E-Mail and Marketing Connection--Part 6

And now, two of my favorites. The two I'm most guilty of--truncating letters and omitting words.

Spellcheckers don't catch truncated letters or omitted words, because the words are correct, even though they are wrong. What are some key truncated letters to watch out for?

"you" instead of "your"
"the" instead of "they"
"a" instead of "an"
"an instead of "and"
"this" instead of "these"

Omitted words cause another source of correctly spelled, but wrong, e-mails. Look at the following example: I was wondering if I have done something unknown, or if can be quite normal. Ah, yes, I wrote that myself and posted it on a listserv recently. Shame on me! The last little bit should have read: "...or if this can be quite normal." Makes a little more sense, eh?

This problem originates from editing. When you re-read something, you'll change part of it, but not catch all of it, even if you re-read your e-mails again before sending them. You often "read" what is in your mind and what you meant to say, instead of the actual words."

Omitted words are likely to creep into your marketing package since it's heavily edited. Watch out!

The only way I know to correct both of these mistakes is to set the material aside and come back to it later with fresh eyes. Although this solution isn't practical with e-mail, it can be done with your marketing package.

Go back through your e-mails you've posted and re-read them. If you find these two problems are in your e-mails, then you should take extra care with your marketing package. Let a few days go by, and then review your marketing package with fresh eyes making sure you read what's actually there, not what your mind meant to say.

Both of these mistakes are hard to detect when writing e-mails and are overlooked when posted to a public listserv. Even though they are overlooked in e-mail, you should still work on them, and learn to be aware of them. One day, you may write an e-mail to a client or respond to on online ad, and the errors may not be overlooked.

Practice in your e-mails!

article written by Dawn Spencer

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