LinkedIn Influencer, Bernard Marr, published this post originally on LinkedIn.
Do you know how you sound in emails?
Without the benefit of being able to hear people’s vocal inflections or see their faces, it can be challenging to interpret how the person on the other end of an email is feeling. Emoticons and exclamation points can only take you so far (especially in a business email), and in fact, sometimes formal business language can start to sound, well, negative without context.
A Wall Street Journal article on enigmatic email tells the story of a consultant who sent a detailed project plan to her client by email and received only a one-word response: “Noted.”
She feared he was angry or disappointed, when in fact, he was thrilled to be able to clear the issue from his inbox with so little effort.
So how can you ensure you get your message across without seeming negative?
Accentuate the positive.
Overall, the word choices you make add up to the tone of your communications. And when you consistently choose negative words and phrases, your emails will sound terse, condescending, or angry.
Negativity is never good and always sends out negative vibes. Even if you feel negative about a situation, you can still make an effort to turn your emails into more positive messages — which usually get better responses.
