Are you responsive enough?
How many unsolicited phone calls, text messages and emails do you get every week? Block them, right? It’s just some company (or robot!) trying to sell you something, wasting your time. But what about business emails and messages??
Ignoring messages or replying late is generally regarded as disrespectful and rude, yet it has become a standard business practice. For some, overflowing inboxes is a daily challenge, but is it an acceptable excuse to ignore legitimate emails and messages? And what message does it send about you and/or your business??
Incoming emails were nonstop when I worked in publishing. I received information, queries, press releases, etc. that weren’t relevant to the publications I worked on, all the time. But I kept my inbox organised and responded to everyone. Quick, short replies were kinder and more professional than no replies and it didn’t take hours out of my day. It’s common courtesy to engage with people who are thoughtful in reaching out. I even reply to messages from recruiters who have clearly not read my profile before reaching out to me on LinkedIn, wasting my time and theirs. Yet, in most cases when I reply with a question of my own, I get no reply! Over the years, many of my relevant and polite emails didn’t receive responses. How rude.
“For me,” Marius N. Ernst, a CEO, wrote on LinkedIn in 2021, “it’s about respect, appreciation and sincerity. What does it say about my self-organisation if I can’t manage to answer messages for 10 to 15 minutes a day? What does it say about my culture and values if I simply ignore people.”?
A piece published by Eton College argued that volume isn’t an excuse. “Ignoring email is an act of incivility. ‘I’m too busy to reply to your email’ really means ‘your email isn’t a priority’.” Care about being good at your job? Prioritise your inbox. According to the piece, researchers found that “the clearest warning sign of an ineffective manager was being slow to answer emails. Responding in a timely manner shows that you’re conscientious – organised, dependable and hardworking.”
When is it acceptable to ignore messages?
We all need to set boundaries. Not all emails warrant an immediate response. Or a response at all. It’s well-established that it’s acceptable, healthy even – to maintain work-life balance and protect yourself from burnout – to ignore messages outside of work hours and when you’re sick or on leave. Unless it’s an emergency, you can respond when you’re back at work. Inappropriate, abusive, and rude messages can be ignored. It’s acceptable to ignore spam messages and constant messages about something you’ve already said ‘no thanks’ to. Random ‘Hi.’ or ‘Hi, how are you?’ messages from numbers you don’t know should also be ignored. As per the Federal Trade Commission, sometimes scammers use these tactics to start conversations.
According to Eton College, you shouldn’t feel obliged to respond to strangers asking you to share their content, introduce them to colleagues, or spend hours advising them on something. “If someone you barely know emails you a dozen times and is always asking you to do something for them, you can ignore those emails guilt-free.” You’re also under no obligation to reply when strangers send you emails or messages about something that has nothing to do with the work you do, e.g. an email to an event planner about buying real estate. However, reasonable business messages and queries shouldn’t go unanswered. Etiquette for the business of life advises, “When you do decide to respond (late), the caveat should be, ‘Sorry for the tardy response’. If you decide to ignore a message, ask yourself: Why do I want to ignore this message? Do I need to change my relationship with this person? Is ignoring the communication etiquette-ful?”?
What’s unacceptable, is if you don’t bother to respond after you advertised that people should reach out, or if you asked someone to contact you. Behaviour like that reflects poorly on you and your business.
The effect of ignored messages
Be aware of the effects ghosting/being ignored have on others. Being ignored can lead to negative emotions, making people feel devalued. This is especially true for job searchers who spend time on crafting cover letters, portfolios and tailored CVs, only to get no response. Due to the high volume of applications received, personalised feedback is usually impossible but at least send a generic rejection!
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“People may feel people in top positions think they’re too good and important to reply to them. Looking down on them, not viewing their message important enough to receive attention,” said Victor Lipman, author of The Type B Manager: Leading Successfully in a Type A World. In The Atlantic, Sherry Turkle, the director of the Initiative on Technology and Self at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said, “Sometimes taking a long time to write back is a way of establishing dominance in a relationship, by making yourself look simply too busy and important to reply.”
But oftentimes, people are just trying to manage the quantity of messages they receive. If you don’t necessarily mean to ignore a message, you’re just not interested in what was sent to you (unless completely irrelevant), typing a simple reply won’t take more than a minute or two.
How long should you wait for a response?
People have different ideas about how long is appropriate. In most cases, immediate responses aren’t expected. It’s not always possible to respond promptly to all messages. Sometimes the person on the other end might want to think about their response or discuss it will a colleague. One man wrote online that waiting a week was sufficient for his friend, but for him, it was too long. So, there’s no definitive answer.
Should you follow up if you receive no response? That’s up to you. Sometimes you’ll get a response when you follow up, sometimes you won’t.
Be more responsive
Returning messages promptly and effectively sets a positive tone and makes you come across as professional, efficient, and responsible. Don’t put your business relationships in jeopardy because you’re too slow in responding, or don’t respond at all. We all get busy, sometimes emails are missed, or we forget to reply. But if it becomes a habit to not answer legitimate emails and messages, the problem might be your process.
Here are a few tips:
If you don’t make time to attend to your messages, you could be missing important information and lose out on business opportunities or hiring brilliant people. Responsiveness is good for business.