4 Email Blunders That Undermine Your Brand
Avoid Emails That Make You Look Bad
From personal observations, I have seen business owners, executives, and employees undermine their company’s brand through basic email blunders.
I’m not talking about high tech, sophisticated email marketing programs. I mean plan old, run of the mill email communications (Outlook, etc) that create a negative impact on a company’s brand or on your own personal image.
True Confessions
I consistently receive emails that contain all four of these blunders. I have personally committed all of these blunders. Here is the difference. I catch my blunders before the email is sent because I proof read my emails. I’ve found that 95% of my first drafts contain errors.
#1 Blunder – Misspellings
There is no excuse for this. When your software program underlines misspelled words for you and you don’t take the time to correct them, it is pure laziness. Your customers see it that way as well as your vendors and employees. If you don’t show attention to such a simple detail in your email, then the message you are delivering is that you won’t show attention to detail with your product.
#2 Blunder – Missing Words
I learned to play the piano when I was 14 which was a great foundation to learning to type at 16. I am a very proficient typist. However, my brain is still faster than my fingers. I can compose a sentence and start to type it when my brain moves on to the next sentence before I finish typing the first. End result…missing words. You must proof read your email slowly so that your brain doesn’t fill in the void where the words should be.
#3 Blunder – Blurry Communication
If you write a sentence that requires inflection to understand the meaning, then rewrite it. If you write one sentence containing two or three important concepts, then use bullet points to separate them. In general, it is much better to write short sentences. Use straightforward, linear thinking. Using irony in email adds to blurry communication. Avoid irony if possible. Re-read what you write and make sure it makes sense.
#4 Blunder - Unintended Words
My colleague, Bernie, sent out an email that he ended with "Be blessed my fiend". Fortunately he proofed his email and caught the error since it should have said “Be blessed my friend”. Friend or fiend? What do you want to call your customer? Software that picks up spelling and grammar errors won’t identify anything wrong with this blunder since friend and fiend are spelled correctly and both are nouns being used properly. If you proofread too fast you might not see it either. Kudos to Bernie for proof reading.
Final Thoughts
Get into the habit of poof weeding your emails. You mite be surprised at what you fiend. Bust Dishes, Drew
