Anyone who has ever talked face-to-face with another person understands there is always room for misunderstandings. This is especially true when people use different styles of communication: maybe body language doesn’t match the context of the conversation or eye contact isn’t held for the right amount of time.
A customer came in to my store shortly after last week’s article was printed and told me I missed something. Part of any communication is removing ambiguities – something we’ve all been found guilty. For those of you who didn’t read the article, I talked about electronic vs. handwritten communication.
Text messaging, in my experience, is probably the most ambiguous form of communication. Smiley faces and emoticons are commonly added to conversations to add emphasis and emotion. However, receiving the wrong type of smiley face can make the reader really confused as to the message. I’d be really confused to receive something like “I’m not feeling good :).”
E-mail’s can also be really confusing. Unless the e-mail contains a legal document or blue print, sometimes picking out the context of an e-mail can be really hard. A friend of mine recently asked me to interpret an e-mail she received from another friend. Neither of us could make sense of the sender’s purpose for the letter. Punctuation and capitalization were used inappropriately making it a very difficult read.
Clear and concise messages are best to write when dealing with someone. Allowing shortcuts between friends who talk on a regular basis is OK. However, when dealing with business colleagues or new relationships it’s best to be clear and concise. Avoiding smiley faces and excessive punctuation can be misleading and may send the wrong message.
Certain websites convey the wrong messages. I visit a lot of computer and technology related sites. Most have a similar composition: technically written text on a computer background. Several months ago I found a very rare part on a site with balloons and flowers as their background. Though they sold nothing but computer related items, none of their written context matched.
A female friend of mine was telling me a story not so long ago about conversations she was having with a man she met online. The man’s profile suggested he was looking for a relationship and everything he wrote suggested the same. Even though his stories matched, it wasn’t until meeting him that she picked up on subtleties that he was interested in something different.
Advertising, if not done correctly, can be very misleading. Years ago I had an advertisement designed that included a St. Bernard as the mascot. My logic was the dog conveyed safety and rescue emotions in people. Prior to the advertisement being published, someone from the website I was to be advertising with suggested the dog sent the message my company had something to do with pets.
Even talking through video chat can be daunting if the two people are trying to have an emotional conversation. Subtleties, like eye contact, that happen when two people talk face-to-face disappear when there’s a camera and monitor in the middle. People who use video for a living are taught to look into the camera and not at the monitor when communicating.
Mixed messages originate from many places. Communication with any technical media can lead to ambiguities and misunderstandings especially if the message isn’t clear. One of the simplest ways to avoid misleading the target audience is simply stating exactly what you’re trying to say. Creating a clear message focused on the target audience should be our primary goal when communicating to minimize misunderstandings.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can text him at (978) 413-2840 or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)