It is likely that you spend a lot of time on the phone talking to your clients. For most business owners, telephone conversations are daily practices. However, in this day and age, many conversations are had over the internet. So there stands a chance that a good number of your conversations take place over email. Similar to a phone conversation, an email cannot connote body language and facial expressions.
But unlike a phone conversation, an email cannot showcase your tone of voice. Arguably, email conversations make it harder to make good first impressions. If you’re using email to communicate with any of your first-time customers, it’s really important to be mindful of a few choice methods by which you can do so professionally. But what can be done in exchange for a pleasant tone of voice?
Here are five ways to make good first impressions via email:
1. Use a professional email address. In all likelihood, the very first thing that your first-time customer will see when receiving your email is your email address. By now, you should have an address that incorporates your business domain name. Using a Gmail or Hotmail account may not always look all that professional. However, if you are using a personal account, be sure to use an address that is reflective of your brand. Avoid such addresses as coolguy123@gmail.com.
2. Use a professional greeting. Avoid, “hey, what’s up?” or “How’s it going?” There’s nothing wrong with coming off as friendly and affable, but you always want to be taken with a degree of seriousness. To earn respect, you must first give it. Offer a “hello” and use the person’s name to begin developing your rapport. Be careful not to abbreviate the person’s name unless you know that he or she prefers being referred to as such.
3. Reply quickly. Receiving an email is not much different than receiving a voicemail. The person who left it for you expects a reply within a short amount of time. Try to avoid reading emails and saying that you’ll “get to them later”. The person who sent you the email is waiting for you to respond. The longer you take to do so, the worse the impression you give that person. How quickly you return the message may be the difference between securing and losing a new client.
4. Be careful of the “reply all” button. Many people have gotten themselves into some pretty hot water for not realizing that they’ve clicked the wrong button when replying to emails. If you receive an email that was sent to multiple addresses and you only want to reply to the sender specifically, click “reply” NOT “reply all”. As you’re likely aware, making a mistake in this department will have numerous people reading a reply that was not meant for them.
5. Proofread! In the business world, there is almost nothing worse than receiving an email that is full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. It truly makes the sender look unprofessional. Treat your emails the way you would any other important business document. Go over it and make sure that it reads exactly as you want it to. Omit errors as much as possible and give yourself the best chances to give great impressions each and every time you click “send”.
At MeloTel, we know a thing or two about doing business via email since Domain, Email & Web Hosting are among our most popular services. We know the importance of having a dependable hosting service, especially in this day and age when so many of us are communicating over the internet. For more information, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at 1-888-MELOTEL!