E-Mail Manners
There is a way to tame the email nightmare. A few good email habits will make life much easier!
When You're the Sender
1. Is Email the Right Tool?
Email is not always the right tool for the job. Sending an email message does not guarantee an immediate response. It may take more time to write it up, than to call. If you need an immediate response, think you'll have a lot of follow-up questions, or need to convey a complex topic using visual aids, email is probably not the best tool for the job.
2. The Point is....
Whenever possible, ask your question or provide your response within the first few sentences of your message. Then when the reader has time, they can come back and read the details later. Tackling the major points up front decreases the chances that you'll lose your reader's attention, confuse him, or irritate him by forcing him to spend extra time looking for your point.
Good: Hey, can you send me your report on concessions today? I noticed you haven't filed it yet.
Bad: Hey, I noticed you haven't uploaded your report on concessions to the web site yet. It's really important that we get all get to look at this as soon as possible. Have you done yours yet? I'd like to take a look.
3. When asking a question, ASK.
If you need information or have a request, phrase it as a question.. Do not assume.
Good: Do you have time to work on concessions this week? We may have an opportunity to expand our menu.
Bad: We need to look at the concessions. It would be nice to have a broader menu.
4. Specify who should respond.
If you send an email to a list or a group of people, specify who in that group is responsible for following up. Group emails make it easy to assume someone else will handle the request.
Good: Hi, all. Good news: We've found someone to purchase all the inventory. Andy, can you check to make sure we have not oversold?
Bad: Hi, all. We've sold all the inventory. Can we check in with the accountant before this happens?
5. Be clear about timelines.
If you want the recipient to get back to you by the end of the day, set a deadline for a response. Otherwise, the recipient may respond whenever it's convenient for them. Bring extra attention to time-sensitive messages by flagging them as high-importance items or noting the deadline in the email's subject line.
Good: Can you replace the inventory cover sheet with the new cover sheet we're using now? Also, please re-file it by the end of the day.
Bad: Yeah, I'm going to need you to go ahead and replace the cover sheet with a new one, OK?
6. Provide Context
If you're emailing someone out of the blue, don't just assume they will know what you're talking about. Not everyone checks their email right away. Sometimes it may be day! Also, some people may want a record of the email thread to look back on days or weeks later.
Good: I agree with what you were just saying that filing two reports is a waste of time. I'm not going to do mine that way anymore.
Bad: You're right. I'm not doing it that way anymore.
7. Don't forget the rules of grammar and punctuation.
Do not force someone to decode your message. You are wasting the recipient's time by forcing her to decode your cryptic note. Grammar and punctuation were invented for a reason. Checking your outgoing messages for spelling, grammar, and punctuation not only helps make your organization's internal communications more efficient, it will also make you appear more professional to the outside world.
Good: Let's talk about this in person. I disagree that not doing the reports is the way to handle this. I'll call you.
Bad: i dont think thats good idea lets talk tomororw. ill call.
8. One message, one topic.
Don't mix a bunch of unrelated questions or responses into one message. Not only does this increase the chances that some of your questions or responses may get overlooked, but it prevents the recipient from filing messages about different subjects into different folders.
Change the subject line of your email message to better describe the new topic. This not only lets the recipient know the topic has changed, but also makes it easier to find the message when you're searching for it later.
Good: What's this I hear about you not filing your reports?
Bad: Jennifer, we're using a new cover sheet for our reports now, so go ahead and file with those. Oh, and I'm going to need you to go ahead and come into work this weekend, OK?
9. Provide a summary when you forward an "FYI" email.
If you forward an email, tell them why. Save your recipient time and confusion by jotting down a quick summary of the entire thread at the beginning of the email. If you can't summarize it, then why send it?
Good: FYI, I thought the following email thread might add some ammo to your plan for getting rid of reports altogether. If it doesn't, feel free to ignore it.
Bad: FYI...
When You're the Recipient
1. Don't make any assumptions about the sender's emotional state.
Unless the sender actually spells out the fact that he or she is angry with you, don't assume that the person intended to send a rude response. Most people are not great writers. They probably did not realize how the message would sound.
If you receive an email that really makes your heart skip a beat when you read it, try walking away from the message and re-reading it later before you respond. See if there's any other possible way to interpret the note; you may even want to ask someone else to take a look at the message and offer her impressions.
2. Ask for clarification.
If you receive an email that doesn't quite make sense ask the sender to clarify. While you can ask for more information by replying to the email, getting clarification over the phone or in person might be an even quicker way to get answers to your questions.
3. Use your email software's built-in tools to help organize messages.
Some email clients (i.e. Outlook) have a rules wizard that help organize incoming messages, making it easier to quickly locate particular messages and keep your inbox from becoming needlessly bloated.
(Find out how to use flags and message colors in Outlook 2003, automatically move items to other folders in Outlook 2003, set up filters in Outlook Express, or set up filters in Mozilla Thunderbird.)
4. Remember: You don't have to respond to every message right away.
Unless you are being paid solely to send and receive emails, there are probably more pressing tasks to devote your attention to. As a final piece of advice, don't forget to give yourself permission to periodically turn away from your inbox so you can take some time to finish other activities.