We all use email every day. While social media gets most of the buzz and attention, it’s really good old reliable email (social media’s less sexy roommate) that gets the work done, day in and day out.
This means that if you own and operate a small business, you need to be sure you’re taking full advantage of this wonderful tool. The first step is paying attention to how you come across when you send emails out.
Here are two big mistakes that I see – over and over and over again – in my work with entrepreneurs and solo professionals:
- A generic or hard to understand “from” line.Most of us focus on the “subject” line of our emails. After all, it’s the “headline” and the thing that makes people want to open our emails in the first place. And that’s a topic in and of itself, for another day!
But the “from” line is even more important. Why? Because it’s what tells the recipient who is sending the email in the first place. If it’s a friend, a relative, or a company I do business with, I’m very likely to open it, regardless of the subject line. If I don’t recognize the sender, I’m very likely to assume it’s spam and click delete.
Very often I receive emails with just a name, and sometimes an empty subject line, or very generic one. I barely glance at them before hitting “delete.” Earlier this week, I received a message from “Bryan Smith” with no subject. Now, I’m sure there’s more than one “Bryan Smith” in the world, but I had no way of knowing if it was a Bryan Smith I knew or even wanted to hear from. I nearly deleted it when I realized it was from a vendor I had been waiting to hear from on an account. But nothing about what appeared in my inbox indicated he was someone I wanted to hear from. Had I deleted the message, the situation would have remained unresolved. If that’s how this company reaches out to its people, how many of their emails are regularly deleted? If you have a common name, be sure there’s something about your email that announces just exactly who you are!
Another common error of this sort is when the “from” line is simply an email address. That’s okay if your full name is part of your address, but not so good if your email address is something like boymomof4@gmail.com.
What’s the solution? This is what I do, and you should try it as well: First and Last Name | Company. My first and last name, followed by my company name, either of which may help you realize who I am. (In case you don’t know where to find the vertical separator line that I use – “|” – it’s above the backslash, near the top right of your keyboard.) So when you see Robin Miles | Reflection Virtual Assistance in the “from” line, you know it’s from me, and it’s about business!
- Not using a custom domain for email.In case you didn’t know, if you own a domain (e.g., www.mycompany.com), you have the ability to create email addresses (name@mycompany.com) that use that domain name (usually at no additional cost).
Unfortunately, I often see emails from small businesses and entrepreneurs who use Gmail, Verizon, Comcast, Yahoo! and other providers to act as their domain. An example is companyname@gmail.com.
Not only does this approach portray you as a hobbyist or a part-timer (as opposed to someone who’s really in business), it also represents a missed opportunity to help people find your web site. When you create an email address that uses your custom domain, you are constantly advertising your company, as well as where it can be found on the web.
And don’t worry – you can still use Comcast, Verizon or whomever to “get your email.” It just means that the persona you put out reflects your very important brand.
Like any tool, email is only as good as the way in which it’s used. Polish up your approach and start getting the full benefit from this important aspect of your business!