Three Scenarios Where You Should Call Instead of Email
Everyone sends emails; however, not everyone reads them. Depending on the recipient, emails can pile up and bury one another. Similarly, spam filters sometimes trash the wrong messages and prevent critical information from reaching its receiver. As Financial Post suggests, “Email is a bad medium for sensitive or complex conversations, and it’s certainly not the best way to develop and nurture relationships.”
Conversely, phone calls are ill suited for many situations. In an entertaining (albeit sound) article on Forbes, the writer protests that phone conversations are prone to awkwardness, disruptiveness and hastiness. Since this does accurately describe some sessions, we decided to simplify things and present three instances where you should call instead of email.
1. Discussing Time-Sensitive Matters
Usually, it is faster to dial a number than to type out an email and await a response. Thus, urgent matters work best over the phone. Moreover, people can dodge and forget emails, whereas a voicemail competes with fewer messages in the inbox.
2. Creating Rapport and Establishing Personal Relationships
Emails strip personality from the writer. Regardless of emoticons and colloquialisms, emails make it harder to detect emotion and emphasis. As well, it is difficult to gauge a person’s comprehension over an email. However, the informal nature of a phone call is conducive to a conversion more honest and beneficial for both parties.
3. Greeting or Qualifying Customers
Courtesy calls—so long as they are not overdone—can increase customer satisfaction. They construct a level of intimacy that automated and personal emails cannot. In fact, customer service reps are often more persuasive over the phone for two reasons: (1) the communication barrier is smaller and (2) the rhetoric is fuller.
