What does the future hold for email communication?
As of this writing in June 2024, many government officials, contractors, suppliers, and even home users continue to complain about inboxes that are overflowing or out of control. In extreme cases, I've seen friends and colleagues delete entire email accounts and start over with new ones. Others use various tools and tricks to find important items.
There are many questions related to this email topic, such as:
- Should I open the email or delete it?
- Should I click on the “recommended” link in the email? (Answer: No!)
- Why didn't our spam tools stop this?
- Is this person or company reputable? Is it real (or a fake one generated by artificial intelligence)?
- Why am I receiving so many unwanted emails from the same person?
- Will they give up? (And why doesn't my filter work?)
And even when the instructions in the email are followed, they often only increase, not eliminate, frustration: For example, a requested “quick 15-minute meeting” inevitably leads to more meetings.
Or, if you respond with one of three possible reasons why you haven't responded to the other four emails they've sent you in the past month, they won't leave you alone. Instead, when they start messaging you on social media or over the phone, you'll feel like the victim of an online stalker.
As a technology professional who has worked for over 30 years in federal and state governments and across the private sector, I can say with confidence that this problem is acute everywhere and that, generally speaking, “the grass is not greener on the other side.” This means that private sector employees see just as much email as public sector employees.
Early last week, I posted the following question on LinkedIn: “What do you hate about sales emails?”
Below are ten of my favorite replies (you can read them all at the links).
Todd Hammond: “In my day to day work, a ton of real work comes into my email inbox. All unsolicited sales emails get the same treatment: spam ~> delete ~> block sender.”
Michael Brown: “I know salespeople have a tough job, but for me it's a matter of length. I often get emails that are paragraph after paragraph long. I recommend a few sentences at most, a summary of the product that can be read at your leisure, and of course your contact information.”
Jessica Marzak's response to Michael: “We've gotten mixed feedback about including white papers or any kind of attachments/links etc. because of malware/maliciousness. We've been told by many CISOs that if any cold outreach includes links or attachments, they go straight to the trash.”
Joseph Costantini's reply to Jessica: “You're right, avoid PDF attachments. If you're interested, check out this post from Adobe: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/cant-view-pdf-web.html.”
John Fowler II: “The worst thing about a sales email is when someone tells you they're clearly not interested in 'x, y, z' unless you communicate with them. I would delete it immediately. For me, precision, brevity, and clarity are the ABCs.”
Ken Stevens: “Most of the sales emails I receive are from people who don't know me or my business model. The most recent ridiculous thing I've seen is someone tried to rewrite my honeypot thinking it was a functional sales site. Upon scanning it, they couldn't even determine that there was no place to enter a purchase.”
Maureen Niemiec: “I'm sure there are more stories than I can use. Here are some examples: 1- When they ask me to spare some time to set up a meeting with my manager. Does that mean my time is less valuable than theirs? 2- When they talk about challenges I faced at my previous employer and how they solved them. I'd be better off talking to my successor. 3- When I politely explain that I don't have any projects in the works and they're happy to contact me at the end of the year, and they immediately set up a Teams meeting. No, “contact me” doesn't mean it's already on my calendar. 4- When they can't explain what their product does. They can only repeat the message they've been told, and it's usually a bunch of buzzwords. Blame it on your employer. Train your employees. Get them using your product and answer simple questions about what your product does in plain language.”
Yaron Levi: I wrote about this in this post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vendors-stop-shooting-yourselves-foot-yaron-levi-0r9gf
Jessica Marzak (again): “To everyone commenting on this post, this is thought-provoking. How many of you have had serious conversations with your sales teams about what's working and what's not working to help you sell more effectively?”
Charles Buechler: “What we must always remember is to treat others the way we want to be treated. If the email is tailored to you or your company, be firm and say “no thanks” and if it's part of a mass email list, delete and block it. As an anecdote, many years ago I was a portfolio manager for a consumer electronics company. We had a client who was a nice guy and we invited him on a trip to a city where we owned a yacht. But it was quite far away, so we decided to stop by another group of retailers. We took this national buyer (different product range) to a meeting and introduced him as an associate. Coming out of the meeting his response was “They're so rude”, “Is that how I treat people? 😮” and “Yes, most of the time 🤣”
Cybersecurity impacts
Yes, some of these email issues have cyber hygiene implications that we have covered in previous blogs. Here are some topics to consider:
However, this article is not (mainly) about the security aspects of these emails, as many people don't even get that far.
Some might think that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) could come to the rescue, but GenAI is also being used to create and improve emails that are sent (for profit), so there's a bit of a battle for email brewing. This YouTube video covers some of these topics:
Final thoughts
So, what do you recommend?
This is a hard question to answer because, no matter what proper etiquette most email marketers use, I don't have the time or desire to read and respond to a ton of what you're offering. I have a job to do during the day, and it's not about helping sell your latest thing. For example, any email offering me an award (especially for a magazine I've never heard of or that is deemed “paid”) will be deleted.
That being said, I am cautious about people I really know and companies I know and respect, so start by sending authentic emails from real, verified people.
While most junk email ends up in the spam folder, real relationships from trusted people are often read and acted upon appropriately. This means meeting real people at conferences, events, business meetings, and other business situations before you send an email. Network the “old fashioned way” and earn the right to be heard.
Lastly, please do your homework. I will not be fooled by your mass marketing techniques 99.999% of the time. Provide convincing answers, not one-liners.
As I have said many times on this blog and at conferences around the world, in a Zero Trust world we need to build trust and maintain human trust.
