The
inbox is a dangerous place for business communications – full of shysters,
spammers and the occasional piece of interesting content. All ruled by a tyrant
with a trigger-happy delete finger. This post will help ensure your emails
survive long enough to deliver their message – while our top tips will help you convey it more effectively.
Did you know that 294 billion emails are sent every day?
That means over 70 million were dispatched in the time it took for you to read
that sentence. And, while the vast majority of these will be offering almost
unbelievably good job opportunities and cut-price pharmaceuticals to consumers,
millions will be sent to, from and between businesses.
There’s no doubt about it, since Ray Tomlinson – a
bearded US programmer – sent the first one in 1971, emails have become a vital
part of our working lives.
Do I
have space for good manners?
I like to think of emails as something of a hybrid
between a letter and a text message. As a piece of direct correspondence, from
one person to another, they need to be personable – like a letter. After all,
you’re usually addressing the recipient by their first name and always entering
their personal inbox. Yet, unlike their handwritten counterparts, emails need the
economy of a text.
