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The Importance of a Carefully Crafted E-mail |
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Written by Sarah Szczerbiak - Technical Support
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 “When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.” That was something that I was asked to keep in mind as I attended a webinar entitled “Email Essentials for Effective Communication” a few weeks ago. Offered online by a company who specializes in call centre-specific training courses, it offered straightforward information about how to craft an e-mail that will convey the intended message with ultimate clarity.
In the first half of the course, we learned that content is key. Unlike face-to-face and phone conversations, where we can help to convey our message with body language and tone of voice, content alone drives an e-mail message and helps determine how it will be interpreted by the recipient. A recent survey by Jupiter Research indicated that 46% of e-mails failed to regularly meet customer expectations.
To help ensure that e-mails are as effective as possible, we were asked to remember the “3 P’s of Content.” Keep the content in a tone that is positive, personal, and polite. Some companies require e-mail templates to be used, especially when responding to frequently asked questions. Even if this is the case, it is important to keep the tone of the e-mail as personalized and friendly as possible. This can be achieved by always referring to the person by name, referring to any past history (i.e. previous e-mail interactions, or the length of time that a person has been a customer), keeping your response concise, and finally, by always providing information that would enable customers to get help without having to e-mail the next time. The teacher of this class stated that most customers prefer to do things on their own without having to rely on others, but they need the tools and resources in order to do that. Also, it is important for the content of the e-mail to anticipate any future questions that a user may have, by answering common questions before the user has the chance to ask them.
E-mail correspondence is instant, impersonal, irreversible, and in some cases, directed at an international audience. These characteristics make it important for anyone who is composing an e-mail to be careful and courteous about the content of the e-mail at all times. Unlike face to face conversation where you can quickly clarify something if you speak out of turn, since e-mail is read as text on a screen, it is more difficult to revise something that’s in a written format. The fact that e-mail can reach an international audience is especially relevant to Scitent, as we begin to provide service to customers in other countries. If given the opportunity to take a call from an Irish customer, for example, I’d probably be the only one at Scitent who is well-versed in the sorts of casual slang and common expressions used in Ireland, and that’s only because I’ve taken it upon myself to seek out and consume an ever increasing array of Irish media! That said, it is important to use words and phrases that are understood by all, instead of colloquialisms and company vernacular. The teacher of the class referred to this as “inflated, and insider language.” My classmates and I were also cautioned against using acronyms. What may seem like second nature to someone working within a company may often provide nothing but confusion to an outside party.
It is important to convey understanding and sympathy towards a customer’s situation. Sometimes an apology is warranted, but if you must do so, only apologize once. Sometimes an apology merely means that we are showing empathy towards a customer’s situation, not necessarily that the company is admitting fault.
There are also several small things that need attention when composing an e-mail. One thing to be careful of is the use of personal pronouns. Rather than using “he/she,” it is better to use statements such as “Customers will receive their… .” Also, use an active, not passive, voice. In regards to punctuation, it is important to be not only correct, but consistent throughout the entire body of the e-mail. A spell check function can be helpful, but it is important to not rely upon it entirely. Also, be mindful that certain types of formatting such as bold and italic text may not be correctly rendered throughout all e-mail programmes, so use them sparingly, or not at all.
In closing, it is extremely important to keep an e-mail’s content in mind. If you are overly emotional, or feel tempted to send something that you may not want the whole world, or whole office, to see, don’t send it and wait until you are in a better frame of mind. Since many of our customers may ONLY have interactions with us through e-mail, it is important that the e-mails we send are crafted in such a way to deliver our expertise efficiently and correctly each and every time. |
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Scitent
400 Preston Avenue, Suite 300
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Phone: 434.244.5060
Fax: 434.244.5059
info@scitent.com
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