Electronic communication, because of its speed and broadcasting ability, is fundamentally different from paper-based communication. Because the turnaround time can be so fast, email is more conversational than traditional paper communications. Email is now one of the fastest ways to gain or lose potential customers.

Consider one of your employees is in a bad mood. Someone emails them with a trivial question and they reply with a brash tone. Do you think that the recipient will use your company. On the internet word travels fast. It takes me 3 minutes to send email to 50-100 people. Therefore your company can lose 100 current or potential customers with the brash email sent out by your employee. This can happen in a matter of minutes. Speaking from personal experience I sent out what I considered a helpful message concerning a virus on the internet. One person thought it was quite annoying because they knew that some of these messages are merely hoaxes. The message I received, without a doubt, shot lightning bolts at me. What did I do? I apologized. I visited their site to see what kind of business they were in and I new that if someone had ever asked me to give them information about products relating to what they sold, I would most likely say. Do not use "this company."

I find that it is most helpful to search newsgroups for my company name to see if good or bad things are being said about me. Try searching for Microsoft, Netscape or AOL in DejaNews (http://www.dejanews.com) and see what results are presented to you. Remember newsgroups are simply meeting places on the Internet where people exchange information. Most people know that the best business comes from word of mouth or "word of email."

Back to the story, After I sent my apology and received a reply the next day stating that they was sorry for what they had said. Problem solved. I now have no problem recommending that company to a friend. On some occasions a brash answer is responded to with a brash reply. Those are the lucky ones. Be careful, there are many vindictive people who will reply to brashness by breaking into your entire site and demonstrating how angry they are with you. I cannot and will not try to break into someone's website, but people who are more knowledgeable can and do.

However, because of the lack of vocal inflection, gestures, and shared environment, email is not as rich a communication method as a face-to-face or telephone conversation. Your correspondent may have difficulty telling if you are serious or kidding, happy or sad, frustrated or euphoric. Sarcasm is particularly dangerous to use in email. Avoid sending email that might trigger an upsetting response from the recipient.

As moods, personalities and emotions are difficult to convey when using email, symbols, referred to as "emoticons," have been developed to help communicate feelings and show some personality when appropriate. For those not blessed with literary flair, they can be an amusing way for even the wordsmith wary to add warmth to their emails.

It pays to be nice and it's not difficult.

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Chris McClean
Pertinent Information Ltd.
2314 Richmond Rd, Victoria B.C. V8R 4R8, Canada
http://www.pertinent.com
chris@pertinent.com | ph: 1-250-598-9102 | fax: 1-250-598-9109