Email Etiquette: Crystal Review
In my last blog post I wrote about a new predictive email technology called Crystal, that scours the internet for information on people and then provides suggestions on how you can better word your emails to suit their personalities. Since writing that post I was able to access a trial of Crystal and here’s what I found out:
There are actually several parts to Crystal; personality profiles, Crystal for Gmail and Email Assistant, and predictive relationships. First, I wanted to start with personality profiles to find out what Crystal had to say about myself. Each search that you do is backed by an accuracy confidence rating. My results were based on a 95% accuracy confidence, which basically meant that I have a lot of information online, so Crystal was able to easily locate that info to determine suggestions. According to Crystal, I’m a skilled communicator but I also frequently take on too much responsibility. Ouch- I think I might have been in denial about that last part, but it’s definitely true.
Confident that Crystal was doing what it said it did, I decided to take my personality sleuthing to the next level and search for my coworkers. The searches rendered the same scary-accurate results, all with pretty great tips on how I could better communicate with them via speaking, emailing, or selling.
Crystal can also predict how two people will act when they meet. I didn’t test this out, but I can only imagine that the predictive relationship tool would be invaluable when deciding what consultant to send out to a specific prospect to make a sale, or even when interviewing or meeting a new team member.
I had a good experience using Crystal for Gmail and the Email Assistant as well. I loved that it created a reminder button at the bottom of the email that gave me tips on what to do to improve. I could also access email templates based on personalities, which is helpful if you’ve already done your homework on the person you’re sending your message to.
Currently the three plans available for Crystal are Apprentice for $19/mo, Master for $49/mo, and Enterprise for $99/mo. The Enterprise account includes CRM integration, so expect to be seeing larger companies and teams taking advantage of this in the near future. Overall, I’m impressed by the accuracy of Crystal’s results as well as how applicable it seems to be, both personally and professionally.
Content contributed by Valyn Reinig, IASourceLink. IASourceLink is a proud affiliate of U.S. SourceLink, America’s largest resource network for entrepreneurs.
