Tailored #Email Etiquette Advice – Useful or Unsettling?
Auto-Empathy |
| prindlepost.org |
One of the biggest drawbacks of a world so rooted in typed
communication is how difficult it can often be to convey tone. Vocally, I’m a
pretty sarcastic person, it works for me, but it can be tricky to get across in
emails or online chat. Exclamation points can be difficult, too, often when you
use one you are spinning a kind of social wheel of chance which could just as
easily land on ‘patronising’ or ‘facetious’ as it could on ‘friendly’, it’s a
total minefield! There, see what I mean?
If this is an issue that you contend with, especially in a
work capacity, then Crystal might be the ideal online tool for you. Simply by
registering via your LinkedIn account, you can create a profile and then
whenever you want to drop someone an email, Crystal will sift through reams of
online data before giving you some advice on exactly how to word the email to
maximize appeal to that particular person.
When I tested out the service, asking it to help me out with
an email to one of my colleagues, Crystal told me that I needed to use an
informal opener like ‘hey’ and that the best call to action to use would be ‘how
do you feel about…’. It explained that the colleague in question was “forward-thinking,
and isn't concerned as much about stability or social proof to make a decision
if it means he is on the cutting edge.”
 |
| crystalknows.com |
Things got even creepier when I tried to send an email to
myself. Crystal’s impression of Callum Davies “prefers to communicate with some
formality in new relationships, but quickly warms up to people, so be sure to
write thoughtful, expressive sentences and stay very positive.” She went on to
comment that apparently I’m “extremely relationship-focused, so if you try to
create a genuine personal connection, [I] will kindly reciprocate.” Further
advice revealed that I would respond well to mentions of mutual connections and
interests, suggesting phrases like “just thinking out loud” and “let’s chat”.
I have no doubt that proper phrasing and approach is
paramount to sending the most effective email for getting someone’s attention,
especially if you want something from the other person, but I’m not certain
just how effective an algorithm based tool like this can really be. When you really
scratch the surface, Crystal isn’t all that different from the myriad
personality quizzes you can take online which also access your social media
data, just more invasive. That being said, it provides an interesting impression of how online
communication might be better served by analytic tools in the future.
The danger, if this kind of thing takes off, is that you'll end up in a world where people are following a set of pre-determined emotive guidelines pretty much all the time. You won't be talking to a real person, just a kind of fabricated proxy. How this would affect business communication I don't know, but on a personal level it gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Callum Davies
Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF
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Tailored #Email Etiquette Advice – Useful or Unsettling?
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Rating:
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Rating:
Unknown
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