Comments on: When Can I Expect an Email Response?

By: James

James — Sat, 08 May 2010 20:11:02 +0000

Emails? What happened to the good old postal letters? I know that emailing online is efficient and all but writing letters sort of brought light in the mail. You could tell if someone was happy when they wrote the letter because their handwriting would jump up and done. You could tell if someone was sad because there would be tears imprinted on the letter. Emails I believe can’t express emotions as would a written letter could. But in some cases its not all about emotions. It could be useful for urgent dispatches or advertising I guess.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:19:14 +0000

@Sam: I think you should avoid jumping to conclusions on the basis of one unresponded email. Sometimes, it could be that he was transitioning to a different email address. Besides, I think this is more a reflection of you than it is of your ex-coworker. Why would you want to adopt this extra burden of “caring” for someone when you don’t really enjoy it? Chances are if you don’t really enjoy conversing with the person in question, he probably feels likewise about you. It is unfair for you to expect that kind of effort from others just because you have some kind of personal standard to uphold. Not everyone feels up to being nice and friendly just because you are. But if this is what you must do then do it, but just don’t get all judgmental when people don’t respond the way you expect them to.

By: Image Consultant

Image Consultant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:07:09 +0000

Thanks for sharing this info! It was really interesting. I will surely come back again here.

By: George

George — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:08:04 +0000

I agree with Marty, and would like to add that if you don’t respond to an email, the other person has no way of knowing whether or not you actually received it.

By: Pab

Pab — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:21:32 +0000

Thanks for all your contributions. Does anyone know if there has been some similar studies done on IM?

By: Geoff Dodd

Geoff Dodd — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 13:38:23 +0000

Interesting that the study was done in 2003 because I find myself doing exactly the same things in 2007. Geoff.

By: meadows

meadows — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 17:13:15 +0000

Thanks for all of your email opinions. I am teaching a class to Correctional Officers on how to use better communication skills via email. This is good stuff.

By: Little Bunny Foo Foo

Little Bunny Foo Foo — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 04:36:08 +0000

Different strokes for different folks. Some people are better at getting and giving information when it is audible. Others are better with visual.

In addition, there are text processing tools (perl, awk, sed, grep, even NOTEPAD) that make it easier for me to process text data than for me to process audio.

But, that’s me. Others may find it entirely the opposite. Having Dyslexia or APD (Audio Perception Disorder), for example, would skew which means of communication one would prefer to engage in and respond to. IOW, someone might not respond to an e-mail because it is hard for them to process written information.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:09:08 +0000

I’ve learned that some people are just plain incompetent when it comes to reading e-mails. They either overlook them, don’t read them thoroughly enough, forget to respond, or something are just too *lazy* to respond. I used to think I was intentionally being ignored, but eventually I recognized that sometimes it’s just general incompetence. Needless to say, I avoid sending e-mails to such people, at least if I’m looking for a response.

In general, though, I agree that not responding to personal e-mails (as opposed to mass or commercial e-mails) is extremely rude and unprofessional. For instance, one of my co-workers recently left our company. I sent him an e-mail shortly afterward to see how he was doing, and he responded. A couple of months later, I sent him another one to see how he was coming out at his new job (just to be a caring former co-worker, not because I really enjoy his conversation or anything). Anyway, he never responded. Needless to say, I will never be sending him another e-mail, and my opinion of him has changed dramatically for the worse. But I do realize that it wasn’t personal–it just shows what he is really like.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 03:53:51 +0000

I agree. If I send an email to a company regarding their services or products, then I would expect a reply pretty soon as the onus is on them to get my business. And this is what happens.

But when I complain by email I rarely get a reply or else I get a do-not-reply reply automated and annoying. I have learned that for anything important to ME, I have to fax or use snailmail.

Forget email and forget call centres and premium rate lines!

Email is worthless now. I get funnies and pass this on chains and it is all just background noise. Even my work inbox fills with emails to EVERYONE about something for sale, something found, or lost, or a notice about someone leaving or a note about holidays.

I do not pass on or FWD anything any more. I NEVER REPLY to anyone any more. Ever.

If I absolutely have to respond to an email with an email, then I will start a new email, and it will simply state that I will be sending a more considered response by fax.

There’s no way I would let my emails lie unread (like the ones sent to me). lol!