Jumping to Conclusions in Business E-mail

It happens every day… business onliners think they know what someone means based on how they choose to interpret the words in an e-mail. They jump to a conclusion, many times incorrectly, that can lead to strained relationships and even terminated partnerships. All because someone jumped to conclusions.

When you jump to conclusions, you are saying quite a bit more than you probably want to about the kind of person you are — and what you think of others. Jumping to incorrect conclusions in your business e-mails can cause you embarrassment or show that you can’t stop thinking about yourself long enough to see the forest through the trees.

A recent example was one where I was contacted by an individual that wanted to do an interview with me with for an article in a big name magazine. I do magazine and radio interviews all the time and there is no way for me to know who all these reporters or writers are or in this case how important they think they are. I immediately replied in a professional, courteous and helpful manner stating I looked forward to working with them on their project with the details they had requested for us to hook up and chat. Moments later down comes a second e-mail from this individual.

While this interview request related to Business E-mail Etiquette issues, their request came through my NetManners.com every day e-mail etiquette site. On that site I get over 50 inquiries each day. A healthy amount are either off-line etiquette questions (not e-mail etiquette related) or since teachers use my site as a reference, requests from students for the answers to their homework questions.

Well, this reporter had received my automated response, that states clearly, in caps at the top, that it is just that — an automated reply. The autoresponder goes on to explain that due to all the spam, off-line etiquette questions and e-mail from students who want answers to their homework in lieu of reading my site, that only “sincere site visitor e-mails will be responded to”.

The next e-mail from the reporter was accusatory and condescending. They chose to take my autoresponder personally — didn’t I know who they were? (Actually, no, I didn’t — I had never heard of them before.)

Clearly this person was not asking off-line etiquette questions nor were they a student trying to avoid doing their homework. So why such a visceral reaction? They didn’t read the entire autoresponder — the root of most online misunderstandings — or they wouldn’t have jumped to this conclusion. They chose to put the message in the context of “She may not respond to ME? The nerve!”

This is a perfect example of how someone can read into an e-mail what isn’t there or intended. By not reading an e-mail in its full context. By reading more into it than the words actually state. By putting their ego into a message that had nothing to do with them.

There was no reason to jump to the conclusion they did. They chose to flex their ego in a way that certainly didn’t leave them in an attractive light. While we proceeded with the interview via e-mail, I can confirm I now do know who this person is, and you know what, I wasn’t all that impressed.

Real e-mails in their entirety. Don’t personalize things that clearly are not directed at you. If you are not sure of intent or tone, don’t accuse or assume — just kindly ask for clarification. You’ll find you’ll leave a positive impression and one that when folks see your name in their inbox, they’ll know you are someone who is a pleasure to communicate with.