The resurgence of the written word is certainly here to stay. Email, texting, and the like, have replaced the telephone call in many instances. And though this change is mostly good, people need a lesson on when to talk and when to write.
Writing has become popular for three reasons: it improves quality, saves time, and is artistically rewarding. Modern technology didn’t create these reasons, it simply unleashed them. But, when used inappropriately, writing has its downsides. And people should understand these downsides before completely switching over.
Quality
People usually talk too soon—before they’re ready to say what they really want. Writing forces one to organize his or her thoughts and clearly communicate—which is great. There is no downside to quality.
Saves time
If you electronically give me your address, tell me when a meeting is, or provide four reasons why I should buy your product, it saves me the time of having to remember or make notes. And that’s nice. If you electronically send me a birthday invitation, in order to save you time, you’ve just told me I’m not worth much effort. And that’s bad.
Saving me time is nice. Saving you time is insincere.
You’re also saying that not much effort is being put towards this event. Making me wonder, why bother? In the olden days, formal written invitations meant something special, like a wedding. And people would formally reply. This style of writing was more effort than a phone call since it involved getting people’s addresses, making paper invitations, and buying postage. Today’s electronic invites don’t even ensure that you have my correct email address (it could be one that I no longer use).
This also applies in business. Companies that host customer events with a phone call get much higher turnout than those who just send email. Customers subconsciously say, “If I’m not worth the effort of personal contact, this event isn’t worth the effort of attending.”
We humans naturally measure the amount of effort extended towards us. People who exert effort are innately deemed to be more trustworthy (and a bunch of other good things). So, mass marketing your husband’s fiftieth birthday can be viewed as lame, but electronically following up with details is thoughtful.
Artistic
Many of us consider our writing abilities to rival those of Ernest Hemingway or Stephen King. And some of us think we’re just as funny as Dave Barry or Erma Bombeck. And this is all great—the artistic component of writing is both stimulating and rewarding. But it must be reserved for friends, it doesn’t belong in business.
The business world is a factual place where emails are used in court. You should never put anything cutesy in an email that could potentially be used in court. Business humour should always be verbal. And long-winded emails attempting to express emotion should be re-written after a human conversation.
Business emails are great for to-do lists, detailing next steps, and providing training-like information. They’re not for having discussions. If someone is trying to have a discussion with you via email, pick up the phone (and then maybe use email to confirm your understandings).
Remember, emails are used in court. If you don’t want this discussion to be placed in front of a judge, talk about it. And if you think the judge would get confused by trying to decipher this string, clean it up with a conversation, and then, maybe, summarize in an email. Conversely, if you think a judge would benefit from knowing certain things, put them in writing (just like we used to–with real letters).