29 common email mistakes

For most organizations, email is a preferred channel of communication for a variety of reasons. For example, email allows the sender to send messages to one or more audience members, is inexpensive and fast (no postage needed), and easier to organize, store and retrieve current and previous messages for organizational documentation and record keeping purposes.

As an employee or job seeker on the other hand, you will find yourself using email frequently to communicate with various individuals for different reasons. Examples include: To apply for a job, to network, to communicate with your supervisor or to communicate with your customers and clients.

Because you will likely use email daily, this article focuses on the things you should avoid when writing and sending an email.

Creating the right impression

As the receiver of your email will use all of the message components and features to form an impression of your message you should pay close attention to what you send. The impression may be incorrect and result in your message being ineffective or your image/brand misunderstood.

To further advance your ability to create and maintain the impression and brand you desire, you can browse the following common email mistakes related to the communication elements.

Some regular email mistakes

Sender

•        Violating the competencies associated with effective email communiqués, in general.

•        Forwarding unrelated emails to others.

•        Including or omitting people who should/shouldn’t be in the exchange.

•        Including your signature repeatedly in an ongoing exchange.

•        Using Bcc and Cc too often.

•        Insensitivity to culture (e.g., color, language, theme, time or context)

Receiver      

•        Failing to read an entire message before responding or thinking about its contents.

•        Assuming the message is a personal attack.

•        Committing the same errors associated with senders above.

Channel [EMAIL]   

•        Conveying information that should not be in an email.

•        Assuming email is private.

•        Over reliance on email to communicate.

Message       

•        Failing to read an entire message before sending or responding to it.

•        No greeting.

•        Message lacks clarity.

•        Message is too lengthy or too short.

•        Inappropriate grammar, jargon, language.

•        Not proofreading.

•        Inappropriately named subject lines.

•        Misnamed attachments.

•        Forgetting the attachment or sending a wrong attachment.

Feedback     

•        Not requesting feedback specifically.

•        Not specifying timelines for feedback.

•        Expecting others to respond quickly.

Noise

•        Emailing when emotional or angry.

•        Misinterpreting the tone of an email.

•        Inappropriate use of color, emoticons, font or graphics.

Context

•        Violating the company email policy.

•        Not divulging entire email message or sharing information to contextualize the email.

•        Tone and content are too informal; no attention to social or hierarchal structure.

If you would like to learn more about how to compose a great email then “Communicating with Technology” written by Renee Robinson is the right choice for you.