As the quantity and quality of our options for virtual meetings surpass Jetsons-level expectations, in-person meetings and work travel would decline. Not so. According to a report from the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), global business travel spending reached $1.33 trillion in 2017, advancing 5.8 percent over 2016 levels, and is expected to expand to $1.7 trillion by 2022 (updated: July 1, 2019).
That’s a lot of time clocked at the airport lounge for many executives and hastily pecked-out emails sent while shuffling like cattle through security and dealing with flight delays. Much has been written on workplace email etiquette (see our recent blog about appropriate email sign-offs). Still, anyone who travels frequently knows that emailing can reach new heights of aggravation and inefficiency when specific, minor considerations aren’t taken before pressing send. Whether you are the one who is traveling or the colleague back in the office communicating with your road warrior colleague, bear these simple yet effective tips in mind.
When you are the one on the road
1. Set Expectations. If appropriate, give the person you are emailing/responding to a heads up that you are traveling and for how long, and thus might be slower than usual to respond. It will help them tailor their communication with you, understand time zone differences, and adjust expectations.
2. Stick to the subject. Often, we are emailing with the same colleague or client on separate projects or topics, with two separate email subjects and strings, such as “Water Buffalo Account Issues” and “Re: Bob Loblaw’s trip to Borneo next Tuesday.” When you are pressed for time, switching to a question about Mr. Loblaw in the Water Buffalo string can be tempting because it is the easiest one to access from your phone, or vice versa.
This one is tough to stick to if you are pressed for time running to catch a flight. Still, it can be problematic and more time-consuming in the long run because 1) your recipient might not realize you have switched subjects and have to ask clarifying questions, taking up more of your already limited time, and 2) when you need to see the email string on the Water Buffalo account in a week or a month or a year, you won’t be happy when you can’t find the conclusion to the conversation because it is hiding in the long since deleted Bob Loblaw string.
3. It’s an email, not a text. Avoid extreme shorthand and texting vocabulary, especially when texting with a client or someone with whom you are not incredibly familiar. It lacks professionalism, can be construed as brusque, and leads to miscommunication. The best advice is to picture the content of your email on your company’s letterhead. If it doesn’t pass muster there, don’t send it as an email.
4. Beware autocorrect. We’ve all experienced the unfortunate autocorrect malfunction, ranging from innocently amusing to embarrassing. Consider turning off autocorrect in your phone’s settings while traveling, knowing that you are less likely to catch that embarrassing verbiage before pressing send because you suddenly find yourself at the front of the security line and need to send your phone through the x-ray.
When emailing someone on the road
1. Avoid the paperclip. Unless necessary, only send attachments, and indeed not large files, to someone on the road who is not likely to be in front of a laptop before they finally return to their hotel room. Consider copying and pasting the pertinent information directly into the email so your recipient can easily find it without too much clicking and loading in spotty reception areas.
2. Snoop the calendar. If you are emailing a colleague whose schedule you can access, look at it before sending anything that needs immediate attention or bad news. If you see that they are catching a flight that leaves at 2:55 pm EST and you need something reviewed or approved, don’t send it at 2:45 pm EST, expecting that they will be able to answer your question thoughtfully. You’ll likely catch them right as the flight attendant comes by to ensure their cell phone is in airplane mode for take-off. Think ahead, send it well before, or wait until they are wrapped up.
3. Short and sweet. Brevity is always best in email communication, particularly when emailing someone on the road. More likely than not, they will read their emails in short bursts in the car service to the airport or between meetings on their phone. Don’t make your email recipient sift through 100 words when ten would have sufficed.
4. Subject. It’s always best to have a clear, concise, and on-point subject line, particularly important when getting a road warrior’s attention. A subject line reading “Question” isn’t as likely to be opened as quickly as “Tambourine Presentation Question,” having a clear subject line makes it easier for someone on the road to find an email soon once they’ve got a quiet moment to respond.
5. Show mercy with the cc. No one likes getting stuck on an email string as a cc: recipient with little to no relevance to them, and that goes quadruple for someone on the road who has emails stacking up at a breakneck pace. Before you hit “reply all,” think first about whether or not everyone needs to see the rest of the conversation and consider showing extra mercy to your colleagues on the road.
6. The curse of the red exclamation point. That red exclamation point was designed to alert the recipient that an email is, in fact, urgent. We all have that colleague who makes liberal use of this feature, who believes that everything from a bomb in the building to a birthday cake in the conference room is worthy of high alert. Don’t be that guy. Save your road warrior colleague from the frustration of first opening that email with the red exclamation point, only to find out that what YOU consider urgent could have easily waited.
Much of this advice is really “Email Etiquette on Steroids,” which almost always boils down to thinking through how your communication will be perceived by others and putting yourself in another person’s shoes. Communication gaffes caused by lapses in email etiquette are only multiplied, magnified, and set on fire when one or more parties deal with the challenges of working from the road and across time zones. Let’s all email a little nicer.