Email Communication in Customer Transactions

Communication is the cornerstone of all successful transactions in the Online shopping/auction world. The last couple of years, the challenges seem to be greater to overcome or perhaps there are just many more transactions under my belt.

There are elements of online communication that we cannot control; only find work-a-rounds. For example, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are constantly changing their email protocols. Emails get from the Sender to the Receiver just fine most of the time; the ISP then changes their settings, which may result in email is suddenly blocked or wind up in a Spam or Junk mail folder. ISPs seem to take turns being problematic. Another relatively common occurrence is the delays in getting emails from the Sender as there is significantly more traffic on the super-highway. Or a Users mail box is full, thus the email returned. These are challenges that we have little control over, other than an awareness allows us to be more tolerant of delays in responses, or lack of response and seek alternative methods to complete the transaction.

Elements of email communication we can control is the tone we set for our transactions or, indeed all our online conversations. Personally, I generally communicate as if I am conversing with a customer, neighbor or friend face-to-face. My writing style sets the tone and content, it is friendly yet professional.

Shortcuts are readily acceptable and understood in certain environments such as text messaging and chat rooms. For business or professional communications, it appears careless correspondence. As an example, I recently inquired about pricing and availability to ship an item from the U.K. to the U.S.; the response I received lacked a salutation and included the price with a “r u going 2 order now?” query. In business transactions, there still needs to be business rules of writing, with some relaxing of rules with people you are very familiar with and who are familiar with sender.

Writing in all caps or selective words in caps (unless it is an acronym or abbreviation such as TOASA – Trusted Online Auction Sellers Affiliate) is considered yelling. If a professional friendly transaction is the goal, yelling in email will put the recipient on the defensive and possible sidetrack the purpose of the email. All caps is also difficult to read.

More to come,…,until then,

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Mo