Respect Your Business Contact's Time: Email Tips and Considerations

Business Email Etiquette Requires You to Communicate Efficiently (which benefits both sides)

Your email habits will provide a window into how you run your business. A successful business includes a healthy dose of efficiency, critical to growing and nurturing relationships and new opportunities.

Respect Breads Respect

Making certain efforts accomplishes this and shows that you do, in fact, respect and value the time of those with whom you communicate, which makes people want to do business with you.

This week, I had one client’s email thread go beyond 20 emails, all on the same subject. Much of this was due to sending one thought at a time instead of providing all the information they were seeking answers to from the start.

Respecting a business contact’s time in email communications is crucial for maintaining professionalism and fostering effective relationships. This article will cover what you can do to ensure your emails are considerate of their time.

By implementing these tips, you can ensure your email communications are efficient, respectful, and professional, ultimately fostering better business relationships.

Be Concise

Take the time to gather your thoughts before emailing and clicking Send. You want to do your best to ensure that you can convey your message in one concise email.

I often see business online users sending off one-sentence thoughts, followed by another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another, then another,

Is that how you run your business? One random thought at the time? Instead, plan and strategize.

Be Thorough

Do your best to provide the details you believe the other side will need. It certainly doesn’t build confidence to type a one-liner email and then communicate a clarifying message a moment later. All because you didn’t think the entire topic through.

It doesn’t lend to the perception that you run a ship-shape-shop, does it? It makes one wonder what else you may be possibly winging.

Disorganized

A willy-nilly communication style reflects an inability to organize your communications. Unorganized businesses make doing business with them more difficult, which can cost more. Who gravitates toward that?

Tips to Reflect Efficiency in Business Email Communications

Be Clear and Concise:
Get to the Point Quickly: Start your email with a clear subject line and the main point. Avoid unnecessary details and focus on the critical information or requests.
Use Bullet Points: If you have multiple points to cover, use bullet points or numbered lists to make the email easy to scan.
Set Clear Expectations:
Actionable Requests: Clearly state what action you need from the recipient and include any deadlines or time frames.
Provide Context: Offer enough context for the recipient to understand your request without asking for further clarification.
Be Mindful of Timing:
Avoid Sending Emails After Hours: Send emails during business hours to respect the recipient’s work-life balance.
Consider Their Time Zone: If your contact is in a different time zone, schedule your email to arrive at a convenient time for them.
Use Templates Wisely:
Standardize Common Emails: For frequently sent emails, use templates to save time for you and your recipient. Customize the template to address the specific needs of the current communication.
Proofread: Even with templates, ensure each email is proofread for errors and relevancy.
Follow-Up Appropriately:
Give Time to Respond: Allow a reasonable response time before sending a follow-up email. Avoid sending multiple follow-ups within a short period.
Use Clear Subject Lines for Follow-Ups: In the subject line, indicate that your email is a follow-up and briefly summarize the previous communication.

Organization Matters — A Lot

Communicating with you becomes a chore when you bombard the other side with unorganized blurbs. Your goal should be the exact opposite.

It benefits all sides to take the time to ensure smooth communications with the fewest emails possible. By being diligent, detailed, and thoughtful, you will avoid the negative perception of your organizational and communication abilities.

This additional time will help avoid unnecessary emails and misunderstandings. However, it will also involve more work, emails, and effort.

Cover All the Bases

When you send requests to others, think the whole topic through to ensure you send one email covering all the bases as much as possible.

There will always be questions and requests for additional information; however, when you do your best to anticipate that as much as possible, you show that you are an easy and reliable contact.

You’ll display respect for the other side’s time, which will be most certainly appreciated. As an added benefit, you can organize your own emails better—because there will be fewer of them.

Respect Your Business Contact’s Time: Email Tips and Considerations