How to Nicely Ask to Stop Forwarding to Your Business Email Address
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I get asked this all the time…
Cordiality Reflects on You
I think it is telling that folks ask me how to ask “nicely.” That reflects their frustration with folks who do not understand that sending feel-good causes, political, or “informational” type emails are not those you send to someone’s business address.
We all know how to ask nicely. It is as if they know that no matter how nicely they ask, the other side will be upset, and there will be hurt feelings. In the case of business, a client or customer may take their business elsewhere.
In my decades of experience, I have seen this as a viable concern. Subsequently, they are unsure of how to proceed.
No matter how “nice” you may be, some contacts will take your request personally and get upset or have hurt feelings. If they don’t get mad, they will often wholly disregard your request and keep forwarding it.
The reality is that “forwarders,” in most cases, do not do so maliciously. They believe they are sharing something they want you to know. However, the difference is whether they consider it something you need to know at work. Probably not.
When initial requests that ask not to send these types of emails to their business account are not honored, next comes…
“Please guide me so that I don’t say what I really want to say!!”
Work Address = Work Emails
Explain that you would appreciate it if they would remove your business email address from their lists of non-business-related forwards. Let them know you have a large workload of emails that you need to get to and prioritize.
For this reason, you should only receive work-related emails in your work inbox. Next, you can offer your personal address as an alternative.
You can also send them to this article: 5 Rules of Forwarding Email. When sending contacts to my article, you could state something like:
I found this article that taught me a thing or two about what to consider when forwarding business emails. Thought you might find it helpful too!
When all else fails, I have an article on my general email etiquette site specifically created for this purpose. It covers the following topic: How do I ask someone to stop forwarding me all those silly emails?
Hopefully, this conversation will encourage them to honor your request. They may even become more courteous and responsible about what emails they forward and how they forward them.
We can always hope.
