{"id":3417,"date":"2015-10-09T13:39:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-09T18:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/construction-recruiter\/?p=3417"},"modified":"2015-10-09T13:40:37","modified_gmt":"2015-10-09T18:40:37","slug":"the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/","title":{"rendered":"The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fit-vids-style\">\u00ad<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-3418 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"email mistake\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake-700x393.jpg 700w, https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages | Fast Company | Business + Innovation<\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div id=\"page\" class=\"identity-fastcompany kind-article type-post slug-hit-the-ground-running nid-3051999\">\n<div class=\"page-inner\">\n<div id=\"page-main\" class=\"page-main row\">\n<div class=\"page-main-wrap\">\n<div id=\"page-body\" class=\"eight columns\">\n<section id=\"page-body-content\" class=\"page-body\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<article id=\"post-3051999\" class=\"node full-view kind-article slug-hit-the-ground-running\">\n<div class=\"row collapse\">\n<div class=\"body prose article-prose twelve columns\">\n<p>Despite the rise of social media, instant messaging, and all manner of apps, reports of email\u2019s death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, according to technology market research firm The Radicati Group, in 2015, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.radicati.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Email-Statistics-Report-2015-2019-Executive-Summary.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">roughly 2.6 billion people will use email<\/a>\u2014a number that will grow to more than 2.9 billion by the end of 2019.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For most organizations, it\u2019s the communication nervous system,&#8221; says business writer and communications consultant, Natalie Canavor, author of <em>Business Writing for Dummies<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>And, yet, that doesn\u2019t mean we know how to use it well. Experts agree that email gaffes and annoyances still plague the workplace. But you can improve your email game by following these steps.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mistake No. 1: Emailing Something That&#8217;s Better Expressed In Person<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Before you start dashing off your missive, stop for a few seconds. Are you writing something emotional or complicated? Is this is a topic that is likely to get heated? Then an email message probably isn\u2019t the best way to communicate it, says writer William Schwalbe, coauthor of <em>Send: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better<\/em>. Since tone and inflection don\u2019t translate well through email, you could be setting yourself up for failure.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mistake No. 2: Using a Vague Or Useless Subject Line<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Don\u2019t give people a reason to delete or ignore your message. Use your subject line to capture attention and be clear about the email topic, Schawlbe says. Tell the user up front what you\u2019re purpose is, and if you were referred by someone, name-drop in the subject line. And if the substance of the messages changes during some back-and-forth, change the subject line to reflect that, he says.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mistake No. 3: Copying Too Many People And Hitting Reply All<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Schwalbe also says it\u2019s a good idea to establish some ground rules about who should respond to messages. Typically, a good rule of thumb is if you\u2019re in the &#8220;To&#8221; line, feel free to answer. If you\u2019re in the &#8220;CC&#8221; line, your response is not needed. And while you\u2019re at it, establish some ground rules for copying coworkers, since not everyone needs to be copied on every email. It just clogs up inboxes. That goes for replies, too\u2014don\u2019t use the Reply All button unless it\u2019s truly necessary, and feel free to write, &#8220;No reply necessary,&#8221; if you\u2019re sending a message that doesn\u2019t require one.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mistake No. 4: Not Using A Salutation<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>If you\u2019re the type to just dive into your message without the niceties of a &#8220;Hi Jim&#8221; or a &#8220;Good morning Mary,&#8221; you could be setting the wrong tone, especially if you&#8217;re communicating with someone based outside the U.S., Canavor says. You can drop it after the first exchange, but it sets a more congenial tone, she says.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mistake No. 5: Not Double Checking Grammar And Spelling<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Yes, it really matters. A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.getsidekick.com\/blog\/email-pet-peeves\" target=\"_blank\">2015 survey<\/a> of HubSpot Sidekick readers found that 40% of people find bad grammar to be their number-one cold email pet peeve. Canavor says that sending an email message riddled with grammar and punctuation errors is disrespectful, and that people might take you less seriously if you don\u2019t present yourself well in writing.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mistake No. 6: Burying The Lead In A Super-Long Message<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>An email isn\u2019t the place to write your manifesto. Keep it to a paragraph or two, and don\u2019t &#8220;bury the lead&#8221;\u2014keep the most important information up front, Schawlbe says. If you have to make it longer, keep it to three or four points and use numbered lists or bullets for each point to make them easier to follow and address, Schawlbe says. If you can\u2019t cut it down, perhaps email isn\u2019t the best vehicle for what you need to communicate.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mistake No. 7: Not Giving A Specific Action Item<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>One of the last items before your sign-off should be the action item or request, Schawlbe says. If you\u2019re assigning responsibilities, do so. If you\u2019re asking for someone to take action, be clear about it. Vagaries may render your email message useless.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mistake No. 8: Not Having A Customized Signature Line<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Canavor suggests having four or five email signatures crafted so you can just choose the one that\u2019s right for the situation. Be sure you have comprehensive contact information, including phone numbers, email addresses, Twitter handles, and the like.<\/p>\n<p>If you need to establish credibility with someone, use the version that has a few credentials, awards, or honors. If you\u2019re sending a message to a personal friend, you can be more informal. There aren\u2019t hard and fast rules, but know that if you have eight or 10 lines of copy, it\u2019s likely not going to get read.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Mistake No. 9: Engaging In An Endless Back And Forth<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Once an exchange has gone beyond three or four messages and it\u2019s still not going anywhere or if it starts to get heated, pick up the phone or walk down the hall, Schawlbe says. It can take an average of seven email messages to set up one meeting. If you\u2019re caught in such an exchange, there\u2019s a simple fix, he says.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Just say, \u2018Wow, this is getting complex. I\u2019ll give you a call in 10 minutes&#8217;,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p>Source:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/3051999\/hit-the-ground-running\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages?partner=rss\">http:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/3051999\/hit-the-ground-running\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages?partner=rss<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00ad &nbsp; The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages | Fast Company | Business + Innovation Despite the rise of social media, instant messaging, and all manner of apps, reports of email\u2019s death have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, according to technology market research firm The Radicati &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[905,466,131],"class_list":["post-3417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-blog","tag-best-email-practices","tag-career-advice","tag-dallas-recruiters","post_format-post-format-image","column","twocol"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"And, yet, that doesn\u2019t mean we know how to use it well. Experts agree that email gaffes and annoyances still plague the workplace. But you can improve...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kaye\/Bassman international\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kaye\\\/Bassman international\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f098fa972499895f61727b72e6f2e2d8\"},\"headline\":\"The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-09T18:39:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-09T18:40:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":910,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/blog\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"best email practices\",\"career advice\",\"dallas recruiters\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/\",\"name\":\"The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/blog\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-09T18:39:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-09T18:40:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f098fa972499895f61727b72e6f2e2d8\"},\"description\":\"And, yet, that doesn\u2019t mean we know how to use it well. Experts agree that email gaffes and annoyances still plague the workplace. But you can improve...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/blog\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/blog\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/files\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/blog\\\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/\",\"name\":\"Construction &amp; Real Estate Recruiting\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f098fa972499895f61727b72e6f2e2d8\",\"name\":\"Kaye\\\/Bassman international\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/witten\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/kbicblog.com\\\/construction-recruiter\\\/author\\\/witten\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages","description":"And, yet, that doesn\u2019t mean we know how to use it well. Experts agree that email gaffes and annoyances still plague the workplace. But you can improve...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kaye\/Bassman international","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/"},"author":{"name":"Kaye\/Bassman international","@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/#\/schema\/person\/f098fa972499895f61727b72e6f2e2d8"},"headline":"The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages","datePublished":"2015-10-09T18:39:51+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-09T18:40:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/"},"wordCount":910,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg","keywords":["best email practices","career advice","dallas recruiters"],"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/","url":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/","name":"The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-09T18:39:51+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-09T18:40:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/#\/schema\/person\/f098fa972499895f61727b72e6f2e2d8"},"description":"And, yet, that doesn\u2019t mean we know how to use it well. Experts agree that email gaffes and annoyances still plague the workplace. But you can improve...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/construction-recruiter\/files\/2015\/10\/email-mistake-300x169.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/blog\/the-9-email-mistakes-that-make-people-ignore-your-messages\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The 9 Email Mistakes That Make People Ignore Your Messages"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/","name":"Construction &amp; Real Estate Recruiting","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/#\/schema\/person\/f098fa972499895f61727b72e6f2e2d8","name":"Kaye\/Bassman international","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/witten"],"url":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/author\/witten\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/construction-recruiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}