The email flow: Write correctly

Emails are on everybody's mind - clearly demonstrated by the ongoing debate on what to do about the flow of electronic mail. The three contributions in 'Digitalbørsen' (web edition of the newspaper Børsen) on September 9th and 23rd and October 21st had good points on how indispensible emails are, the need for order and structure and a company policy for emails. A very recent survey in Great Britain confirms that emails are now established as a serious and popular form of communication: 74% of people asked would like to be contacted by email in relation to sales. Just as important as structure and organisation is correct and clear writing. A text that is unclear and unfocused exposes the sender's lack of expertise. The same goes for a text with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Bad content and language may cause misunderstandings, which cost money and lower the company's reputation with the receiver. If you can't spell or even be bothered to check the spelling in your email then, how can you be trusted or relied upon to do anything for the prospective client?

Perhaps people have not become worse at expressing themselves in writing but they do not have the safety net of a secretary who would type up the material correctly for them?. You are 'on your own!' That goes for everyone, from assistant to the CEO and chairman of the board. Does the outlook look bad then? Yes and no. The bad news is that a lot of people - quite rightly - feel they do not write well and therefore (which is worse) do not dare criticise the written outputs of their employees or colleagues due to the 'people who live in glasshouses should not throw stones' factor. The good news is that good writing can be learned - both in regards to the layout of the message and the technical part. So if the writing is not good enough - then please take a writing course and get organised! A decisive effort may remove 85% of the errors.
Result: More efficient communication and greater value for the company.