Does Your Brand Suffer From These 5 Email Mistakes?
Email is an extension of your brand. It counts as a conversation. Sometimes people even refer to it as "having a conversation" with someone.
As the manager of our personal brand, we must be diligent in insuring that this tool shows our best side and gives that great first and lasting impression.
Are you guilty of….
Long and unclear messages – with the volume of emails that people are receiving these days, we have one chance to get their attention. When they open their mail and see that it's long, there's a big chance that they'll scan it a little before deciding to save it for later reading. This is fine but there's also a great chance that they'll never get back to it. What you can do is make it clear and concise. Use bullet points to highlight your ideas to make your message easier to understand. Make it short and direct to the point.
I'm personally guilty of this. It comes from many years writing formal letters. Email is such different animal. I recently read a recommendation that we need keep emails to three sentences – anything more than that then we need to pick up the phone. There's a challenge!
Sending without checking for errors – it is important that we check and double check our message before sending it out. Readers are taking their time to know us; we don't want bad grammar and misused words to get in the way because this will reflect back on our brand. Tt makes us unreliable. Take that extra time to reread the message before sending it out because once you hit send, there's no way to get it back for corrections.
Inaccurate and unclear subject lines –this is important because this line is responsible for attracting our readers to open our message. If we give them generic and a poorly worded subject line, there's a big chance that they won't open the email. The subject line should be a sentence that describes your message, like a teaser and what to expect when they open their email. Writing specific subjects will also save your message from being marked as spam.
Shortcuts and abbreviations – never use shortcuts or abbreviated words for business messages. Not everyone can understand abbreviated words or shortcuts, like those that are used for text messaging. Use of such a style is also too informal and can be misinterpreted as unprofessional or unreliable. Make sure that you spell all words out correctly and eliminate grammatical errors. Any email message that has no shortcuts or abbreviated words is more appealing to readers because it displays professionalism and makes our brand trustworthy.
Not being careful with your content – it is important that we review our message and think about the content that we are going to include. If we are going to include links in our message, let's make sure that we link our customers to the right site. If we are going to attach an image or video, let's make sure that it will greatly benefit the receiver. And, leave the animated images off of any email.
These five common email mistakes can be avoided if we take the time to review our messages properly before sending them out. Ask someone how you can simplify your message so that readers will have an easier time understanding it. Then make use of bullet points to make your ideas clear. Read and reread your message. Use your Twitter skills to make the message even more concise!
As the manager of our personal brand, we must be diligent in insuring that this tool shows our best side and gives that great first and lasting impression.
Are you guilty of….
Long and unclear messages – with the volume of emails that people are receiving these days, we have one chance to get their attention. When they open their mail and see that it's long, there's a big chance that they'll scan it a little before deciding to save it for later reading. This is fine but there's also a great chance that they'll never get back to it. What you can do is make it clear and concise. Use bullet points to highlight your ideas to make your message easier to understand. Make it short and direct to the point.
I'm personally guilty of this. It comes from many years writing formal letters. Email is such different animal. I recently read a recommendation that we need keep emails to three sentences – anything more than that then we need to pick up the phone. There's a challenge!
Sending without checking for errors – it is important that we check and double check our message before sending it out. Readers are taking their time to know us; we don't want bad grammar and misused words to get in the way because this will reflect back on our brand. Tt makes us unreliable. Take that extra time to reread the message before sending it out because once you hit send, there's no way to get it back for corrections.
Inaccurate and unclear subject lines –this is important because this line is responsible for attracting our readers to open our message. If we give them generic and a poorly worded subject line, there's a big chance that they won't open the email. The subject line should be a sentence that describes your message, like a teaser and what to expect when they open their email. Writing specific subjects will also save your message from being marked as spam.
Shortcuts and abbreviations – never use shortcuts or abbreviated words for business messages. Not everyone can understand abbreviated words or shortcuts, like those that are used for text messaging. Use of such a style is also too informal and can be misinterpreted as unprofessional or unreliable. Make sure that you spell all words out correctly and eliminate grammatical errors. Any email message that has no shortcuts or abbreviated words is more appealing to readers because it displays professionalism and makes our brand trustworthy.
Not being careful with your content – it is important that we review our message and think about the content that we are going to include. If we are going to include links in our message, let's make sure that we link our customers to the right site. If we are going to attach an image or video, let's make sure that it will greatly benefit the receiver. And, leave the animated images off of any email.
These five common email mistakes can be avoided if we take the time to review our messages properly before sending them out. Ask someone how you can simplify your message so that readers will have an easier time understanding it. Then make use of bullet points to make your ideas clear. Read and reread your message. Use your Twitter skills to make the message even more concise!
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