Essential Tools to Master Gmail Accuracy

Publication Date: 2024.06.04

Many of you may have encountered situations where emails were sent accidentally in Gmail for business purposes.

Let’s delve into the risks, types, causes, and other insights associated with mistake email sends. We are here to show you some easy ways to prevent these mistakes from happening and recommend some helpful tools to make your email even more secure.

The Risk of Accidentally Sending Wrong Email

Email is a key tool for businesses. Let’s delve into the potential risks associated with these mistake emails sent.

#1 Exposure to sensitive information

Sending emails by mistake can accidentally disclose confidential information, like trade secrets, financial records, or personal details, to people who shouldn’t see them. It might lead to serious legal trouble, reputational damage, and financial losses.

#2 Loss of trust

The leakage of data, especially those involving personal information, can seriously damage a company’s reputation. This loss of public trust can make it harder for the business to operate effectively and may even hinder its growth.

#3 Increased workload

Even small data leaks can cause a lot of extra work. Companies need to take extra action to fix the mistake, such as apologizing and sending emails to correct it. This additional work might affect the other tasks.

Common Mistakes to Send Wrong Email

Sending an email to the wrong recipient might cause a huge mistake. It can lead to information leaks, lack of awareness, and rudeness. Understanding the different types of situations that can occur will help you take better prevention.

#1 Incorrect recipients

Sending emails to the wrong recipients is a common mistake that happens often. There are also cases where email addresses have been misspelled and caused to be sent to the wrong recipients or failed to send.

#2 Mismatch of content

Sending the wrong email can happen to anyone. You might accidentally send an email meant for someone else, or there could be typos in the content.

#3 Missing/wrong attachments

Attaching the wrong files to an email can be a huge security risk. It could accidentally leak confidential information, like quotations, invoices, or documents containing company or client data.

Also, missing attachments can waste your recipient’s time as they search for the files you mentioned in your email.

#4 Omission of BCC

Avoiding CC/BCC blunders is crucial when emailing multiple recipients. Using “CC” mistakenly exposes everyone’s email addresses, while a “BCC” error could leak your information.

#5 Rushing your emails

We’ve all done it: hit send on an email before it’s ready. You might forget to include the mail subject, important information, or greetings.

Reasons Behind Email Mistakes

#1 Human error

Human error is one of the most common reasons that causes email mistakes. It typically happens when we overlook checking our emails carefully before sending them, often due to being too busy. This might lead to risks such as sending the wrong email, sending it to the wrong recipient, or attaching the incorrect file.

#2 Inconsistent rules

Email mistakes can happen due to unclear company rules or because the sender is not used to handling emails properly. The company’s guidelines might not clearly explain what needs to be reviewed before sending emails, or individuals might be too busy to perform a thorough review. Even if checking emails is mandatory, without knowing what to check, neglect and mistakes can still happen.

Prevent Email Mistakes in Gmail

#1 Unsend the email with “Undo” features in Gmail

Gmail offers an “Undo” feature that allows you to unsend emails within 30 seconds. This functionality can be beneficial for correcting minor mistakes before they reach the unintended recipient.

Reference: Guide to Undo Sent Mail in Gmail

#2 Schedule emails

Gmail’s “Schedule Send” feature allows you to compose an email now and set it to be sent automatically at a specific date and time. Schedule emails to let you have more time for review before sending. Additionally, it minimizes the risk of forgetting to send an important email and ensures timely delivery.

Reference: Use “Schedule Send” to Send Email

#3 Pre-set email templates

Save time and avoid typos by creating templates for frequent email text.

Here are the guidelines for creating templates:

1. Open Gmail
2. Click on the “gear” icon at the upper left corner and click “see all settings”.

   

3. Under settings, click “Advanced”, enable “Templates” and “Save Changes”.

   

4. Create new templates by composing a new mail and click on the three dots 的 Templates 的 Save draft as templates 的 Save as new templates.

   

5. To use the saved templates, click on the three dots 的 Templates 的 Choose as per your saved templates.

   

#4 Establish internal rules

Not everyone sends emails the same way, and mistakes can happen often. To avoid this, companies should have clear rules. These rules can be simple, like “always proofread” or “use a checklist.” Companies should raise their employees on email safety and awareness of the risk of email mistakes.

#5 Adopt assistive tools

To prevent errors in email, consider using assistive tools. The benchmarks mentioned above are all manual checks, which can increase workload or lead to oversights. Leverage the assistive tools that can automate the checking process, allowing for rule-based filtering that minimizes errors.

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