Bernskiold Media

Read Emails in the Right Way

We’ve all been there. We receive an email from a client, read it and as we do so, start to think that the client is angry/being ironic, or basically sounds dissatisfied. There could really be two potential situations there and we’re going to have a look at them!

1. The Client IS angry/ironic/dissatisfied

You can actually be right! The client could very well be unhappy with whatever you are communicating about. Fortunately though, this is rarely the case, so let’s not dwell on this one much longer but move on to the second, more frequent possibility.

2. You are interpreting it wrong!

In this day and age, with e-mail as a big method for communication, it is hard to really know for a fact how a person really feels. When we do normal conversations, we have many signs to look at, to be able to tell what the person is really saying. We can look at gestures, we can hear the tone that the voice is in and catch every bit of these changes as the conversations goes along. We’ve also grown accustomed to looking out for it every time we talk to someone.

However, when we write emails, write in forums, chat through instant messaging or basically communicate in writing, these signs are gone and don’t really exist. As much as we like to think that the small irony will be perceived correctly when we right it, chances are it won’t and we’ll be starting off something negative.

This is not only true when writing yourself but also when reading emails from clients. The mail might seem to have a special tone in it when the client really never thought of it that way! If that is true, then firing off a reply when being taken-aback or even upset might do a lot of harm (seeing as it is very easy to send something quickly as a reply and regret it later). If you get an email you are unsure of how to interpret it. Leave it overnight and get back to it again the following morning with a fresh mind!