Writing a business letter which was professional, informative and grammatically correct is becoming a thing of the past..!
Email has taken over as the main form of communication within business and beyond and the business letter has slipped by the wayside. What is concerning though is the email etiquette (or lack of) being used by the younger generation.
Spelling errors, grammatical errors and just plain laziness in email format are all creeping into what was once a distinguished form of communication - the business letter.
Why and How has this happened? - In our day to day lives it's easy to just send an electronic form of communication which meant to be short, direct and to the point and also with little or no emotion. Unfortunately it has become a necessity in today's business world so we need to embrace the simplicity of the email in more detail, and ensure that we continue with its correct delivery to others.
Email Etiquette
Never send an email when you're upset, never send an email to "All" thinking it's just going to the people in the room, proof-read the email before you send it because if you don't want your grandma reading it, or you're not prepared to have the email pinned up in a common area in your office for all to read...then DON'T SEND IT..!!
On the other hand if you were to take the time to prepare a business letter and post it to a valued customer you would win them over immediately because of the sincerity of the idea that you actually took the time to write something, using your own penmanship, that expressed your appreciation for their business.
It's a dying thing and it's sad to see that technology has enabled us to become scared of confrontation, technology has enabled the generation Y's to be poor at grammar, poor at spelling and poor at writing a simple letter.
Here are some simple steps we can all take to ensure that the next email you send is clear, concise and pleasant to read;
- Make sure that you tailor the email to the correct person and wordsmith it appropriately.
- Make sue you proof read the email for grammatical errors and spelling errors. Even though email programs have spell checks people often ignore them and hurriedly click 'Send' anyway.
- Never send an email mad or upset. Take a break and come back to it before sending it. Chances are that you'll click delete at this time, or rewrite it.
- Be sure you can confidently put your name at the bottom.
Write a business letter for a change rather rely on email, but if you do remember the art of email etiquette before clicking on the send button.
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