Best Business Practices for Photographers [189]
That said, a study cited in another must-read book on e-mail etiquette and style, Business E-Mail: How to Make It Professional and Effective (Writing & Editing, 2002) by Lisa A. Smith, details the importance of e-mail professionalism. "Research by Christina A. Cavanaugh, a professor of management communications at the University of Western Ontario, shows that 'the major cause of e-mail stress in the workplace is in its inappropriate use as a communication tool, not its volume," and she goes on to conclude that correspondence via e-mail is "heavily judged on their appearance and the care taken in their construction."
Smith goes on to talk about templates. "Clients feel depersonalized when they realize you are serving them with templates…. It pays to pay attention to such details; they generate goodwill by pleasing clients and customers."
And one last note about being professional in your correspondence. Just as with voicemail, clients expect to hear back from you within a day, if not sooner. Disregarding their attempt to contact you to get answers or fulfill their requests could very well result in them calling someone else—if not on this assignment, then certainly on the next. If you don't have answers for them, at least let them know you will get back to them shortly with an answer. That way, they know you have received their request and are working on it.
Signatures—and Not with a Pen!
You see e-mail signatures all the time, usually coming from clients. They look like this:
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John Doe
Creative Director
Talented Professionals Cooperative
1234 Main Street Anytown, USA 12345
(800) 555-1212 – Office
(887) 555-1212 – Fax
www.TalentedPros.com
John_Doe@TalentedPros.com
They appear at the bottom of everyone's correspondence to you, but are you using one during your correspondence? All of it? If not, you should. Mine reads:
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John Harrington
John Harrington Photography
2500 32nd Street, SE
Washington, DC 20020-1404
National: 800-544-4577
Local: 202-544-4578
Fax: 202-544-4579
e-mail: John@JohnHarrington.com
http://www.JohnHarrington.com
It's important that you indicate your name, even if it's in your company name. Further, in the event that you have people working for you, they should use the same signature, just with a different e-mail address and, if applicable, direct-dial phone numbers.
After I've exchanged e-mail with a client a few times, I may shorten my signature to look something like this:
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John Harrington
John Harrington Photography
Local: 202-544-4578
John@JohnHarrington.com
This will still give them information, just not to the detail that the first signature does. In addition, I often will include my cell phone number in the signature because I want clients to be comfortable calling me there, too, although that information is also on my voicemail message.
Lastly, a number of mail applications allow for the inclusion of a graphic—usually a JPEG or GIF—that is a part of the signature. When I am sending an estimate to a prospective client, I will use a signature specific to that estimate type—portrait, ad, event, and so on—that includes a montage of images that's about an inch and a half tall and about seven inches wide. This montage includes images that will further sell me as the best choice for the assignment. Here's how one would look for a portrait estimate request:
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John Harrington
John Harrington Photography
2500 32nd Street, SE
Washington, DC 20020-1404
National: 800-544-4577
Local: 202-544-4578
Fax: 202-544-4579
e-mail: John@JohnHarrington.com
http://www.JohnHarrington.com
The graphic appears below the last line of the signature. It's wide enough to be appreciated, yet small enough not to bog down the transmission due to a huge file size. The graphic varies from assignment type to assignment type.
It might also be appropriate to include the disclaimer notice (that is, the one that includes "privleged, confidential,