How to Send the Right E-Mail to the Right Person: A Lesson Learned the Hard Way

Do you dash off e-mails and hit “send” without a second glance?  Whether we choose to admit it or not, most of us are guilty of doing this.  My husband, Brian, is an outstanding REALTOR however he recently admitted to sending an e-mail to the wrong person by mistake.

Just today, he told me that he meant to send one of his clients an e-mail containing an important contract.  The client’s e-mail was something like, “JohnQPublic@hotmail.com.“  As Brian hastily typed the e-mail, he accidentally forgot to include the “Q” in the address bar.  As a result, the e-mail was sent to “JohnPublic@hotmail.com.”

The recipient, John Public, was so irate when he received this e-mail that he responded with an e-mail that read, “Please desist all correspondence to this email address.  You do me, yourself, and your clients a disservice by not verifying the address to which you send sensitive and private documents.”

Point well taken. The lesson learned is to always check and double-check a person’s e-mail address prior to sending sensitive or confidential information.  If you don’t, it could end up in the wrong hands.

Have you ever sent an email that you later regretted sending?  If so, let me hear from you.

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