You'd think that people would have got the hang of email by now. I mean, hey, it's only been an integral part of most people's professional lives for at least 10 years, right?
Sadly, many people still have absolutely zero clue how to mind their Ps and Qs when sending an email. Here's some tips for them, and (hopefully) some entertainment for you!
1. Don't abuse "Reply To All"
The "reply to all" function serves a legitimate purpose. It allows discussions to take place via email where the participants can engage one another at the same time.
An email discussion might be seeking to finalize a design or decide a course of action. Reply to All can be vital in such circumstances. "I think the heading needs to be larger. Thoughts?" "We should offer the job to Bob. He's the most qualified." Replying to all with messages like these is perfectly appropriate.
It is inappropriate to use Reply To All to clutter people's inboxes with drivel.
Maybe someone is setting up a meeting and has emailed the 17 attendees the details. Do not reply to everyone saying "Sounds good. See you all there!" Are you really that important that everyone needs to know you'll be there? Won't they find that out at the meeting anyway? If a confirmation is needed, just send it back to the original sender. Your co-workers will be happier to see you at the meeting if you haven't added to their inbox overload.
Basically, you can use Reply to All whenever what you are saying is relevant to each (or at least most) of the recipients. If it's not, don't do it! Think of it this way: if you replied only to the sender by accident, would you go back and forward it to everyone else?
2. Subject, subject, subject!
Real estate may be all about location, location, location, but email is all about the subject.
The subject of an email is like the headline in a newspaper article. And it's just as important as a headline in determining how well people respond.
Make your subjects clear and concise. A good subject should tell someone exactly what the email is about. Avoid subjects like "Hi" (unless it's a purely social email), "New client" (too vague), or "Helllooo? Are you there???" (way too confrontational). And for heaven's sake avoid the blank subject! Instead use subjects like:
- New Client: Acme Time Machines (better than simply "New client". It conveys both that the email is about a new client and includes the name of the client. This aids greatly in finding the email later).
- Urgently need your input (much better than "Are you there???" People do get busy and things do slip through the cracks. This keeps things positive and also lets the recipient know what they need to do.)
- Budget Meeting - Mandatory (Ugh! Nobody likes mandatory meetings, least of all about the budget! But who knows? With an email subject this clear and concise, maybe it'll be an efficient meeting.)
You get the point. Be specific. Be clear. Be brief.
3. Body
For starters, make sure your email has a body. I've received emails where the sender has simply typed their message into the subject field and hit send. The body area is left totally blank. That's incredibly rude. Kind of like shouting a demand to someone across the room without ever actually going over to talk to them about it.
Keep the body of your email as clear and concise as possible. Using bullets and breaking text into multiple paragraphs can help here.
4. Proof read! Spelling, grammar, and coherence!
This one is huge. I get emails all the time that are laced with spelling and grammar errors that make comprehension more of a challenge than it ought to be.
Few people will care if you don't know the difference between lie and lay, ensure and insure, or effect and affect. But when your email reads like the demented ramblings of a lobotomized caveman sending Morse Code you should take a moment to collect your thoughts and make some edits.
Bad (and sadly an actual email I have received):
"need sight asp. text tonight. facebook and twitter also email. press? Dave"
Good (what was actually meant above):
"Folks,
We need to get the website live ASAP. I believe the only outstanding piece is the text I owe. I'll have that finished tonight.
What's the status on setting up Facebook and Twitter? And how's the promo email progressing? Bob, have you completed the press release and finalized the media outlets we'll be targeting? I want to insure that these marketing pieces are in place as they will significantly effect the success of the event.
Great work everyone. We're nearly there!
Thanks,
Dave"
Now that email is far from perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better. And see? You don't absolutely need to use "ensure" and "affect" correctly to appear somewhat coherent!
5. Salutations!
Always include some kind of salutation at the top of your email. The only time it is acceptable to skip the salutation is when you're well into a conversation that has involved at least a couple of prior emails.
- Hi [NAME] - Best option for most emails. Polite enough for anyone, but not overly formal; it is email after all!
- Dear [NAME] - Too formal for email. You won't offend anyone, you just won't look very net savvy.
- Hey [NAME] - Very informal. Use it only with people you know well.
- Hi or Hey - Extremely informal. Omitting the recipient's name is only acceptable if you know them really well.
- [NAME] - Acceptable, but can come across as a little abrupt or stern. Adding a "Hi" or "Hello" before the name softens it considerably.
6. Send one email, not five
Take a moment to collect your thoughts before hitting send. Have you said everything you need to say? Have you attached all of the documents that need to be attached?
You'll quickly annoy your recipients if you're one of those people who send email after email saying "one more thing...", "Forgot to mention...", "Oops! Here's the attachment for the third email I sent you.", "Dang it! I included the wrong version of a file in the first email. Use this instead."
If you are one of the people who do this routinely, please understand that every time you do it:
- You require the recipient to waste time piecing together the jigsaw puzzle from hell you just dumped on them.
- You increase the likelihood of misunderstandings and mistakes.
- The people you do it to hate you.
- Somewhere in the world an adorable puppy gets impaled on a spike.
7. Tone of voice
Do everything in your power to convey the tone of your email accurately.
Simple text in an email doesn't convey the same emotion and tone that we can convey in person through body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. We need to be really careful about adding some of this tone into the email through careful word choice and use of emoticons. Consider the difference:
- Good work, genius
- Good work, genius ;)
- Good work! You're a genius! :)
The first example is very unclear. Is it sincere? It sounds kind of sarcastic. The winking emoticon in the second example clearly establishes the tone despite the words being identical. Clearly here, the sender is joking or being playful. In the third example, the sender has flushed out his thoughts more completely. The exclamation points convey enthusiasm and the added words along with the smiling emoticon establish the message as a genuine complement.
8. Importance
I know it might seem like a good idea to flag all your emails with "High Importance", but honestly, just leave it out. Even if you're one of the people who use the feature responsibly, there are so many people who abuse it that it has lost all meaning. For most people, an email with the high importance flag will get dealt with no quicker than one without.
While it doesn't help make your email look more important, it can make you like you think you are deserving of special treatment. So unless you want to come across as an arrogant pain in the ass, just leave the importance option alone.
9. Caps Lock
Do not write in all caps. DO NOT WRITE IN ALL CAPS.
It looks childish, it's considered to be the online equivalent of shouting, and caps are much harder to read than regular sentence case because the words lose their shape.
10. Delivery Receipts
Seriously? You still send email with a delivery receipt or "read receipt"? Knock it off already!
What else?
This list is by no means complete, but it's a good start. If you keep these points in mind, you'll be well on the way to email communications that are more productive and of crystal clarity.
But surely you've got some email suggestions of your own. What would you change about the emails you receive? The comments are below. You know what to do!
Posted on
Wednesday, April 07, 2010 10:41 AM