a guide for communication. The other essential guide is the recipient aka the human being behind the yahoo, gmail, aol or whatever account. Who is that person? What is there communication preference? workload? priorities? Your email need, want or desire is not necessarily in line with their needs, wants or desires. That very helpful intro you just deposited into their inbox? It could actually be a royal email pain in the (pick your body part and insert).
On email communication to busy people, I strongly recommend Chris Fralic's Forbes blog "The Art Of The Email Introduction: 10 Rules For Emailing Busy People". As Chris states in Rule 1 "The Ask":
Sometimes it makes sense to just make the introduction when asked, but in most cases I think it’s a best practice to ask for and receive permission before an introduction is made. This makes it a choice for the recipient and doesn’t create an obligation.
I refer to this as the "drive & dump" - you may think you are making a helpful networking introduction or connection however, without the ask, your "you two should know each other" email (regardless of the level of detail in the drive & dump email) may have inadvertently inconvenienced or annoyed one (or more) of the recipients and your valued direct email line to an important contact could be short-circuited as a result of one well-meaning but poorly timed email.
On the importance of ongoing and regular email communication to keep busy people informed (without the corresponding burden or obligation on their part to respond), I strongly recommend reading "How We Got To 200,000 Users With No Marketing Spend".
Email is an art as much as it is a challenge - but it is the art of considered communication between people which is likely why it is such a monumental challenge.
Passionate about cities and improving the lives of people who live in them.
10 年Of course today, the day you write about emails, is the day I send our end of the year review ... via email. I've found those updates can be very useful when used sparingly. As to the drive-by intro - I did that only once. Didn't realize the inconvenience I'd caused and felt horrible when it dawned on me that I'd put someone in an awkward position. He was gracious enough to accept my profuse apology, and I learned a valuable lesson that has helped so much since then.