Was my email received?
Did my email get caught in a spam filter?
Was my email read?
Did I say something upsetting?
Was my email confusing?
What’s even more difficult is trying to choose the appropriate time for a follow-up:
Should I wait four hours or twenty-four hours?
If I send a follow-up, will the person think I am pushy? Will I appear impatient?
When you are on the receiving end of an email, you hold all the power. It is easy to forget that the sender is waiting in limbo for a response. It is also possible that the email did get caught in a spam filter. How will the sender know?
There are obvious efficiency problems here. These can be resolved with a simple “Got it. Thanks!” email policy: Whenever an email is received from a known party (not a spammer, of course), whether internal or external, send a quick response to acknowledge receipt. You can say, simply, “Got it. Thanks.” Or, “Got it. Thanks. I will review and let you know.”
This takes only a few seconds and removes a lot of ambiguity–and inefficiency–from the email process.
If you receive a lot of “Just making sure you got my last message” emails, you may need a “Got it. Thanks!” email policy.