Welcome - This appears to be your first visit to Buzzoodle

Sign up for our FREE fast start - email Internet Buzz course - and get a fast start on creating buzz. Click here and get started
    Primary Blog Topics
  • Employee Evangelism
  • Buzz & Word of Mouth Marketing
  • Web 2.0 and Social Media
 RSS - Never Miss a Post

Does your email message stink?

May 8, 2008

The reason you communicate with people is to create relationships.  Maybe not directly, one to one, but connections none the less.

 Before you dash off your next email, consider if you are just answering the question or building a better relationship.

Email mistakes you may be making:

  • Email too short: If you are just replying to a question, you may be losing an opportunity to create a better relationship.  What could you send that demonstrates value and caring?
  • Email too long: If your email is too long, people will just skim it and get what they need.  Send the email with links that point to more information they might be interested in.
  • Personal & Caring:  Address the person and make your message more about them and less about you.
  • Email Signature: One of the ways I frequenly contact people is to look up a recent email and scroll to the bottom.  If you do not have a good email signature, you are missing out.

And lastly, don’t give away the farm.

You should build resources that you can send people to if you get common inquiries.  For example, I could have sent a recent group of inquiries the link to our blog post on 99 ways to create buzz.  Instead, I let them know they get that link if they sign up for our free buzz marketing email course.  The link was shorter, the message was shorter and the relationship is stronger because they sign up for our course.

Don’t get me wrong here - don’t double the time required to answer emails.  Simply have resources available that you can send or link to that strengthen the relationship beyond a yes or no.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Networking, Blog 

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Rate This:

Comments

One Response to “Does your email message stink?”

  1. Martin Welch on May 8th, 2008 9:10 pm

    Right, email should be personalized, with name and the company included, so that it may not look like a spam email. Thanks for sharing! :)

Got something to say?