APU Careers Careers & Learning

Tips for Communicating on the Go

mobile-communication-tipsBy Jill Kurtz
Online Career Tips Contributor

We’re on the go and our devices are letting us communicate as we move. Smartphones and tablets let us communicate anytime, anywhere. If you are opening and sending emails on smartphones and tablets, especially for business communication, it is important to adopt good mobile email manners.

The first thing to think about is whether responding to an email while online at the grocery checkout is really the best time and place. Can you sufficiently focus on the topic at hand? Do you have the resources you need to pull from? Are your hands and eyes free enough to let you type and proofread before you hit send?

When in doubt, don’t do it. Wait until you are in your office or another location where you can focus and can give that response the attention it deserves.

If you want to send a timely response, respond by phone to let the recipient know that you’ll send a more complete response as soon as possible.

When composing any type of communication on a mobile device, give careful attention to these issues:

  • Most phones offer word suggestions and autocorrect words that appear to be incorrect. We’ve all received the embarrassing results of these supposed technical supports. Read your email carefully before you hit send.
  • More and more people are reading email on mobile devices, so expect that your response will be seen on a small screen. Keep the message simple and short.
  • Make sure your message is complete, including a subject line, and don’t use texting shortcuts. That makes more work for your fingers, but reduces your chances that the recipient will be confused or worse, offended by any unclear abbreviations.
  • Most mobile devices add a default signature that names the device the message was sent from. This is helpful to no one except the brand’s sales department. Change the signature to ensure that the recipient knows you sent the message, and include your basic contact info.

The bottom line is to keep your messages clear and effective, even if you are on the go or your recipient is opening them on mobile devices. A fast response is not as effective if it does not represent your thoughts well.

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