E-mail
is arguably the most successful and popular Internet
application. It has not only become one of the
most accepted and used communication medium in
business but have even invaded our personal life.
Even grandmothers these days exchange e-mails
with their grandsons and granddaughters.
The unobtrusive and indirect nature
of e-mail is both a boon as well as bane. Its
helpful, because one can easily avoid responding
to an e-mail. Its curse because the sender will
remain in dark forever why he/she did not receive
any response - is it because of wrong e-mail address,
technical problem or willful refusal ? It indeed
could be intimidating !
I have no doubt that not receiving
response has as much to do with sender as with
the receiver in many cases. True, many times the
receiver does not respond because of lethargy,
laziness or sheer habit. It could also be that
receiver did not receive the e-mail because of
some technical problem. But its also equally true
that many e-mails do not invoke any response because
it merits NO RESPONSE in the rating of the receiver.
Question is how do you deal with
this situation ? Should you ignore silence from
receiver ? It could be suicidal in case the receiver
actually never received your e-mail or could not
respond because of genuine difficulties beyond
his/her control. We discuss here a few tips that
may help you induce better response rate.
'Reply
to' address in your e-mail
Make sure that you have provided
correct 'Reply to' address in your e-mail. A small
mistake in that column can create a huge negative
impact about you and your company. Even if 'From:'
column of your e-mail contains correct e-mail
address - all responses to your e-mail will always
be directed towards e-mail address at 'Reply to:'
column of your e-mail. If you use same e-mail
address for receiving and sending e-mails, leave
the 'Reply to:' column blank in your e-mail preference
list.
Signature
Line
All professional communications must
bear information about sender's identity. Absence
of such information reflects poorly on professional
competence of sender. Imagine receiving mails
from complete strangers - how often do you respond
to them ?
You need not spend time in writing
your identity information every time you send
an e-mail - signature files in e-mail software
do that for you. All e-mail software (Outlook,
Netscape, Eudora etc.) support signature file
that automatically gets appended to your e-mails.
The signature should contain your contact details
like telephone, fax, mailing address, URL of your
Home Site etc.
The signature file is a great advertising
tool also. Remember, every time you send an e-mail
or someone forwards your message or you post a
message at bulletin board or discussion forum
- your message spreads without any extra effort.
Address
Line
Ensure that your mail is properly
and individually addressed. Cramming the CC: or
BCC: columns with e-mail addresses may not serve
your purpose. How often do you read mails that
is not addressed to you individually ? Besides,
absence of actual receiver's e-mail address in
'To:' column of your e-mail may lead to its deletion
even before opening (many corporate e-mail software
routinely destroys e-mails that do not contain
recipient's e-mail address at 'To:' column of
the mail).
Subject
Line
Make sure your mail has not only
a SUBJECT but is relevant and as specific as possible
(e.g. 'Price and Specification of Brass Candle
Holder' rather than a vague sounding "Indian Handicrafts').
Remember - recipients first look at the subject
and then the content. If your subject fails to
attract recipient's attention, chances are the
mail will end up in trash.
Quality
is Better Than Quantity
Do not indulge in mindless mass mailing,
though it seems so easy and convenient to send
thousands of e-mails in no time !! Do not get
misled by numbers alone - quality is more important
here than quantity. Targeted, specific and individually
addressed e-mails carry much more weight than
an anonymous mail.
A Gentle
Reminder
Forwarding your un-answered mail
with a gentle reminder induces many to respond.
No harm in doing so once or twice before giving
up on a prospect.
Understand
the limitation of e-mail
E-mails can never be as proactive
as a telephone call - someone has to respond to
its ring ! So use judicious mix of telephone and
fax along with e-mail for serious inquiries. Do
not sit back after sending an initial e-mail -
you may have to follow it up with short telephone
calls, gentle e-mail reminders etc. for best result.
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