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Wednesday, March 29th,
2006.
Email Reality Online!
By the HRAD4Y Staff
Due to the fast paced and ever
changing global business environment, over 75% of people today rely
heavily on electronic communication to conduct business. More than
ever, customers have high expectations for speed and accuracy of
requests and rely on effective email communications. This uncovers a
new opportunity for businesses to standardize communication
protocols on “e-mail perception and etiquette” as a way to build and
cultivate long-term customer loyalty and increase customer
satisfaction.
Response Ready:
The importance of follow up on
email whether to customer request or an internal employee is very
important. Lack of follow-up can be frustrating to the sender as it
may give the impression that they are not important or you are
disorganized. In the following example a company wide email protocol
would have been helpful.
A customer sent an email to sales support representative to check
the status of an order, waited two days, got no response, followed
up with another e-mail and still received no response. This company
ended up loosing this major customer who out of frustration took
their business to a competitor.
In this example the company unfortunately learned a hard financial
lesson and immediately put in place email protocols. Here are some
examples:
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Prompt email communications
within 24 hours of receipt.
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Follow up reminders on a
corporate calendar so everyone has access.
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Creation of two e-mail
accounts e.g.: a personal and sales support group so emails are
shared with the entire support team.
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Automatic e-mail responses
that provide alternate contacts when you are not available to
respond.
E-mail Etiquette:
The importance of email etiquette
training has proven to be valuable within organizations because when
sending or replying to an email the recipient gets a perception of
you and your company. A good training approach when corresponding
with anyone via e-mail is to imagine you are speaking with them on
the telephone. The following list is a guide for training:
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Always start your e-mail with
"Hello", "Hi", or "Dear", and their name, use whatever is
appropriate based on your relationship with the recipient.
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A little chit-chat like
asking them how they are? This helps build rapport before you
get right to the point. You may think it is trivial or a waste
of time for online correspondence however; this is a form of
courtesy that you would use on the telephone and assists in
making the recipient feel valued. When an email is straight to
the point and direct without any greeting this could be
perceived as cold and rude.
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The subject field should
pertain to the information contained in e-mail, never send a
blank subject line as it may be perceived as a spam, not
important or accidentally get deleted.
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Remember e-mail is not a
Post-It note and should not be abbreviated it should be created
in the form of a proper business letter.
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Close your email with Kind
regards, truly or sincerely then followed by your name.
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Always provide a contact
telephone number so the recipient has a record without having to
look up the information.
Words Create Perception:
There are some disadvantages of
corresponding via email especially when it comes to expressing
feelings or compassion, the reasons may be a high volume of work, a
quick response is better than none, or it is hard to express
feelings through writing. This can result in emails being short and
to the point which may come across as cold or blunt, it really helps
to imagine you are having an actual conversation.
Companies are now taking advantage of training on email tone and the
quality of responses especially when it comes to customer service.
Email can easily communicate the wrong impression therefore a guide
for training could focus on whether the e-mail response serves the
customer?
This type of training would have been helpful in the next scenario
where the sender had the opportunity to apologize and acknowledge
the inconvenience in order to make the customer feel valued and
appreciated.
A customer sent the following e-mail about an invoice for a previous
order, "You have sent me three invoices for my previous order and I
made the payment on the first invoice. Would you please look into
the matter and adjust your records so I don't receive another
invoice?" The problem was finally solved but the e-mail received was
far from satisfactory from the customer’s perspective. The company
wrote: "We have your payment."
Answers Are Key:
It is important to be sure that responses to requests actually
answer the question. The following example may have happened if the
website had an auto-response generated for any general inquiries, or
if the email was not read properly.
A business traveler sent an email through a travel website
requesting information for an upcoming business trip: "I'd like to
book a hotel near the New York Convention Center, how I find out
which hotels are close and can I reserve the hotel on-line?" The
response e-mail explained how to make reservations online and
referred them back to the website.
Check and Double Check:
An unprofessional impression can
be easily overcome by doing a check for grammar and spelling, this
can be set up automatically in your e-mail program but in addition
it is suggested to proofread before sending as spell check does not
always catch the following examples, "four" instead of "for," or
"your" instead of "you're,".
Email Disclaimers:
The majority of businesses do not
store voice messages, yet most emails are kept, which further
demonstrates the importance of the following information. A caution
for business today is that written communication, including e-mail,
can be used to form binding legal contracts especially if the
individuals have direct or indirect authority to do so. A suggestion
for employees you do not wish to form binding contracts by email an
inclusion statement can be added like “any form of contract needs to
be confirmed by the person's manager”. Although a company is
ultimately responsible for the actions of its employees, including
the content of any e-mails sent, a disclaimer can decrease
liability. Disclaimers conveys a trustworthy image, and also deters
any possible adversaries from litigation, it will also convey
awareness and professionalism to your customers.
Please note that there are no disclaimers that protect against
actual libelous or defamatory content. The most a disclaimer can
accomplish is to reduce the responsibility of the company, since it
can prove that the company has acted responsibly and has done
everything in its power to stop employees from these acts.
Email today has become a serious business communication tool
therefore communication protocols and training are recommended as a
top priority for retaining your existing customers and acquiring new
customers.
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