Business E-mail is All About the Details

The details that create a positive impression are so very important to those who rely on e-mail as part of their daily business activities. Details that many times take very little effort to integrate.

Those darned details like including a “Hello” as an opening greeting, and signing off your e-mail with an appropriate closing and your name. Details like using proper sentence structure, grammar and spell checking. Little details that can make a big difference in so many subtle ways.

From taking the time to type in complete sentences and adding a nice “Thank you in advance!” at the end of your e-mail to addressing the recipient by name. Little details like this can make a huge impact. Especially considering many others communicate as though they didn’t make it out of grade school!

I know — we all have too many details to deal with. Off-line details and responsibilities combined with working in an online environment that relies on you paying attention to all these little details. That’s life folks – details. And whether you like it or not, your quality of life is greatly dependent on what details you choose to pay attention to and those you neglect.

E-mail is no different. Especially when it comes to using e-mail for your business success where all too often the important details fall by the wayside in lieu of being in a rush, assuming too informal of a tone, lax attitudes and lack of desire to hone one’s skills.

Not to mention the unintended terse tone that all to often comes across from folks who are otherwise very nice because they just don’t want to take the time to pay attention to those darned e-mail details that reflect their intent accurately.

The most important details are those that reflect you care about how you are perceived. Online, the devil is in your details. How you e-mail, what words you choose and how you choose to use them, as well as whether you choose to use punctuation and proper grammar will make a big difference. A positive difference — which you can take to the bank!

I regularly type about these issues because I am constantly surprised on how those that communicate with me, knowing my stance on such matters, then proceed to minimize the importance of these issues as though E-mail Etiquette & Netiquette are a “Judith thing.” It isn’t a “Judith thing” – it is a “courtesy thing”, a “perception thing”, an “I’m educated thing.”

Potential partners, customers and anyone you do business with will react to you less than positively if you do not pay attention to these details. If you want to be taken seriously — you need to type as such. If you don’t care if you are perceived as a 6th grader — then you will be. Make demands and you may not get the response you desire. Write with courtesy and kindness and you will be surprised at the prompt and friendly response you will get.

E-mail details are not as often attended to as they should be and unfortunately many times ignored. The Web is very much like the off-line world. Type unto others as you would have them type unto you. It’s all about the details.

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