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Common Email Mistakes To Avoid

By  Senior Market Advisors  on April 11, 2018

Common Email Mistakes To Avoid

Whether you’re reaching out to prospective clients or attempting to network with sales professionals, the way you write your emails can make or break an interaction. From bad grammar to unflattering formatting, these are the most common email mistakes that you should avoid:

Over The Top

Be honest: which of these examples looks best?

“Dear ___,

  I’m writing to inform you…”

“Dear ___, 

 I’m writing to inform you…”

Sometimes, too much creativity is a bad thing. When writing a professional email, always keep your formatting to a minimum. It’s ok to bold an important line or two, but you should always stick to black text color and don’t overuse the italics and bold functions. Your email will appear messy and unprofessional if you use over-the-top formatting. 

No Proofreading 

Some of the simplest mistakes like extra commas and misspelled words can cause a recipient to completely disregard your email. All it takes is a simple read and the click of a spell-check button to correct your errors. If you don’t have a good spell checker for your emails, consider downloading Grammarly. It’s a free tool that can save you a whole lot of embarrassment.

Too Much/Too Little Detail

How often do you read an email and have to spend five whole minutes trying to decipher it? Oftentimes, the problem is that the email has either too many details or too few details. Think about your audience – what do THEY need to know. What details are irrelevant? Make sure your email is as brief as possible, relevant, and organized. In other words, don’t put all of your important details in one long paragraph. Break it up so that it’s quick and easy to read.

Weird Subject Lines

Your subject line should be less than a sentence long. All it needs to do is give your recipient(s) an idea of what the email is about. For example, if you’re sending a follow-up email to a client, the subject can say “It was great to meet you yesterday,” or “Notes from our meeting.” It should not list everything that you’re going to discuss in the email. Not only is it unprofessional and difficult to read, but it may be marked as spam! Also, grammar and spelling in your subject line is just as important if not more important than the grammar and spelling in your email body. After all, it’s the first thing that your recipient will see.

No Emails

The biggest mistake you can make is not sending follow-up emails at all. When you meet with a client, schedule an appointment, or make a new business contact, you should always keep in touch. Don’t send so many emails that they can’t keep up, but don’t let them forget about you, either.

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Contact us for more information.