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Assuming Gender in E-mail

Well, you know what happens when you assume?

I am always talking about not assuming when it comes to an e-mail. Assuming never leads to anything positive. If you are unsure; ask.

In the global environment in which we all are now playing, to assume if someone is male or female can cause you to not make a very good impression.

A site visitor writes:

“My name is Nikita. It’s a typical Russian male name, but when I send e-mails to other countries, people got some problems with identifying my gender when looking at my sig. As a result, in response I got the messages starting with “dear ms. Nikita” Can I put “mr” somewhere in the sig to avoid misunderstanding?”

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Is E-mail Too Easy?

A concerned site visitor comments:

“Do we overuse e-mail as a communication medium? In many instances, e-mail is the “easy approach” but not necessarily the best approach.”

Yes we are. Many have chosen to take the lazy, easy way out and not pick up the old fashioned telephone or have an in-person meeting when that is what is called for or best for the situation at hand.

E-mail is too easy. Hit a few keys and off your e-mail goes! A healthy portion of those using e-mail still do not even make the minor efforts necessary to communicate with clarity or even use e-mail properly!

I get contacted by those who get notifications of a relatives death by e-mail, Dear John letters, as well as e-mails filled with vitriol and insults all by folks who chicken out by using e-mail rather the choosing the phone or meeting in person.
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How to Handle URL Errors in Mailings

We are only human. I’ve yet to run into anyone who is perfect or never makes a mistake. Over the years, I’ve lost count of the number of mailings I receive where the link contained within is either “404 Not Found” or does not take me to where the e-mail stated it would.

This is generally due to the sales folks not double-checking with the tech folks to make sure that they are ready for customers to be sent to the new page, survey or information that the e-mail mailing is promoting.

In personal e-mails bad URLs tend to be because they are not complete or there is a trailing space or character where there shouldn’t be.
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Do You Send Unannounced Attachments?

When sending attachments, the Sender is all too often concerned only about what they want to accomplish. In this case, sending their attachments to whomever they want to have them regardless of file size, number of attachments or consideration for the other side.

The problem here is that by doing so, one risks shutting down the other side’s e-mail box with their large unannounced attachments. Most photo files right out of the camera are megs in size. Most don’ know that and don’t take the time to reduce those files in physcial size before attaching to minimize their file size.

Excel or Access spreadsheets and even PDF files can fill a 5-10M e-mail inbox to capacity in one fell swoop. That’s why it is important, in particular, to not send unannounced attachments to an account that you know is used for business communications outside of business hours.
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