A Little Art Email Etiquette S’il Vous Plait!

Vincent Van Gogh - Self Portrait, 1886

Sometimes, when I read some of the emails we receive, I wonder if I am from a different century. That would be a century where people introduced themselves before speaking, asking questions, or demanding information. A century where people don’t barge into your manor-house without an invitation!

Now – in fairness, I have to say that most emails I receive are polite and generally well written. Artists on the whole have a good sense of community and most also have a good grasp of language and communication.

That said, there are an alarming few emails which really surprise me and leave me wondering what the sender was thinking. The greatest volume of these are one-liners from people I have never met. A few examples:

Need prices.

Send information.

Need Information about artist websites.

How to order a website?

Where is my article?

I saw your add. Link doesn’t work.

A little rule of thumb: One liners without a “Dear yyy” or “Hi yyy” and a simple introduction are fine and dandy once you have established a relationship with the person you are emailing to. But NEVER send a one-line email as an introduction! Don’t do it with galleries, buyers, customers, or even people or businesses you buy from.

Now – I know that when some artists send us first-time emails at Beautiful Artist Websites, they are thinking of us as a vendor of services -  a business they might eventually pay money to. Because of that they think it’s OK to not bother with the regular formalities.

That’s a big mistake because as a good business we also choose who we do business with – we want good long-term relationships and we don’t work with people simply because they wave money in our face. More and more modern businesses are similarly values-based because it’s more enjoyable and more profitable.

My other major problem with some of the emails we receive is the number of artists who place us on their email lists without asking permission. It’s a basic and well understood rule of email marketing that you must get permission to do this. Honestly – we LOVE to be included on artists email lists – we want to know about your upcoming shows and exhibitions – but you need to be polite and ask first.

Personally, I could probably live with this, but what concerns me is that artists who add us to their email lists without permission are probably also adding galleries, collectors, decorators, and other artists without their permission. That won’t help you do build relationships because it isn’t polite. It’s also a violation of SPAM regulations.

This is such a simple and obvious topic that this post shouldn’t really be necessary. Avoiding one-liner introductory emails and asking permission before adding someone to your list are simple formalities which will help you build better relationships and better sales.