What is your email response policy?

I have a few suppliers who I am regularly in contact with, that have rather strange policy with emails. Emails are basically as important as phone calls these days, so I think it’s pretty important that you get it right. It doesn’t take long to put into effect an email response policy and once it becomes habit, your customers will thank you!

It seems they are too busy for me

Each time I shoot them an email, I get an automated response basically saying “We are busy and will get you when we can”. Surely if they are that busy, they can put on more staff? I spend a considerable sum with these suppliers and apparently I’m too important for a personalised response.

I don’t know whats happening

I have hundreds of things going at once, and without a paper trail, it’s hard to keep track of the status of everything – Thats why I use email so often. If I send a request off to a supplier and he is going to take a few days to get back to me – He needs to tell me that he will be taking a few days. If I don’t hear from him, I either get worried the email wasn’t sent correctly or wonder why he hasn’t gotten back to me.

Get to the point

These suppliers obviously have a lot say – Thats fine, but put the important points first.

Stop yelling!

Capitals are a terrible way of getting your point across – If they want to tell me some great news either put it in bold or add an exclamation mark.

Still sending chain letters?

Sure, a funny email every now and then is fantastic – I love to have a laugh. But no, I don’t believe I will have good luck if I forward this to 10 people. Surely after millions of dissapointed forwarders we’ve come to general conclusion that luck + riches cannot be obtained from forwarding emails?

Don’t reply all unless absolutely necessary

I like being kept in the loop, so I request that all my suppliers :CC me on any updates to a particular order / job. Most of the time, after a :CC I will get another 10 emails saying “Yes, No problems and OK”. Only :CC me if it’s absolutely necessary!

Email is increasingly becoming an integral part of most businesses so it’s important you get it right!