E-mail Manners: Why spelling names correctly matter?

Saturday, August 05, 2006



More often than not, the local folks in Pune address me as "Laxmi" in e-mails and it is annoying. Can’t you see the e-mail address? My name is spelt as “Lakshmi” and not "Laxmi". Incidentally, the CEO of my organization has the same name as mine. It would be funny to see these senior folks address him (yes, CEO is a ‘he’) by the wrong spelling. If you don’t get it right internally, what’s the assurance they address customers correctly?

You might ask what’s in a name? That’s your identity. And it matters because that’s the first impression you form and repeated mistakes in subsequent e-mails reinforces the image you have of them that they don’t really care! So spell right for success (exception being that of Indian movie stars whose spelling change every month - thanks to numerology).