Why people do not respond to my e-mail
? Heard that anguished question before ? Well, I hear that so often
and try to explain intricacies of e-mail communication so many times
- that led me to write this article. Hopefully, I shall be able
to refer the questioner to this article next time.
There may be several reasons why your e-mails go un-answered - and
many of the reasons may be traced back to you ! It is true that
the recipient may be unwilling or deliberately deleting your mails
without responding, but at the same time - there is a fair chance
that you are committing some grave errors in your e-mail communication.
It is unfair to jump to a conclusion on recipient's attitude - the
fault may as well lie with you !
Sounds bizarre ? Well - let us logically examine all possible angles
why an e-mail communication fails. We shall analyze various reasons,
examine common mistakes and goof-ups, develop a check-list and finally
arrive at specific measures that can significantly enhance response
rate.
Reasons for Failure of e-mail
communication
You have sent an e-mail to John last week - but have
not received any response so far. Let us consider various reasons
why John, apparently, is not responding to your e-mail:
Scenario - A : John receives your e-mail..
- Case 1 : John decides not to respond
- Case 2 : John is undecided or waiting for something he will
respond later
- Case 3 : John feels your e-mail does not deserve a response
- Case 4 : John is on vacation
- Case 5 : John deletes your mail without reading, thinking it
to be another spam or virus
- Case 6 : John receives your garbled e-mail and decides its too
much taxing, deciphering your mail (perhaps you sent html formatted
mail that John's mail client read as plain text)
Scenario - B : John Does Not Receive Your
Mail...
- Case 7 : John's ISP, personal Firewall or mail filter deletes
your mail before it reaches John's mailbox
- Case 8 : You have wrongly typed john's e-mail address
- Case 9 : John no longer uses this e-mail address
- Case 10 : Your ISP fails to deliver mail
Scenario - C : John responds but you do not
receive....
- Case 11 : John uses wrong e-mail address
- Case 12 : You have placed wrong e-mail address in 'From:' or
'Reply To:' column of your e-mail
- Case 13 : You use multiple e-mail boxes (all free of course
!) to send mails, however check only one or two for incoming mail.
- Case 14 : Your ISP Or mail filter blocks John's e-mail
- Case 15 : John's ISP fails to deliver mail
Confusing ? All along you thought John is the culprit,
dodging your e-mails. Now, you will have to take into account other
agents between you and John.
Let's give John a break and examine what factors within your control
may be contributing to this communication failure. We shall examine
common mistakes and goof-ups that lead to no-response situation.
Happy and Safe Surfing
Dr. Amit K Chatterjee
Related Links:
Source:
FAIDA
- Newsletter on Business Opportunties from India and Abroad
Vol: 5, Issue 4
; August 12' 2004
Author :
Dr. Amit K. Chatterjee
(Amit worked in blue-chip Indian and MNCs for 15 years in various
capacities like Research and Information Analysis, Market Development,
MIS, R&D Information Systems etc. before starting his e-commerce
venture in 1997. The views expressed in this columns are of
his own. He may be reached at amit@infobanc.com
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