In our last blog, we championed the use of email marketing as an effective strategy by which you can boost your business. At MeloTel, we practice what we preach. And, as such, we send out weekly newsletters to our fantastic subscribers. Our company President John Meloche chooses to provide personal touches to his interactions with his clients. Being personal, as well as personable, is just part of the MeloTel way.
There is, of course, a great degree of professionalism that is required in all of your email interactions with your customers. So, it’s important to keep in mind that there are certain do’s and don’ts when it comes to sending your emails. Practicing the art of “email etiquette” is important for business owners. With the absence of facial expressions and body language, your emails run the risk of being misinterpreted. It’s important to take measures so that they are not.
Here are six tips for executing excellent email etiquette:
1. Keep it light. Your emails are meant to be positive interactions that spark conversations and encourage interactions. The last thing you want to do is present yourself in a negative way. Therefore, it’s important to keep your emails light. Doing so includes avoiding the reporting of bad news, disparaging other companies or expressing anger in any way. Also, be mindful of your punctuation and use of capital letters which may convey shouting.
2. Avoid jargon and slang. While it’s important to keep your emails light-hearted, it’s important that they be kept professional. There’s nothing wrong with being friendly and affable, but you never want to come off as juvenile. Be sure to use proper spelling and don’t get caught up in today’s texting world where “4” and “u” are adequate alternatives for “for” and “you”. And, whatever you do, refrain from typing “lol”!
3. Do not disseminate email addresses. Whatever you do, make sure that you use the BCC feature and don’t reveal every email address on your emailing list. People tend to hate this. Not only does the list of addresses make the email look a thousand times longer, but it encourages others to “steal” emails. Most people don’t like being advertised to by unsolicited companies. Be respectful of everyone you are emailing and keep their addresses hidden.
4. Make your subject line clear. Your subject line should be simple and easy to recognize. You can either title it by date if you send regular newsletters, or have an interesting and catchy title to encourage people to open the email. If your recipients aren’t clear about the nature of your email, it will likely be discarded without even being read. Remember that people receive hundreds of emails daily. Make yours worth opening.
5. Create new subject lines when necessary. It’s also important to create new subject lines if the topic of discussion has changed. If someone has responded to one of your emails, but is discussing something different, changing the subject line will help for your respondent to know what your email is specifically addressing. It also helps you to better track your conversation instead of having it get lost in your long list of emails in your inbox.
6. Beware of “reply all”. In many cases, you will receive emails that are addressed to several people. If you wish to respond specifically to the person who sent the email, be sure to hit “reply” instead of “reply all”. Not only can it be embarrassing to have personal conversations unveiled in front of an audience, but that audience usually doesn’t want to have its time wasted reading correspondence that wasn’t meant for it.
It’s also important to use a top-notch emailing system. At MeloTel, we offer Domain, Email and Web Hosting. For more information, give us a call at 1-888-MELOTEL!