Email Etiquette

[puglogic]

I have a couple of clients who, when I email them with a request, or a response to their questions, or even something important like a deadline, they simply don't answer. Sometimes I'll hear back a week later, sometimes a month, or never, unless I follow up a second or even third time.

This seems terribly rude to me. I know it's likely because their lives are busy and cluttered with lots of obligations. But I'm as busy as the next person and yet I find the 30 seconds it takes to write back and say, "I need to put some thought into this, but I promise to get back to you as soon as I can."

Am I just overly sensitive to this and need to get over it, or does it bother others as well? Is it nowadays okay to just ignore emails and I just didn't get the memo on that?

[Tradd]

No you're just fine. If customers don't get back to me I will keep coming back at them, daily or every other day, depending on situation.

[bUU]

I think there are some people who think of email as somehow lesser forms of communications than the telephone or paper mail. I don't placate such silliness, but I don't make a point of ostracizing people who feel that way either. I just accept that they have to peculiarity. I'm sure there are things about me that seem unconventional to others.

[SteveinMN]

Email has one key difference from phone calls/voicemails -- not every phone call is a conference call, nor are voicemails typically left for entire groups of people. But i's really easy to copy and blind-copy people on email. So lots of emails arriving in inboxes are there to notify or cover someone, not to initiate a response. With so many relatively-unimportant messages coming in, it's easy to lose a message in a wave of email. It's also hard to find the time to go through the inbox and clean up. I'm not excusing rudeness -- rude is rude; the vector does not matter. People should go through their inboxes at least periodically. But it's easy for me to see how it can happen.

Another consideration is that everyone has a preferred means of communication. Mine is email, because I can pick it up almost anywhere and respond at any time -- at 5 a.m., in a boring meeting, etc. I cannot do that with a phone call. Others, however, hate working email and would much prefer a phone call or text message. Part of the trick of getting things done is to figure out what works for each person and try to acknowledge that preference.

And one tip I've used for the people drowning in email is to write first in the Subject line directives like "NEED BY WEDNESDAY" or "Read this first" or "Immediate action". It tends to separate the emails needing faster attention from the ones labeled "Re: Weekly Status Meeting". It is possible to overuse that, however.

[Jilly]

I feel the same frustration with clients. If you need something from me and I contact you in the process of providing that, please reply with the information I need to help you.

That is my only issue with e-mailing. Personal stuff, well, I am probably the worst offender about replying, because I am not good at chit-chat, electronically or in person. That is why only a few people have access to me that way.

[JaneV2.0]

...
Another consideration is that everyone has a preferred means of communication. Mine is email, because I can pick it up almost anywhere and respond at any time -- at 5 a.m., in a boring meeting, etc. I cannot do that with a phone call. Others, however, hate working email and would much prefer a phone call or text message. Part of the trick of getting things done is to figure out what works for each person and try to acknowledge that preference.
...

This could be an introvert/extrovert thing. I'd a thousand times rather communicate by email. I like to order and properly express my thoughts and leave a record so my recipient can revisit it and make sure they understand what was written. Especially in a business setting, phone calls are just an interruption or annoyance to me.

[SteveinMN]

This could be an introvert/extrovert thing. I'd a thousand times rather communicate by email. I like to order and properly express my thoughts and leave a record so my recipient can revisit it and make sure they understand what was written. Especially in a business setting, phone calls are just an interruption or annoyance to me.
I must say all of that applies to me, as well. Email gives me at least a moment to think about what I just read and how to respond. I do not get that opportunity with a phone call.

[Lainey]

Agree with email being my preference too, especially for important business deadlines. I know a few people who also send every email as "read receipt" so they know that you at least opened it. No lying that you "never saw it"!

I had a related thing happen at work. I'd sent an email to 3 people looking for some historical information. Those 3 people added comments and forwarded it to others, and those others in turn added their comments and forwarded it to still more people. It was all in the goal of finding the data, but it was almost comical how the last 2 or 3 emails had mis-represented the original request. I had to re-send the original request to almost everyone (except those who had clearly stated that they did not have what I needed). and yes, this was our Communications Dept. doing this.
I think the root cause is texting style overlapping with email. The email responses started to be so abbreviated that the next person, who only read the most recent response and not the original post, got an incomplete picture.

[SteveinMN]

I know a few people who also send every email as "read receipt" so they know that you at least opened it. No lying that you "never saw it"!
n.b., some email systems mark the message receipt as "read" even if you've only opened your inbox, not the actual message.

[Lainey]

n.b., some email systems mark the message receipt as "read" even if you've only opened your inbox, not the actual message.

That's good to know.

Also was reminded of the Dilbert cartoon where the engineer submitted a written paper, and his supervisor reduced it to a page and forwarded it to his supervisor, who then reduced it to a paragraph and forwarded it to the VP, who then reduced it to a bullet point on a slide to present to the pointy-haired CEO.

That also summarizes what happened to my email request described above.