Effective Emails Writing

Effective Emails Writing

Emails

• In emails- no nonverbal cues, which account for 65 - 93 percent of message

• Only words and :-)• Tone becomes crucial

• In Germany and Britain, 23 percent admitted confrontations with colleagues because of e-mail misunderstandings.

Email tone

To: Female employees From: H. HonchoRe: Dress codeDate: 1 July 2006

Clients will be visiting next week. Halter tops and jeans will not make the right impression. It’s time you started dressing for the office instead of the beach. Leave your

flip-flops at home!

Email tone

To: All staffFrom: H. Honcho

Re: Reminder about what to wear to work Date: 1 July 2006

During the summer, our dress code is business casual. We think “business casual” means clothes that feel comfortable

and look professional.

Men Women•khaki pants •casual pants and skirts

•leather shoes… •leather or fabric shoes…

Humour in emails

• Nearly a quarter of employees have suffered problems with colleagues or clients because their use of humour in an email has not been understood or appreciated, according to a survey.

• Participants [in recent studies] were able to accurately communicate humor and sarcasm in barely half - 56 percent of the emails they sent.

Louise Dobson (2006)

• Signal the joke.One emoticon or <grin> per email is plenty.

Levels of formality

Most people view email as

more formal than a phone call

less formal than a letter

Meeting request: Informal

From: Bob Anderson <anderson@rand-unix>Date: 21 Dec 84 11:40:12 PST (Fri)To: randvax!anderson, randvax!gillogly, randvax!norm

Subject: meeting ...

we need to setup a meeting bet. jim you and i -- can you arange?

i'm free next wed. thks.

Meeting agenda: Formal

Subject: MEETING ON FY86 PLANNING, 2PM 12/28/84, CONFERENCE ROOM 1

There will be a meeting of the FY86 planning task force in Conference Room 1 on December 28, 1984 at 2pm. The Agenda for the meeting is:

--------------------------------------- Topic Presenter Time

--------------------------------------- Strategic Business Plan John Fowles 30 min.

Budget Forecast for FY86 Sue Martin 15 " New Product Announcements Peter Wilson 20 " Action Items for 1st Qtr FY86 Jane Adamson 25 "

-----------------------------------------------------------

Levels of formality

• When in doubt, err on the side of formality.

• 16% [of email users under 25] sign every message with love and kisses, even when addressing their boss

Tip: Spelling still countsThis is an actual email.

Purposal

I can beat almost anyones price and almost promise you success and if I don’t reach it, we wont charge you after the time we say we can achieve it until we do.

Tip: Spelling still counts

• Sloppiness is one of “seven deadly e-mail sins”

• Bad grammar, misspelling and disconnected arguments gave 81 percent of the survey sample "negative feelings" towards the senders.

• 41 percent of senior managers said badly worded e-mails implied laziness and even disrespect.

CNN.com

When to use email

Christian Science Monitor, May 15, 2006

Ineffective subject lines

Subject: Date:

Hi 9:17 am

questions10:11 am

Meeting12:44 pm

One more thing........... 3:02 pm

Some thoughts 4:21pm

Effective subject lines

Subject: Date:

Party planning meeting rescheduled for 3pm 9:17 am

Help: I can’t find the draft for the Smith Paper10:11 am

Reminder: peer-review articles due tomorrow (3/30)

12:44 pm

Questions about Sociology 210 project 3:02 pm

Congratulations to Jennifer for winning Nobel Prize

4:21pm

Effective subject lines

Subject: Date:

Re: Question about Smith paper (was: please help with this!)

10:11 am

Change subject lines when necessary

Effective subject lines

Subject: Date:

Re: Re: Re: [Fwd: [Fwd: [hrfac] Reminder: Deadline for Spring Semester Is Jan. 15]]

9:17 am

Remove extra email prefixes

Effective subject lines

Subject: Date:

Thanks for the help today! <eom> 9:17 am

Got your message <nm>10:11 am

Today’s group meeting canceled <ssia> 12:44 pm

<end of message>

<no message>

<subject says it all>

Email Content

Before you start writing, ask yourself…..

•Is this truly the correct person to contact?

•What is my goal?

•Should this conversation be held in person or over the phone?

Email Content

Use a polite and respectful opening and closing

Professor Anderson,…….

Respectfully,....

Sincerely,…..

Email Content

• Brevity and clarity

• Try to keep each email short

• Use paragraphs (5 sentences each)

• Is this message scannable and actionable?

Email Content

• Use topic sentences

• One topic per email

• Provide important dates or references

• Put each action or point on its own line

Poor Email Content

Jon,Hey, I was just thinking about the meeting we had about the new workshop you were planning for next week about resume-writing. I think that we may have forgotten to include all of the students who might benefit from this workshop. There are several groups of students at the School of Public Health that were not on your list. Of course you may have added them to you list since our last meeting. Sara from the School of Public Health contacted me to ask if the students from the Epidemiology program were on our list of included students. She also wanted a list of all of the included departments from the School of Public Health. Can you send me a list of all of the included student groups? I can then send the relevant information on to Sara because she needs this information by tomorrow.

Thanks,Rachell

Better Email ContentJon,

Can you send me a list of the students included in the resume-writing workshop by tomorrow?

We may have forgotten to include all of the students who might benefit from this workshop. There are several groups of students at the School of Public Health that were not on your list. Sara from the School of Public Health contacted me to ask if the students from the Epidemiology program were on our list. I will send her that information tomorrow after I get the list from you.

Thanks,Rachell

Format

• Plain-text vs HTML

Plain-text is always preferable

DON’T TYPE IN ALL-CAPS,

IT LOOKS LIKE SHOUTING

Email Signature

• Use an appropriate signature• Brief (4-5 lines)

• Informative

provide all contact information

• Professional

do not include pictures, quotes, animations

Professionalism

• Always spell-check before sending

• Set your email program to automatically check before sending

• Re-read email for other spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.

Professionalism

• Always proofread at least once!

• Read it out loud

• Sleep on it

Before sending ask yourself….