THE 10 PILLARS OF EMAIL ETIQUETTE
During the past week I have been writing a lot of emails. Most of them were applications to different hotels and managers for front-desk positions. It strikes me that I've only received 1 single reply within the 24h after sending the message, among the other 8 messages I sent. We are talking about Finnish companies or Finnish professionals here since I am currently located in Helsinki.
I knew getting a job here would be difficult and especially since my Finnish language is not fluent, I am still learning and I am currently on the basics, however, I was not ready to find out this way that professionals here do skip the email etiquette, or let's say, they just don't follow any etiquette. It is funny though, I have learnt about the email etiquette by myself but of course teachers during my academic years made sure we understood the importance of email formality. To me it's something more than rules, to me and many others in my generation, an email is an important step in negotiation, interaction, socializing and connecting. An email represents you, when your physical presence can't. It's like a shadow, right? Well yet, I was surprised finding out how many professionals ignore this at all levels. It shocked me, to be honest, and especially in Finland, where I thought that business and negotiation was quite seriously taken.
What are the pillars of email etiquette nowadays? Despite of the fact that negotiation behavior can depend on the country, culture and traditions, email etiquette is the same because you do not need your calm temper to aggressiveness to help you out and close the deal. It's a linear experience.
1. Be direct. Don't take personal matters into the conversation and be concise. Use clean words to draw attention to what you are actually looking for.
2. Answer emails fast. The usual advice is to answer within the first 48 hours after receiving an email. Take that to the next level and challenge yourself with only 24 hours. If it's urgent, consider answering the same day. Leaving someone waiting for your answer, whatever that involves (good or bad news) won't play in your favor, if anything, will only frustrate the other person and will reflect a bad enough image about you and the practices within your business, which sometimes you might not want to expose. Nowadays, not being able to handle an Inbox is considered a weakness and quite a strong one.
3. Be polite. Always address the person using the surname. Be rational and convincing especially if you are writing for a further negotiation or as part of an application.
4. Your email says a lot about your computer competences, how good you manage technology and how confident your are in the WWW world.
5. Add a personalized signature, share your personal website or your LinkedIn account. Do not be scared to take the interaction further. If the receiver is interested in your business or you, he/she will click to get to know you better and will only play in your favor. Add a telephone number as well so you can be easily connected if by change the receiver has a problem with the email received or an urgent doubt.
6. Reaching the end of the email, provide the sufficient information about you, and most importantly your availability.
7. Never, never ever, forget to end an email with a Thank You...
8. Always read the email once or twice before clicking Send. With the new Google feature, you can still Undo your message and stop the sending process, however, it is still advised for you to take care of small details, commas, mistakes, grammar...
9. Press send if the sender's address is correct.
10. Remember to send a reminder to the sender in case your email is urgent, at least 3 days after your email was sent and if you haven't received any reply. While it is true some professionals can be really busy, a reminder will make their task easier. However, as I've mentioned before, a reply should be sent within the 48 hours.
Were you aware of all these tricks and tips? After the past week, I need to say more than one needs a refresh on email etiquette and it never hurts getting rid of bad old habits.
Make sure you go through these next time you're sending an application or formal email! It might help more than you think!
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