One of the clearest ways to determine if an email is the best way to communicate with the recipient is to ask yourself if it focuses on who, what, when, or where. If, however, your email delves into why or opinion, you may want to think twice about sending it. The recipient only has your words on the page to decipher your meaning, intent, and tone. Without visual clues or the sound of your voice your message can easily be misunderstood.
- Peter Post, Emily Post's The Etiquette Advantage in Business
One of the biggest mistakes for any follow-up email is not including a strong call-to-action. Leaving the email open-ended with phrases like “let me know what you think” or “keep in touch” aren’t a strong enough incentive for your client to respond. You’re more likely to get a response when you ask pointed questions like “What day and time works best for you next week to discuss this further?” or “Based on the deadline that you mentioned, you’ll need to start our service by the end of this month—do you have 30 minutes to sit down and chat later this week?”
Do you use proper email etiquette? Knowing and using proper etiquette is imperative since it is, more than likely, your most used platform for communicating with your customers. How you "show up" via email is a direct reflection of how you do business and greatly impacts your customers' ongoing perception and trust in you. Let's make sure that your largest area of exposure to your customers (emailing) is something that you and the rest of your company do better than the rest.