Email Etiquette and Failing Businesses

Some believe email etiquette is a choice — something you can disregard if you don’t want to make the effort. Yet, ironically and perhaps coincidentally, these are the same folks who tend to gripe and complain when their businesses are not doing well.

Could there be a correlation? Let’s see…

What type of person would you prefer to communicate with?

Courteous, concise, and professional?

Or terse, confusing, and cryptic?

Professionalism in Email Communications

Is Business Email Etiquette something you don’t have to pay attention to? Email is informal after all, right? Wrong — assuming that professional communication standards don’t apply to email is a huge mistake.

Business communications have always been on a different level because business email has different expectations than personal communications. Business is formal and transactional; therefore, your communications must reflect this.

Email is No Excuse Not to Write Well

Writing is a skill. Skilled writers will tell you that you, just like they do, need to continually work on, learn, and hone your writing skills.

Now that email is part and parcel of business communications, it’s best that you make the effort to write well. Becoming proficient in your professional writing skills can enhance your career opportunities and your business’s potential.

To be clear, we are not discussing personal email communications today. Yes, business email can be informal to an extent; however, formality always matters. Based on your company’s brand and culture, and on how well you know the person you are emailing, varying levels of formality can make sense.

But never jump the gun. Formality equals professionalism and trust online, trust that takes time to earn.

However, there is nothing informal about any business communications — email included. Look at it this way… Business Email Etiquette simply covers a set of common courtesies and basic writing skills that everyone can follow to ensure they make a positive impression.

And that builds your brand and positively positions your business. Who would argue with that?

Make the Profitable Choice

Minimizing the importance of business email could lead contacts to surmise that you are lazy or possibly uneducated. Or is it that you don’t care?

That determination will be left to the folks on the receiving end of your business emails based on how you choose to communicate with them. Why take that risk when it is so easy to avoid?

What does it say when…

Every Day We Make Choices

It is your choice to make these little extra efforts. Little efforts that can pay off big.

If you don’t take your business email communications as seriously as you should, you are likely not prioritizing other things correctly that contribute to your success. Not to mention hindering the building of trust with those you are or want to do business with.

So don’t make those you email wonder about what else you don’t take seriously. Choose to reflect basic writing skills and courtesy when communicating with others — all the way to the bank.