Consider this scenario: You’ve joined forces with a co-worker to tackle a new project and you’ve both been plugging away steadily. You realize they’ve missed a step in their process and want to bring it to their attention. What do you do?

Many people would fire off a quick email to give them the head’s up, with a suggestion they backtrack and plug the hole.

Really, in today’s day and age, that type of action doesn’t seem unnatural. A good majority of our daily conversations take place digitally, from email to text messaging, BBM to Facebook wall posts. Plenty of millennials – and older generations, too – don’t even have voice service on their smartphones anymore.

But what if we told you that digital interactions, though convenient, aren’t always the best way to do business? We bet a lot of you would agree. And it’s not just restricted to the stereotypical conversations that we all know aren’t suited to email, such as delivering bad news, discussing proprietary information, or dealing with complex issues that require input from numerous people. Many of the day-to-day conversations we engage in are better delivered real-time.

Let’s look at the Top 3 reasons you should pick up the phone.

1. No Emotional Confusion
We’ve all received an email that seems standoffish and we’re probably all guilty of sending at least one that came across as emotionally ambiguous. This is the real danger of email. Tone is sometimes hard to convey and is easily misunderstood. One could assume a brief one-line response is because the sender is angry, when really they were just answering quickly between appointments. Worse, perhaps the sender is truly unhappy with you, but you interpret it another way and miss the chance to put out the fire.

Sticking a smiley face on the end of a sentence doesn’t cut it. If there is a chance your message could be misunderstood, pick up the phone. If you receive an email that leaves you scratching your head, pick up the phone. Don’t attempt to use emoticons or assume a person won’t take something the wrong way. Just pick up the phone. (Sense a theme here?)

2. Immediate Response
Sending an email or a text message is a bit of a gamble when it comes to time sensitive material. On one hand, if the person happens to be plowing through their inbox, you may receive an immediate response. If they’ve decided they’re not checking their email until 2 p.m. for time management purposes, you may wait several hours or even get lost in the shuffle.

A brief phone call often results in instant feedback, with questions answered, follow-ups asked and conclusions reached much more quickly than if things were hashed out over email. Of course, emergency-type situations should never be left to digital communication. If it’s important and the person needs to know now, pick up the phone.

3. Personal Touch
It doesn’t matter if it’s a colleague or a client – a personal touch can go a long way. The kind of relationship that is built through real-life conversation simply can’t be replaced by digital transactions. For example, passion isn’t easily conveyed in writing, so if you want someone to know you’re truly excited or engaged, talking to them will get that point across. A bunch of exclamation points will not.

Email also doesn’t make way for small talk, which can save time but doesn’t allow you to get to know the person better. Doing business is all about relationships, and it’s the meat of the off-topic conversation – how the weather is today, what the person did on the weekend, a joke that makes you both laugh – that teaches you more about the person and allows you to build greater rapport. And who doesn’t want that?

Of course, email does have its benefits. It can be sent even if the person isn’t available or is working in another time zone. It leads to fewer interruptions and creates a paper trail you can refer back on for clarity. It allows you time to carefully craft a message. But it still will never replace real conversation, especially when you need it most. So before you fire off that message, take a moment to think about what you’re doing. You may find that you’d rather pick up the phone.

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