Email communication with your clients is still one of the most important parts of the business activity. This means that your company image can be directly affected by the quality and response time of related requests. I’d like to suggest some efficient tips and rules on using your emails much more efficiently for daily office tasks.
- The email structure. This part is very important since the wrong letter structure may completely turn the reader away from reading it. First, you have to create an involving subject line. Then, introduce yourself (it’s quite obvious) and write the main part. After that comes the most important thing. To make the reader (and prospective client) interested you have to include some links. They are divided into three groups: main links (links to your website and product page), social links (contact us” page and social accounts) and action (or download) links. The last one may include free guides, press-releases, presentations, etc.
- Follow-up emails. The best impression you can leave on your recipient is to answer promptly on all questions addressed and send personalized email follow-ups. It makes you look professional and what’s more important – caring about your clients. The attention they get at some rate will convert into real sales while poor communication can turn the clients off your company. If you haven’t got much time to send follow-ups it is better to use an automated follow-up service. You can personalize your follow-ups, schedule sending on the exact time or send them on reply when using it.
- Appointment letter. When sending an email to arrange the meeting you have to remember a few rules. First, you have to include not only 100% correct appointment location address but also all other important information like the hotel name, flight number and list of all persons attending the meeting. If you reschedule the meeting always include the reason for it. Also the important tip is to remind all the participants about the tomorrow appointment. This can be done manually or via a follow-up service as well.
- Avoid including the sensitive information in your emails. Always remember that sent emails are not belong to you. Moreover the email account can be hacked and even if you have a bulletproof defense you can’t be sure about the mail recipient.
- Keep your sent emails and history. Trust me, there are a lot of reasons this can (and will) be handy in future. It will also help you maintain the email statistics.
- Be careful with your spelling. This can change the whole meaning of your message. Bad grammar will create a negative image of the company too.
- Try to decrease traffic. If you’ve got a support letter try not only to answer the incoming question but also to foresee any related questions that may follow. This will save you a lot of time. Also try to avoid sending unnecessary emails.
- Reduce spam. Use filters like Google message filtering, MS Outlook Junk Filter or Websense E-mail Security to lessen the amount of junk mail.
- Try to avoid sending attachments. It is always better to include links to external files since the client’s spam filter may put it in a junk folder. It will also make the email sending much easier for you since you don’t have to keep the file on your disc drive. Your emails will become smaller as well.
- Use the email signature. This is a great way to increase your brand awareness.
Sure this list is not full but I hope it will help to make your mailing easier, faster and more secure. Do you have other ideas how to extend it? Feel free to share them in comments below.