E-mail could either make or mar a business. Some advantages of e-mails are that it speeds transactions, slashes cost of mailing and allows you to send messages to thousands of people. However, it has its challenge as well; it eats up energy. The average business person gets more than 100 e-mails each day. If you spend only 2 minutes on each mail, that’s more than 200 minutes or almost half of an eight-hour day. E-mail, nevertheless is a permanent fixture in the world of business today.
These 3 tips will help you manage e-mail overload and write e-mails people will read.
- Determine whether e-mail is the right medium for your message. Usually, things like negotiation are usually best done by phone or in person. E-mails can be used to confirm what was said during phone calls and in personal meetings, not for negotiation itself.
- Use the subject line wisely looking at screen after screen of e-mails that are not read. Sometimes it could be difficult to decide which to open, which to delete and which to put off for an unspecified later time. Looking at the sender sometimes could help to determine whether the sender is a VIP; these people’s e-mails get opened first. You could also decide which are to be opened by simply looking at the subject line.
- Proofread every element, every time, before you hit ‘’send’’. There’s simply no e-mail that’s too short to proofread, if not it could get you into trouble. Even in emails, spelling, grammar and punctuation errors diminish readers’ respect. Incorrect words, missing text and other content errors damage credibility and can change one’s meaning. The fact remains that it takes an extra minute to proofread, but it’s always better to proofread an e-mail before sending in order to fix any possible error, so as not to cause a bad impression.
It is best to proofread the ‘’to’’ line, subject line, attachment and text. You can also read aloud important e-mails to proof them.
About the author: Solomon Eko is a writer, photopreneur/photojournalist/photo-artist. He is also a creative content consultant. You can find him on
www.wunderbaread.blogsot.com and
www.solomonenangeko.blogspot.com. You can also find him on facebook as Solomon Eko or follow him on twitter @vonekoz
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This article was first published on 28th December 2014 and updated on December 29th, 2014 at 10:22 am
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