Work in Communications? Respond to Emails.
Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one. It’s so simple that it’s easy to forget: Answer your email. Acknowledge you got their message.
This is basic etiquette for any professional, but it’s the Golden Rule in client-facing work. I get it, you’re balancing meetings, big projects, small tasks and basic human needs. And then you hear the ping of your inbox.
You scan just enough to gather that the client is asking for a task you can’t get to quite yet. Or maybe they’re asking a question you don’t have the answer to and can’t figure out on your own. In either scenario, you quickly reach out to your colleagues for support, and you forget about that initial email while you wait for an internal answer – the complete response.
The problem is that your client has no idea that you’re already working on the request. Some will likely assume you’re busy (which is typically the correct assumption), but for others, it may come off as if you don’t value their relationship or time. At the end of the day, we are in customer service and perception matters.
Simply put: It’s in your best interest to quickly respond with some variation of acknowledgement. Here are a few you can try:
- “Received, thank you. I will get that for you as soon as I can.”
- “Let me check with my colleague who works on X.”
- “Thanks for flagging this. I’ll take a closer look right after I finish X for you.”
It benefits you both. For your client, they can update their team and say you’re working on it. And it buys you more time to gather the needed information or complete the task.
This is also the right approach when dealing with media relations. When I was a reporter, there were few things more frustrating than sending out an inquiry while on deadline and not hearing back for hours or days. During those times, it’s so much better to get a, “I won’t be able to get that information by your deadline,” or “I don’t have that information readily available, but I will see what I can find out.” Even if the answer is functionally a polite no, the response alone signals respect for the other person’s time.
The same rule applies to your coworkers during internal communications, but you can be more direct: “I do not have time at the moment, but my goal is to get to it by [insert timeframe].”
In every scenario, answering quickly builds trust and your reputation of being reliable. Most people are juggling multiple demands simultaneously at work and tend to understand that not everything can be done instantly. They just don’t appreciate being left in the dark. Effective communication makes all the difference.
