July 17 2019

Greetings!

Here are a few basic guidelines I find useful and that I keep coming back to:

• A clear subject line. For me, the subject line is the reason I open an email or not. So Instead of saying “follow up to our conversation” it might be better to be more specific like “questionnaire attached” or ‘the proposal you requested".

• A greeting such as “Hey", "Yo" or "Hiya" may not be professional, depending our your audience. Try using "Hi" or "Hello" instead. Or if you need to be more formal you could use “Dear [Name]",

•  Beware of humor: it doesn’t translate well onto the page. Often a humorous effect comes from tone of voice or body language, in addition to the words. Without those clues, your reader may misinterpret the humor, not realize it’s a joke, or think it’s cynical or sarcastic. And that doesn't serve anyone.

• Proofread before you send the email. A message full of spelling errors makes you look sloppy or careless. Sure, a mistake can slip in now and then but if you constantly send out messages with mistakes, it can damage your image.

• Don’t send an email when you’re angry. You can write the message, but save it and read it again and make adjustments when you’re calmer so that the message is neutral.

Do you have other favorite tips that help you present yourself professionally and encourage people to read your emails? Let me know!

July 3, 2019

Greetings!

I got an offer from a business owner to review my site. She specializes in webdesign, development and maintenance. I’ve been on her list for a very long time because she delivers good content. She's helped me personally too and I've always liked her down-to-earth, compassionate approach to service.

She prefaced the offer by saying that she normally only does this for her clients, not for the general public. OK. So this is a steal. I can accept that.

I read on and the message was connecting and engaging. Her offer sounded great. 

Until the end.

You could click to be added to a separate list if you’re interested in this offer. Good idea, so those who aren’t interested in this offer aren’t being bugged with unwanted emails.

And then came the warning:

“WARNING...if you say NO, I will not send you any more reminders and NO Website Review Special deals, which you might regret.” 

And the part that that bugged me was those last few words: “which you might regret.” The friendly, respectful tone of the email up to that point was instantly negated by this not-so-subtle pressure, by tapping into the guilt or fear of missing out (FOMO) in a way which was inconsistent with the tone of the rest of the email.

From a place of respect and softness and helpfulness, it suddenly transformed into a do-what-I’m-suggesting-or-else-there’ll-be-consequences kind of tone. I have nothing against people using this kind of tone if it fits their personality and the tone of what's around it.

However, in this case the lack of consistency between the bulk of the email and this “warning” damaged the impression I had of her offer and how she operates and created niggling doubt in my mind.

I’m interested in your opinion. Do you think that last sentence is too pressuring and hypey compared to the rest of the email? Or am I overly sensitive?