Email Etiquette Mistakes That Can Destroy Your Business Despite social media tools, email still remains number one choice for businesses today
By Nidhi Singh
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Communication is the most important part of being a successful entrepreneur. Be it email, instant message or a call, entrepreneurs have their own collection of points to communicate with their partner, clients, and customers.
Despite the growth of social media tools, email is still regarded to offer many benefits that can contribute to your business' long-term success. But when used inappropriately, emails can harshly hurt your business' reputation.
Entrepreneur India lists out few tips to get your email etiquette right and avoid the most common mistakes made by one and all.
A Word of Caution With Humor
An average Indian entrepreneur ends up spending a large chunk of their time going through hundreds of emails. And because of the sheer volume of emails, they are more prone to making errors, which can have serious professional consequences.
Monica Bhayana, Fashion Designer, pointed out that the most important content of a mail is the subject. So, one should always make sure it's a clear, direct subject line.
"The other very basic rule is to always use a professional email address. Any mail going to your client with an email ID like "cooldude@…" is not at all appropriate," said Bhayana.
The second rule she suggested is to be cautious with humor and writing with the right tone. Bhayana thinks using the right words is very crucial if you don't want your emails to be misunderstood.
"Also very crucial rule is to remember that nothing is confidential, so write accordingly," suggested Bhayana.
Write the Perfect Introduction
Mails have to be treated with extreme caution and even the introductory mails have to be crisp and to-the-point so people understand that you mean business.
Aarti Iyer, Marketing Head, Unibic Foods shared that the introduction has to be drafted with extra care so you give away the right points about the product/service you intend to offer.
"This has to be done after verifying the contact you plan to send it to. Do some work about the person, company and see how your product/services would be relevant to them or their business and emphasize on those points that would be crucial rather than writing history or unimportant things that might not interest them," Iyer said.
She suggests emails should be kept simple, short, crisp and clean.
Keep Emails to the Point
Sudhir Kamath, CEO, 9Stacks who still relies on emails for external communication said he tries to keep his emails short and to the point.
"We rarely send out completely cold-call emails to anyone. It's a very connected world now, and usually we're able to find someone on LinkedIn or Facebook who can introduce us to the person we need to reach but even a simple one line introduction can make a world of difference when it comes to getting a response," said Kamath
Highlight The Core USP
For Rahul Shaw, Founder, Holiday Bunkers, as a travel agent, email communication plays a crucial role in closing the deal.
He suggests that travel entrepreneurs should avoid writing unnecessary lines about the destination because the same can be found on Google too. When writing your introduction, stick to the core USP of yours because the client will read about you on your website or on your social media links.
"Stick to the content and try attaching the files like MS Word or PDF in case if it turns out to be lengthy. The client will definitely compare your quote with the competitor, hence your email should highlight the most important aspect which the client would like to see or compare first. Try using a simple font and do not use colors like Red/Blue, rather use Bold to highlight something important," said Shaw.
