When NOT to e-mail

As conservation is the trend-du-jour, we are taking a stance to eliminate unnecessary e-mails. Did you know that over 130 million e-mails are sent daily? Some of you reading this may feel you get all 130 million, so you may consider yourselves charter members of our lobby. It’s the other percent of the population we want to convert.

Here’s the short list of conditions under which you should NOT e-mail:
• When you need iterative back-and-forth discussion. It’s better to do this face-to-face.
• If you receive a rambling, long, confusing or angry e-mail, call that person and ask to discuss.
• Confidential information. Remember, someone else can always read your e-mail without you knowing. If you don’t want something shared, don’t e-mail it.
• When you need to tell someone bad news. Do this in person. It helps you gauge their reaction and helps both of you move past a conflict.
• When you need to apologize. Always do this in person.

–Amy Biemiller

This entry was posted on 2007 at 16:53 and is filed under Customer Communications, Employee Communications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.