Email is an incredibly important tool for any business. It is the primary way that many people communicate, and it can also be the most time-consuming part of running a business.
Whether you are managing your own email or delegating to someone else, there are some common mistakes that many people make that need to be avoided. In this article, we will discuss seven of these email management mistakes and how you can avoid them.
Table of Contents
1. Forgetting to Use a Salutation or Closing
Email is a lot like talking on the phone in that you need to use some sort of greeting and closing, even if it’s just “Hi” or “Goodbye.” It seems simple, but many people forget such niceties when they are sending emails.
If you want your reader to feel more connected with you through email, try using a salutation at the beginning of every email (e.g., Dear First Name).
Many businesses also include an end salutation (i.e., Sincerely) along with their contact information so that whoever receives the message can easily reply back without having to look up who sent them this message in the first place.
This will make responding much easier for both parties involved since there is no confusion as to who is sending or receiving the email.
You should also include a closing at the end of your emails that allows readers to infer both your personality and how you would like them to respond (e.g., Best, Your name here).
This will help people know where they stand with you in terms of business interactions. For example, if someone uses “Best” it means he or she wants this interaction to be friendly but not too personal whereas using “Regards” implies more professionalism than friendship.
It’s important for businesses to find what type of closings work best for their personalities so that they can use these consistently across all platforms such as email and social media.
2. Making Your Email Too Formal
Email is a great tool for businesses to communicate in that it allows you to be professional while still maintaining some sort of personable quality.
For example, if someone uses overly formal language when writing an email, the recipient will feel like he or she is being talked down to and not as though they are having their concerns addressed properly.
It’s important for people who receive emails every day from colleagues and clients alike to know how each sender would speak in regular conversation so that they can respond more naturally instead of feeling uncomfortable with every message received.
This does not mean you should use slang words all over your messages but rather just treat them like any other form of communication (e.g., don’t start using “Hey” at the beginning of your email.
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3. Making Your Email Too Informal
On the other hand, if someone uses words that are too informal in his or her emails it can make a company look unprofessional.
For example, using an exclamation point at all throughout your email is not only annoying but also makes it seem as though you do not have any respect for whoever will be reading this message from their inbox.
It’s important to leave out such personal touches and use more formal language regardless of who is receiving these messages since they represent your business first and foremost.
When writing each email you should ask yourself whether this would sound okay read over a loudspeaker during a sales pitch to clients? If so then proceed with sending.
4. Using “To Whom It May Concern”
This is one of the most frustrating phrases to see in an email because it makes it seem as though you are sending this message out to everyone and everything without actually including a proper person.
When writing emails, make sure that there is at least one specific name included somewhere within your sentences. Otherwise, recipients will assume they are getting sent general information instead of something specifically written for them or their business interests.
For example, if you wrote “To Whom It May Concern” in an email when reaching out about potentially working together on a project with someone else’s company then chances are neither party would take you seriously.
This is since this phrase implies being unprofessional enough not to know who should be receiving these messages in the first place.
5. Not Remembering to Change the Subject Line
With so many emails coming in every day, it’s easy to forget what exactly each message is about.
If you neglect to change the subject line of an email after its content has changed then chances are whoever sent this will be confused as to why they did not receive a response since people tend to expect immediate responses whenever possible.
This also goes for changing “Re:” into something else if your email deals with more than one topic or question that needs to be addressed urgently (e.g., “Hi! Can I ask you two questions?” instead of just saying “Question #12”).
6. Constantly Using the “Reply All” Feature
Using this feature constantly can be just as annoying as the “To Whom It May Concern” phrase.
Although it is a great tool to have in your back pocket for those times when everyone who needs to receive information from an email should, using it all of the time will eventually irritate people and cause them not to want any future contact with you whatsoever.
It’s important that you think before hitting send every single time so that you do not bombard someone else or their inboxes with more irrelevant messages than necessary.
7. Adding Too Many Personal Details
When emailing someone about work it’s important to remember that you should not include any personal information (e.g., “Thank you, let me know if I can do the same for you!”).
Although this may seem like a nice gesture at first glance it will actually make your messages more informal and unprofessional in the long run which is never good news when representing yourself or your business.
People expect emails written on behalf of their company to be formal so they are taken seriously no matter who might be receiving them.
Avoid These Email Management Mistakes
Avoiding these email management mistakes is key for using your account the right way. To learn more about this subject, continue reading this blog for more helpful articles.