American Colleagues not responding to your emails?

Nov 21 / Daniel Donahey
What does it mean if an American colleague fails to answer your email in a timely manner, or at all?

In most cases, if an American fails to respond to your email within one day, then he/she will probably not respond at all. By the way, this is also why Americans follow up so quickly and frequently if you don’t respond to them within one day.

For a set of email templates that have been proven to work extremely well in German-American business, just go to Part 1 - Supplemental in the American Business Culture Specialist Course and download them!

But why wouldn't an American respond quickly?

There are only a few reasons:

1. Your email was too complex, (more than 10 sentences and/or more than 1 question).

2. You described the situation well, but you didn’t say exactly what response you expected and/or when.

3. You were too direct, possibly using terms like, “I want…, I need…, You must, You may not… Why did or didn’t, Who did or didn’t…? A.S.A.P. or Thank you in advance.”

4. You sent the email through a distribution list or copied to other recipients, which tends to weaken accountability.
Email is a very good supporting form of communication in American business, but it is a very weak primary form, probably the weakest form of all. Email comes with two major problems:

1. It doesn’t not support alignment very well.

2. It is not viewed as urgent.

Alignment and urgency are the two most important concepts in all of American business. And email doesn’t is bad at both things. In fact, email is likely the least urgent form of communication in existence, even if you mark an email with a red exclamation point or write URGENT in all caps, you simply can’t make an email seem urgent.

For emails to get the best possible results, they should be supplemented with text messages, chats, calls, and online meetings. Avoid copying anyone if you can. Just send the email to the person who you expect to take action. Emails should not exceed 10 sentences or 1 question. 

For a set of email templates that have been proven to work extremely well in German-American business, just go to Part 1 - Supplemental in the American Business Culture Specialist Course and download them!
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