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While all brands want to improve their email marketing results, there are many small mistakes that can render your efforts useless.

Consumers resent email marketing errors. Others prevent the message from ever reaching them. Also, any email marketing blunder can result in low open rates, click-through rates, and other forms of engagement. Overall, making mistakes with your email marketing can cause you to lose subscribers.

The best way to avoid these pitfalls is to recognize them. Examine this list of eight common email mistakes brands make to see if your messages — and metrics — are included.

1. Lack of Personalization

Personalized emails generate six times more sales than non-personalized emails, yet 70% of brands fail to personalize. That’s a huge missed chance. Consumers today dislike impersonal marketing and don’t have time for messages that don’t acknowledge their existence. If you don’t personalize, you’re probably losing out on a lot of potential sales.

The best part of personalization is that marketing automation tools can tell you so much about your subscribers. Use an automation tool that allows you to see where your prospects are in their buyer journey, as well as their current pain points and issues.

2. Poor Editing

But just because you don’t expect your email marketing message to read like The Atlantic doesn’t mean you can get away with mistakes. Poorly edited copy damages your brand’s integrity and suggests to your subscribers that you lack authority.

Hire a professional editor to fix all your content, including email copy. A free online editing tool like Grammarly can spot errors that you may not see.

3. Bait-Driven Subject Lines

You must fulfill the promises made in your subject lines. While a catchy subject line may entice recipients to open your message, misinforming them about what they will find will undermine their trust in your brand. That’s a risk you can’t afford to take in consumer marketing.

Nobody likes seeing a great subject line, only to open the email and find nothing related to the subject line. That you’ve been hoodwinked. That’s bad marketing to your subscribers.

4. ALL-CAPS SUBJECT LINES

How do you think your subscribers feel when you use all-caps in subject lines? Aside from looking like you’re yelling, capital letters in subject lines imply spam to both recipients and email platforms. So, if you think using all-caps in your subject lines will attract attention, think again.

Use emojis instead of all caps in email subject lines. We’ve found that emojis effectively draw attention to our emails and encourage recipients to open them. Win-win!

5. Long, dull content

Don’t bore your readers with unnecessary copy. Overly wordy, convoluted, or uninteresting content will not entice readers to stay. A sentence or short paragraph can tease a longer piece, which can then link to the larger piece on your site.

Also, most people read emails on their phones, so they may be doing something else or have limited time to read the content. Respect that by keeping your emails short and sweet, which will also help you get better results.

6. Sending at the wrong time

With so much research done on the best days and times to send marketing emails, there’s no excuse to send them at random. Your own data is as vital as the research. It’s a big mistake not to let your conversion rates dictate what day and time you send.

We suggest you research the available data and use it to inform your email marketing schedule. Keep track of your monthly open, click-through, and conversion rates. For better results, try different days and times, track, then re-evaluate.

7. Not Performing A/B Testing

Industry-wide statistics are without a doubt one of the most valuable resources you have for guiding your strategy. But even more important are your own stats, which is why A/B testing is vital. There is no universal email marketing strategy; only one that works for you. A/B testing your emails ensures that you get the most out of your experience and that you can use data to improve your campaigns. Don’t do it and you’re not sending optimized emails.

Create two emails with the same copy but different CTAs or subject lines. Send each email to a segment of your audience on the same day and time. Compare the open and click-through rates. Identify which CTA and subject line resonated with them.

Marketing includes errors. What matters is whether you learn from them. These email marketing mistakes can lead to poor results on emails that otherwise would have performed well. You can’t be perfect (and nobody expects you to be), but you can plan to avoid making mistakes.

Examining key trends in 2022 will help you shape your approach to digital marketing and make informed decisions about how to use technology for business or personal purposes.

1. AI in Digital Marketing

Many companies now use AI in retail, banking, healthcare, and other fields.

AI is also being used effectively in marketing.

AI can not only automate basic tasks like website traffic reporting but also recommend keywords to improve a company’s organic search ranking or even predict future purchases based on past purchases and browsing history.

Using AI in conjunction with SEO and other digital marketing strategies will be critical by 2022 if you want to rank higher on Google.

AI is changing the way marketers approach digital marketing, and businesses should too.

2. Moving to Mobile-First Marketing

Mobile-friendly content ranks higher in search engines as more people use smartphones and tablets instead of desktops.

Mobile marketing strategies can be as simple as optimizing your website design for smaller screens or creating a separate app for mobile phones and tablets.

In 2022, you must have a responsive design for your website or app so that customers with any device can easily access your content.

AMP (accelerated mobile pages) is another option for mobile content.

Mobile-first marketing will be the biggest business trend in 2022, so get started now!

3. Voice and Chatbot Assistants

Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa are becoming increasingly popular.

Voice-based shopping is expected to reach $40 billion by 2022, with 18% of consumer spending going to voice assistants.

Many businesses are now using chatbots to help automate customer service needs on social media, email marketing, and other online platforms.

Chatbots can answer customer questions with minimal human intervention.

Customer interaction with companies using chatbots is more fun than simply communicating through social media because chatbot dialogue is typically powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Chatbots are a great way to provide a personalized and fun experience for your customers!

By 2022, all businesses must have chatbots in their digital marketing strategy to increase online customer interactions.

4. Automated Marketing Tasks

Marketing automation tools are gaining popularity as technology advances.

Marketing automation allows marketers to automate repetitive tasks across multiple marketing channels in real-time.

Saving time researching and compiling data, scheduling social media posts in advance, or sending prewritten email templates to customers who haven’t opened your emails in days!

Automation will become more important for businesses in 2022 as it allows marketers to focus on higher-level tasks.

5. Multichannel Marketing For The Connected Digital

Today’s customers expect multiple ways to connect. This is not the time to rely solely on websites or cold calls.

Creating a blog, website, social media presence, and WhatsApp group is all part of multichannel marketing!

Businesses need an integrated approach that allows them to create content for each platform while maintaining their brand voice.

In 2022, businesses must build strong customer bases through multiple marketing and communication channels!

Conclusion

It’s vital to know future trends so you can prepare and stay ahead of the competition.

Marketing, in most people’s opinion, will be AI-based. So the sooner a company invests in AI, the better!

eMarketer predicts total online sales of $2.29 trillion in 2021. However, ecommerce conversion rates are still lacking.

The conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase. On average, 77.24 percent of shoppers abandoned their carts without paying in 2019, adding to the challenges faced by ecommerce sites. Considering the above data, it is clear that most online retailers must reduce shopping cart abandonment and increase conversion rates.

Here are some simple ways to increase conversion rates:

Adopt an omnichannel payment system

Omnichannel retail refers to shopping experiences that combine online and offline shops. For example, a shopper may find a dress they like online. The shopper may add the dress to their online shopping cart, but choose to visit the store nearest them to try it on or feel the fabric. Depending on the outcome of this visit, the customer may purchase the dress in-store, online, or even via mobile device.

According to the Harvard Business Review, omni-channel customers spend 4% more in stores and 10% more online than single-channel customers.

To provide a complete omni-channel experience, you must allow simple and secure shopping via multiple payment channels, including in-store, online, and mobile. These channels should accept credit cards, mobile payments, and eWallets. A single payment service provider can provide all of the above, plus additional benefits that increase customer satisfaction, retention, and conversions. Among the perks are:

Ensure a smooth payment process

In the US, lengthy or complicated checkout processes account for nearly 39% of shopping cart abandonment. Payments should be simple to increase conversions. Payment processing ease increases conversion rates.

Pay with a single click

Amazon, for example, has adopted one-click payments. Customers only need to enter payment info once. Using a PCI certified Payment Service Provider (PSP), sensitive data is securely stored and tokenized. The customer benefits from secure one-click payments.

A/B testing payment pages

A/B testing will reveal the most effective elements. It shows you where you’re losing customers and which parts of the payment process are effective or ineffective. By presenting different versions of the same webpage to different customers, you can determine which elements need to be changed and which should be standard.

Use a PCI DSS compliant payment processor

PSPs that implement PCI DSS standards provide the highest level of fraud protection while reducing false positives. For example, these providers use advanced authentication technologies to reduce fraud and false positive transactions.

These PSPs also have advanced security systems that use big data to analyze transactions and detect fraud. These systems analyze historical data and trends to improve fraud detection.

Smooth customer service

Customers can switch between channels to try out products or pay for items quickly after seeing them in stores. This ease and flexibility will improve customer satisfaction and ultimately increase purchases.

Data from in-store and online transactions

Retailers can use data from a single PSP to analyze customer trends and improve marketing strategies to increase conversion rates.

Offering a secure and seamless payment process to customers can increase conversion rates and decrease shopping cart abandonment. In addition, PSPs can create an omnichannel payment process, which has been shown to increase customer spending across single brands.

Less work and more resources

Omnichannel retailing necessitates centralized inventory and workforce management. A single PSP allows for data collection and analysis of resource requirements for each channel. Better customer service will result from faster delivery times and more customer service representatives available online and in-store.

When given enough data, AI can think, read, and react almost like humans. However, it is best known for robotics, speech recognition, and image recognition.

Why is Artificial Intelligence gaining popularity?

1. Know your audience better

By analyzing data, AI can easily predict target customers’ purchasing behavior and decisions, improve user experience, and deliver what customers really need.

2. AI analyzes deeper data for insights

Data insight is the ability to understand specific business phenomena using machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. For example, a machine learning model predicting customer churn can reveal churn rate drivers and help change business strategies and processes.

3. Efficient work

Providing general AI support can increase employee satisfaction and productivity. Automation can replace work that is considered unproductive.

Workers can devote more time to tasks that require human intelligence and creative problem-solving skills. Data entry, separating leads from a marketing campaign, and answering customer questions can all be automated by chatbots and AI.

Human intervention can be reserved for complex customer interactions and non-pre-programmed problems.

4. ROI growth

AI can automate repetitive tasks. This can boost output. In fact, according to Forbes’ Joe McKendrick, more than half (51%) of decision makers acknowledge that AI can reduce costs. Simultaneously, AI helps businesses increase profits and cut costs.

Marketing AI Benefits

1. Automates marketing

Some people worry about AI replacing humans. Others believe AI works with humans, not ‘instead of’ them.

It can streamline your marketing efforts by intelligently responding to consumer feedback. To market yourself and your business, you no longer need to waste time responding to repetitive queries or FAQs because AI assistants like AmazonEcho can do it for you.

It’s not enough to simply read the device’s activation message. Later, AI can function independently. From purchase to flight booking, to financial management and even financial advice.

2. Clarifies

According to a recent survey, 71% of marketers believe brands don’t understand consumers. The majority of marketers want brands to spend more on customer awareness and relationships. Get clear, accurate answers when you need them with AI-powered voice guidance, technology, and IoT.

3. Natural Dialogue

When voice assistants were new, they could recognize your voice and respond, but not carry on a conversation.

Modern voice assistants like Google can now maintain a feedback loop and even have short conversations with users.

4. Vocal Recognition and Security

Siri and other AI voice assistants use voice recognition to help users. It also provides extra security by only activating when the owner speaks.

The device intelligently recognizes voice changes and modulations, so it always responds to the device owner.

Application of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing for Your Company

1. Chatbots

The most common application of AI is a chatbot. When you think about chatbots, Google Dialogflow, Amazon Lex, and Azure Bot services come to mind. These bots help your apps and services understand your instructions. Several AI Chatbots like WotNot can help you communicate better with customers using no-code. You can use chatbots to interact with current and potential customers on websites, emails, apps, and texts.

2. E-mail

Brands use AI to personalize email marketing campaigns based on user ratings. This will improve your connection and possibly allow you to switch to the client.

Based on the data of millions of consumers, machine and auto-learning generate the best time and day of the week to contact users, recommended frequency, and the most intriguing content in the subject and title of the email. The A/B test takes time and may contain errors. In this sense, AI can help you personalize email content for each subscriber.

3. Online content search

Advertisers must constantly develop and publish content to keep up with changing needs. Amazon’s Echo, Microsoft’s Cortana, and Google’s Home are recent examples. By pressing all simple buttons, you can ask basic questions and enable voice control.

Introduction

Silos have always been an issue in digital marketing, preventing marketers from fully understanding the customer journey. So companies are investing in omnichannel to better understand how marketing channels interact and contribute to overall performance.

But most companies always leave out affiliate marketing. It’s one of the few online channels still seen as unique, with management often delegated to untrustworthy third parties or low-level internal employees.

Affiliate programs are intertwined with your other digital marketing efforts. In fact, a healthy affiliate program may improve SEO and PPC ROI. How?

It’s all about content

It’s no secret that content is king these days. Google now favors useful, engaging content, and brands that produce a lot of it stand a better chance of being discovered.

Sadly, many in-house teams find this a daunting task. Writing content takes time and talent. Affiliate marketing can help here.

A quality affiliate program targets quality content sites and bloggers. Most of them are experienced writers who are passionate about your field. It will encourage them to write about your brand, products and promotions. Assist them in writing brand-consistent content by providing them with relevant content and ideas.

To clarify, affiliate marketing won’t improve your site’s SEO; all affiliate links should be no follow. You’ll be creating more content, and your organic reach will expand to include all of these affiliate sites. You now have content on affiliate sites for keywords that your own site may not rank for. Because this content is all relevant and accurate, it helps convert visitors on your site.

PPC: Better ROI

A healthy affiliate program improves both SEO and PPC campaign ROI. This is due to affiliate sites bidding on branded keywords.

Branded search campaigns should be a no-brainer. The competition is low, and people searching for branded terms are likely to have interest in buying.

To capture some of that traffic, many of the larger affiliate sites bid on branded terms. They re-direct people to the merchant’s site after they click on their ad and visit their site. The merchant must then pay affiliates for customers who were already trying to find the merchant’s website.

The merchant pays twice for these conversions. They are not only paying unnecessary affiliate commissions, but also increased bids for their branded keywords. For keywords that include their own trademarked terms, they must pay more or risk losing traffic to affiliate sites. Needless to say, this can negatively impact a campaign’s ROI.

For companies that use last-in attribution, this can distort the performance of PPC and affiliate channels. The affiliate will get full credit for a conversion it didn’t earn. And the PPC will be undervalued because it would have gotten that conversion anyway.

Affiliates must follow the brand’s trademarked names and phrases if they are to be accepted into the affiliate program. Affiliate programs can prevent affiliates from bidding on these terms. Active program management will monitor affiliates daily to prevent any violations.

A poor affiliate management strategy or failure to integrate affiliate marketing with other channels can result in a loss of these two benefits. Since there are so many channels and touchpoints before conversion, merchants can’t afford to have their affiliate programs live in isolation.

With the impact of COVID-19, ecommerce has become our primary shopping method. And as global customers get used to it, it may become a permanent shift. Sellers are focusing on acquiring and retaining buyers who have adjusted to the new reality.

During and after COVID-19, retailers must be ready to accept temporary and permanent change. To remain competitive, they must rethink how they serve customers who increasingly prefer a global marketplace. It all comes down to how well you use customer data like addresses. Valid addresses help businesses grow, reduce costs, prevent fraud, and improve customer satisfaction. It’s clear that ecommerce companies are ignoring it.

Poor address data can cause problems for sellers. It can lead to failed deliveries and marketing promotions, resulting in high costs with no return. While these are critical issues, missed opportunities can cascade. Bad customer data can harm customer relationships, stifling business growth.

Considering Address Data’s Potential

Global sellers face both common and unique challenges in this highly competitive ecommerce environment.

Employ third-party address identification to ensure delivery of the right goods to the right customer at the right location.

Include extra address information to reduce shipping costs and avoid address correction fees. Residential delivery indicators help avoid unnecessary costs and ensure accurate address data.

US sellers shipping internationally must be aware of global shipping requirements and costs. Validated address data ensures deliveries arrive at the right door.

Prevent fraud with data tools that efficiently match names and addresses. This method creates an easy way to electronically verify a customer’s identity.

Automate correct information with autocompletion tools that only accept correct data. Manual data entry and its errors are eliminated. Autocompletion improves customer experience and reduces cart abandonment.

Protecting against fraud with address data

In addition, accurate contact information can help prevent credit fraud. Consider that in the US, roughly 47% of online shoppers use credit cards to pay. Chargebacks for fraudulent credit card purchases account for nearly 30% of refunds. Sellers pay over twice as much for fraud ($2.40 for every $1.00), plus the cost of the good, which is rarely returned.

Verified address data helps reduce costs by discouraging fraud. Unverified address data buyers may be restricted to certain payment methods or prevented from completing checkout.

1-10-100 for Ideal Data Value

Integrating data tools and creating automated processes to clean customer data keeps costs down. It also ensures the maintenance of time, effort, data, and customer relationships. The 1-10-100 rule states that the longer bad data exists and permeates errors within a data management system, the higher the repair costs.

You can manage global client data with clean, up-to-date address information. De-duplicating data and building deeper customer profiles with other demographic and social elements are examples of how this can be done.

Address Basics Aren’t So Basic

Verified address information is a critical component of profitable ecommerce. Verified address data works well with other popular data tools like supply chain management, CRM, and ERP. It powers customer service, direct mail, shipping, warehouse management, accounting, and more, boosting sales and a company’s reputation.

Achieving excellence in customer data is a smart opportunity for sellers to differentiate themselves from unreliable sellers.

Digital marketers are delighted at the prospect of reaching about 4.6 billion global email users by 2025. Email marketing is still one of the highest ROI communication channels in 2021, and that is unlikely to change.

Along with the promotion opportunities, email marketing presents many security issues. This increases the need for a robust cyber-security system.

Here are the main threats email marketers will face and how to combat them.

1. Phishing attacks

Phishing emails and web attacks are nothing new, but in 2021 they have skyrocketed. In January 2021, there were 27% more phishing sites (over 2,145,000) than in January 2020.

To prevent phishing attacks, users should avoid opening emails that contain links to malicious websites. Later, the malware will freeze the computer’s operations, allowing the hacker to steal private credentials or access all user accounts.

The emails are realistic in design and communication style, just like the real thing. As a result, many organizations worldwide actively train employees to identify and avoid suspicious emails.

Anti-phishing

This cybersecurity SaaS prevents email phishing and unauthorized domain usage in enterprise environments. With the DMARC DNS record on the company domain, users get periodic reports on the main email security threats and how to improve protection.

2. Account Takeover (ATO) attacks

Account Takeover (ATO) attacks allow hackers to access victims’ accounts. This puts the user’s financial accounts at risk, as fraudsters steal login credentials for banks, ecommerce sites, and other sites.

Email hackers are increasingly using Office 365 Account Takeover, according to Gartner. phishing emails pretending to be an Office 365 Administrator, asking users to login and reset their password. The user falls for the scam and enters their credentials, which the attacker then uses to log into the account. The phishing emails also spread throughout the organization’s internal mailboxes.

ATOs are difficult to detect because they appear to be from reliable sources. In more sophisticated hacks, the hacker manipulates the account’s notifications, causing the owner to overlook suspicious activity.

ATO safety

Proofpoint EFD authenticates all incoming and outgoing email communication. The integration of EFD secures both internal communication within an organization and external communication with partners or customers. Identity deception features in EFD automatically block lookalike domains that the email account owners do not use.

3. Attachment-based threats

A formal email inviting the recipient to read the attached document may appear innocent at first. However, the prevalence of attachment-based email attacks warrants caution.

Ransomware is a common attachment-based threat where hackers encrypt data and demand payment to restore it. Keyloggers are a common threat. Upon clicking on the malware attachment, the keylogger begins recording all the keys entered for each account.

Popular email attachment formats to double-check before clicking include .iso and .exe.

So far, so good for digital marketers who receive email security alerts. However, as technology advances, new email security threats may emerge that are difficult to predict. So, especially for large businesses, email security integrations should be routine.

Influencer marketing success does not require popular digital influencers. You must also consider their influence and engagement. Ideally, your influencers will create valuable content that aligns with your goals and attracts a targeted audience.

The following influencers can work well with beauty brands.

Instagram influencers

Instagram is used by over 700 million people monthly. But this isn’t the only reason beauty brands use Instagram influencers. Instagram is a highly visual network, so the images stand out.

The beauty industry is entirely visual. Beauty can be a red-lipped, smoky-eyed night on the town, or a clean-faced summer face. You may be able to picture those looks after reading about them. But what happens when you make them live?

Visually disconnected beauty loses its wow factor. As a result, beauty brands are using Instagram to showcase the true benefits of their products.

Instagram’s features like Stories, Galleries, and Live allow beauty brands to connect with consumers in multiple ways. Brands can engage more people with their products by using live videos and stories.

YouTubers influencers

YouTube has 14.9 billion beauty views, with 700 million monthly.

Makeup artists, beauty vloggers, and cosmetics buyers create videos to show off their favorite brands to the world. YouTube beauty video viewers flock to learn about makeup application, the latest products, and how their favorite influencers use them to create new and exciting looks. They engage with their favorite vloggers and digital influencers and trust their recommendations.

Videos allow digital influencers to show viewers how to properly use cosmetics and beauty products to achieve the desired results. Love a good before-and-after? It’s not uncommon for beauty vloggers to start their videos with a clean face and then transform it in front of the camera. As a result of their obsession with achieving the same transformation, viewers are compelled to purchase the products featured in the videos. These videos deliver results to beauty consumers.

Micro-influencers

Everyone wanted to be popular in school, but being popular isn’t easy.

Not all celebrities can help your influencer marketing campaign and ROI. The “smaller” guys get more likes and comments than their “larger” celebrity counterparts. The sweet spot seems to be micro-influencers, or digital influencers with 10,000 to 100,000 followers.

While a celebrity endorsement may increase engagement, it may also decrease sales. For example, if your beauty brand partners with a celebrity whose fan base is largely uninterested in beauty products, the campaign may fall flat. Your conversions may be higher if you partner with 40-50 micro-influencers who have a beauty-obsessed following and regularly post beauty videos and images because they post more relevant content and appear more authentic. Their communities share similar desires, likes, and dislikes because they are niche-focused. They may also have close-knit communities of friends.

Consider working with micro-influencers for a more authentic, high-converting influencer marketing campaign.

Branded content engagement is becoming increasingly difficult. With “brand blindness,” even a slight hint of bias can turn off shoppers and turn them away. Hence the popularity of influencer-generated content. User-generated content is more influential than branded content, according to OfferPop via Adweek. It is more authentic, inspired, and genuine.

Create more creative control over your influencer marketing content if you want to reach skeptical hard-to-reach consumers.

How Do You Create Successful Campaigns?

Influencers are people who are followed and engaged by social media users who are looking for recommendations and unbiased advice. They also form tight-knit communities that make it difficult for brands to join in.

Putting influencers in charge of content creation is the best way to engage their followers. Let the influencers speak; their followers will listen.

Consider the following points to start your campaigns off right.

1. Loyalty

Avoid influencers who are a one-hit wonder and jump from brand to brand. While some one-time exposure is good for your brand, look for influencers who will grow with you as your brand grows. While it may not be possible to determine an influencer’s full loyalty up front, consider those who may fit that role in the future and work to develop a long-term partnership.

Look for influencers who breed loyal audiences. The more loyal and close-knit the followers, the more likely they are to act on advice.

2. Trust

The two go hand in hand. Working with new influencers can be risky because you don’t know how their content will portray your brand.

However, when choosing influencers, keep in mind that trust is important for ROI. You have done most of the work if you choose the right influencer and follow the steps outlined in this article.

Past performance and reviews will also ease your concerns as you select your influencers. You will trust more if the influencers have vetted positive feedback.

3. Tracking

Even if a campaign yields positive results, which influencer drove the most engagement? Do influencers promote different deals? Various web pages? Which directly impacts your sales?

You need to know the answers if you want to control what works and what doesn’t. Spending money on influencer marketing campaigns without knowing how to adjust is a waste of money.

Here are three ways to measure influencer campaign success:

• To track your campaigns, use Google UTM parameters and add specific tags to your tracking links. When people click on these links, the data is sent to your Google Analytics account for analysis.
• Coupon codes – Create unique coupon codes for each influencer to track campaign efficacy.
• Cost Per Engagement (CPE) – This metric is more difficult to calculate because engagement is not a number. Manually calculating this metric is as simple as comparing the amount spent on a campaign to the number of engagements (likes, comments) received across all posts. Note: Automated software that can easily calculate total engagement is best for tracking ROI.

Conclusion

These three points are the core of an influencer-generated content campaign. Pay attention to each as you seek out the best influencers. It takes time to find influencers who fit your brand and culture, but don’t skip a step. The extra time and effort put into the search will pay off in the end.

Personalities and emails, two seemingly unrelated things, can be linked. In a highly virtual world, the latter reveals much about the former. They may be more obvious than you think. Look no further than your email habits to identify key changes you want to make to increase your daily productivity and success.

Do your emails constantly get misinterpreted or your inbox overflows with no relief in sight? These are just a few examples of how your personality can affect your ability to communicate effectively in a highly complex virtual environment. Let’s examine these personalities:

The Corrector

Do you constantly check for typos in emails? Do you want to email them to clarify? Or do sloppy writers make you smarter? The issue is not habitual if it is directed at one person. If you find yourself doing this with many, it’s time to look within and find better ways to spend your time.

You may write absurdly long emails in your quest for clarity. Others may find this vexing. If your email is longer than six lines, stop. Consider calling. Avoid “Reply All.” Reply All may seem useful in your quest for clarity, inclusion, or safety. One word: waste.

The Accumulator

Do you write three versions of your email before sending it? Doubtful about how your email will be perceived? Re-read and modify it? Do you often ask others for feedback on emails you haven’t sent?

Coordination and harmony may consume your day and delay your response. It may even impair your decision-making ability. No unnecessary bottlenecks for your team or your daily operations. How is that affecting your work? Do you tend to respond slowly to your team because you lack information?

Look at how you solve problems. Seek feedback from peers. Can you improve your communication? Sadly, no one can read your mind. Sharing your thoughts is as important as having internal dialogue. It helps others understand your thoughts. It also explains your actions, which may surprise others.

The Pressed

Do you prioritize email efficiency? Do you often find your emails misinterpreted or misquoted? Are you direct when addressing your team? Do you think a nice email note (like “hope you are well”) is a waste of time?

Yes to two or more of the above questions indicates you may be too abrupt in your emails. Despite your desire for results, your emails may be too direct. This can demotivate your team, and your lack of focus on the “small stuff” may hinder your efforts.

Consider public communication as a quick fix for abruptness. What would an uninvolved third party think of your emails? Your emails may be misinterpreted if you appear too dry. Before you start writing your next email, make sure to check in with your recipient. You can be firm and kind at the same time. Add a note of support or appreciation at the end of your email.

The Swamped

Does email take over your day, dictating how you spend your time? Prevent being “the dictated” by scheduling email. Schedule it into your day and keep to a reasonable time frame. Consider how you can keep going and succeed. Create a system that simplifies your response.

It all comes down to daily habits. If you’re completely overwhelmed by email, watch out for hoarding tendencies. The first step to overcoming this overwhelm is to examine your communication style. Do you avoid face-to-face interactions? Would you rather send a long email than make a quick phone call?

It’s hard to leave the familiar. You may have a false sense of security in your methodical approach to our daily tasks. Recognizing your triggers and avoiders can help you make significant progress in your work habits — and change your behavior.

Making A Change

If you want better results from your interactions with others, especially via email, first identify the thoughts that are holding you back. Identify the belief that underpins your behavior and explore its root cause.

Every day, commit to a small change and follow through. Seek advice from peers, mentors, or coaches. Find a pro and ask for advice. Adopt a new habit and watch your productivity skyrocket.