7 rules of business communication in messengers

1. Do not use the messenger as the only communication channel

Chat is for efficiency. It is convenient to quickly clarify those working points that cannot wait. However, you should not translate all work correspondence into the messenger: key messages are lost in it (and sometimes they are deleted), and people who are not responsible for making decisions are often involved in the discussion of the issue. This only complicates communication.

2. Do not make serious decisions in correspondence

Despite the widespread use of instant messengers in both small and international companies, business etiquette does not yet refer this channel to the official one. So, in the event of a disputable situation, the truth will be for the one who secured the agreement by email.

Use your work email to record agreements reached in WhatsApp or Telegram and coordinate further actions.

Another argument in favor of this recommendation is that documents are stored in the mail more reliably, if necessary, you will quickly find the information you need. Whereas you may be excluded from the chat, and the messenger itself may be blocked tomorrow.

3. Write briefly and to the point

Messenger users do not like long messages that need to scroll endlessly.

Formulate your thoughts clearly and unambiguously and adhere to the "one thought, one message" rule. Be laconic, don't express yourself figuratively, and avoid parasitic words. This clogs up the correspondence. Instead of taking a long time to describe something, send an example - a link or a picture. So your interlocutor will immediately understand what the speech is about.

4. Follow the style of your posts

Work correspondence in the messenger does not imply such informal communication that you can afford with your best friend or mom. After creating a chat or dialogue, you should not send a bunch of emoticons and use words that may not be known to your interlocutors (for example, ASAP or "forward").

To make it easier to switch from personal to work communication, distribute the correspondence over messengers. So, Telegram can be used for work communication, and WhatsApp - for personal.

5. Be careful with emoticons

Emoticons in business correspondence have long been the subject of heated debate. But if we talk about general rules, everything is quite simple here.

If you just met a person and did not see him personally, do not send him emoticons: he may not appreciate, and your further communication will not work out in the best way.

When you are texting with a colleague or customer you know for a long time and understand how they react to messages, emoticons will be appropriate. However, here it is still better to do with the standard set, and it is better to leave stickers with Yegor Letov and caricatures of famous politicians for friends.

6. Don't be afraid to use the question mark often

The main task of correspondence in the messenger is to quickly get answers to current questions. At the same time, many quite often describe in detail the essence of the issue, but do not explain what they want to get from colleagues or the customer.

Ask questions, use question marks. This will draw the other person's attention to the message and encourage them to reply to you as soon as possible.

7. Check T9

Autocorrect avoids gross spelling mistakes, but sometimes works against you. If you send “proctologist” instead of the word “productologist”, recipients will not immediately understand the meaning. And those who are not very humorous will be offended at all.

Use desktop versions of messengers whenever possible. Before sending the message, you can quickly check for errors and correct them if necessary.