E-mail Informality and Mistakes in Judgment

How we handle e-mail errors in judgment or oversights once we discover they have been made is what separates the professionals from the rest. With your business e-mail in particular, the biggest mistake made is simply not paying attention to what you are doing.

I think everyone has adopted a way too casual viewpoint of e-mail so therefore they don’t give it the attention that it deserves and requires to be used properly. While I can understand that point of view with personal e-mails between family and friends, there is nothing informal about business e-mail communications.

Informal approaches such as hitting Reply to All to CYA, embarrass others or play politics is certainly not prudent. To add business contacts to your e-mail blasts that didn’t ask you to, or even forwarding to all your business contacts with their e-mail addresses exposed in the To: field rather than using the BCc: field as you should, is another business mistake I see casual e-mailers make all the time.

The above are errors or mistakes in judgment. Doing these things can cause disgruntled business contacts to point this out to you. But do we humbly apologize and learn from the experience. Unfortunately, my experience reflects the opposite.

All too often Senders think they have a right to do what they want — you know the
free speech thing, online there are no rules, yada, yada, yada — wrong! Part of using technology and e-mail properly for commercial gain is taking the time to think about how your actions can affect the other side. As well as how you can garner the best perception possible. That is where my tag line comes from:

“The Smarter You Are; The More You Have to Learn!”

If you send comments inadvertently to the wrong person that are improper, rude or plain old unacceptable, you need to apologize. And, not by e-mail. Have some intestinal fortitude and apologize in person or if that is not possible, pick up the old fashioned telephone!

If a contact asks to be removed from your list that they didn’t ask to be on in the first place, promptly, kindly and professionally honor their request and apologize for any inconvenience. Only this approach may salvage the relationship.

When sending to everyone you know in the To: field thereby exposing your contacts to strangers; all you can do is grovel. There is no excuse for this breach of privacy and you need to let your contacts know you have now seen the light and will never do such a thing again.

Why as a culture we are prone to point fingers or create excuses when we mess up instead of defaulting to personal accountability is beyond me. In my opinion it is just that attitude that cause many to fail (at their job, in their business, even in their personal life). If you make a mistake, don’t compound the issue by offering up reasons or excuses as to why you weren’t paying attention or do not understand the technology in which you are participating. That’s a red flag that other issues in your business are probably also not being minded to.

The bottom line is that learning from the experience and offering a prompt apology is a true sign character. And character is one of the main reasons others will choose to do business with you — or not.

Don’t Brush Off Email Privacy

Do you show a blatant disregard for your contact’s privacy? How would you feel if your contacts whether business or personal, decided to take your phone number and give it out to strangers? Strangers who you don’t know! Strangers who may use your phone number to contact you about something you’re not interested in or worse yet, who may sell your phone number to telemarketing companies to do the same.

The same thing happens with email addresses every single day. We’ve all had this happen to us and it’s not O.K. Each day we receive messages or forwarded email from well intentioned onliners listing all those they are sending to in the To: field. And by doing so they are visibly displaying their contact’s email addresses to strangers!

If you do this and are thinking “no big deal” you are so wrong! If the only thing all the folks you are sending to have in common is you, you have breached your contact’s privacy by publicizing their emails to people they don’t know. Talk about showing a complete disregard for their privacy not to mention your lack of tech savvy!

Whenever you are sending to a group of onliners, put your email address in the To: field and everyone else’s in the Bcc: field and protect their email addresses from unnecessary exposure. Through my email etiquette site, www.NetManners.com, I get inquires on a daily basis from folks who have been on the receiving end of such email and there are two issues they ask me about:

1. How do I let this person know I don’t appreciate them publicizing my email address to people I don’t know? What were they thinking!?
2. Is it O.K. to email all the other people whose address is in the To: field along with mine about my business or service?

So as you can see, your contacts not only do not appreciate their email addresses being made public without their permission but there are those that assume they can then spam those addresses because they are visible! By not respecting your contact’s privacy you are in fact opening them up to additional unwanted email.

Part of this problem is the Bcc: is not in your face with some programs. In some cases it isn’t easy to find and you have to search for the Bcc: option. I use Eudora where the Bcc: field is visible just waiting for you to put in email addresses. However, for other software and Web based sites, here is what you do:

First, start a new message, then:

• In Outlook, if Bcc: isn’t showing, create a message, and from the View menu, click Bcc: Field.
• In Outlook Express, click View >All Headers.
• In Netscape, click the TO: button, then double-click Bcc:.
• In AOL, put the Bcc: addresses in the “Copy To” box, using parentheses and separating each address with a comma.
• In Yahoo!, click Add Bcc:.
• In Gmail, click Add Bcc:.
• Bcc on Mac mail: Open a new email. In the bottom left of the title block is the Customize button. a menu opens, click on “Bcc Address Field”. This will appear on all future emails.
• Seamonkey: Click on the “To:” button and highlight “Bcc”.

The Bcc: feature should be used when emailing a bunch of onliners who don’t know each other because you don’t want to publish other’s email addresses without their permission.

Show you “get it” and respect your contact’s privacy! Wherever Bcc: may hide, find it and use it!

Business & E-mail Address Privacy

Do you show a blatant disregard for your contact’s privacy? You know what I mean. You get an e-mail from a business associate or contact with an arm’s length of e-mail addresses in the To: field.

Let’s use this analogy… This is conducive to taking your phone number and giving it out to strangers. Strangers who you don’t know! Strangers who may use your phone number to contact you about something you’re not interested in or worse yet, who may sell your phone number to telemarketing companies to do the same.

The same thing happens with e-mail addresses every single day. We’ve all had this happen to us and it’s not O.K. In particular when it comes to business and where you are trying to promote trust and reliability. Each day we receive messages or forwarded e-mails from well intentioned business contacts listing all those they are sending to in the To: field.

If you do this and are thinking “no big deal” you are so wrong! If the only thing all those addresses you are sending to have in common is you, you have breached your contact’s privacy by publicizing their e-mails to people they don’t know. Talk about showing a complete disregard for their privacy not to mention your lack of tech savvy!

Whenever you are sending to a group of onliners, put your e-mail address in the To: field and everyone else’s in the Bcc: field and protect their email addresses from unnecessary exposure.

I get inquires on a daily basis from business onliners who have been on the receiving end of such e-mail and there are two issues they ask me about:

1. How do I let this person know I don’t appreciate them publicizing my e-mail address to people I don’t know? What were they thinking!?
2. Is it O.K. to e-mail all the other people whose address is in the To: field along with mine about my business or service?

So as you can see, your contacts not only do not appreciate their e-mail addresses being made public without their permission but there are those that assume they can then spam those addresses because they are visible! By not respecting your contact’s privacy you are in fact opening them up to additional unwanted e-mail.

Part of this problem is the BCc: is not in your face with some programs. In some cases it isn’t easy to find and you have to search for the BCc: option. I use Eudora where the BCc: field is visible just waiting for you to put in e-mail addresses. However, for other software and Web based sites, here is what you do:

First, start a new message, then:

• In Outlook, if Bcc: isn’t showing, create a message, and from the View menu, click Bcc: Field.
• In Outlook Express, click View >All Headers.
• In Netscape, click the TO: button, then double-click Bcc:.
• In AOL, put the Bcc: addresses in the “Copy To” box, using parentheses and separating each address with a comma.
• In Yahoo!, click Add Bcc:.
• In Gmail, click Add Bcc:.
• Bcc on Mac mail: Open a new email. In the bottom left of the title block is the Customize button. a menu opens, click on “Bcc Address Field”. This will appear on all future emails.
• Seamonkey: Click on the “To:” button and highlight “Bcc”.

The BCc: feature should be used when emailing a group of contacts who don’t know each other because you don’t want to publish their e-mail addresses without their permission.

Show you “get it” and respect your contact’s privacy! Wherever BCc: may hide, find it and use it!

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