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Writing Effective emails
Writing Effective emails
Including DOs and DON'Ts Tips
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Emailing is part of our life
= Millions of emails circle the globe every day
* Most people think:
“Oh, writing emails is easy.”
* But, if your messages are not clear, it's a quick trip
from the Inbox to recipient's trash
2009-06-03iting Effective emails 2009-06-03
Email Psychology
«Observing the Receiver
= Gets a lot of email
— May receive compliments regularly, if they are a public figure
Regularly gets asked a standard set of questions and favors
Does not have a lot of free time
Does not mind helping you, if itis fast
'
* Observing the Sender
= Spends a long time crafting the “perfect” (-ly long) email
Believes that their request is original, unique, and special
— Believes that they are the first to ask for such favors
— Cannot imagine why anyone would turn them away
Desires to tell the whole story, explained from every angle, so
that the listener can understand their point of view
Identify Your Audience
= Ask yourself:
— "To whom am | writing?” Is ita friend or family member?
Are you writing to a familiar business colleague or known
customer?
— Do you even know the person who will receive your email?
= Once you can answer this question, you are ready to
decide what voice to use in your email correspondenceWriting Effective emails 2009-06-03
Choose Your Voice (1)
= Casual Voice
= Most used style, especially when not appropriate
= Whiting style may directly reflect how you speak
= Might use contractions and address your email recipient by first name
itis most appropriate for personal emails to friends or family members
formal Voice
= Do not get too personal, stay away from unsuitable comments or jokes,
and stick to the business of the email message
— Be consistent, constantly focusing on the message you want to get
across.
= Semi-formal writing is appropriate for personal emails to friends or
family members when discussing topics of a serious or business-related
nature.
= tis also definitely applicable to email exchanges with familiar
colleagues in work-related discussions, or when responding to
‘customer inquiries with which a trusted business relationship is already
firmly established
Choose Your Voice (2)
+ Formal Voice
= Perhaps the most strict of these three voices
= Ithas its own traditional set of standards that must be followed
— These standards, or rules, include:
‘Professional salutations to email recipients (no calling your
email recipient by first name here)
+ Use of complete sentences,
= No abbreviations
* All words are completely spelled out (meaning no contractions
allowed)
+ Etc
— Most appropriate for:
‘+ Job applications
Emails of introduction
Discussions of a serious or legal nature
+ Emails to superiors or subordinates
= Safest style to use when the email is of a business (or otherwise
serious) nature and the recipient of the email is not someone who is
familiar to youWriting Effective emails 2009-06-03
Brainstorm, Edit, and Proof the
Contents of Your email (1)
= Brainstorm
— Take as much time as you need to develop the idea(s) for your
email
— You know what you want to say, 0 just write what ever comes
to mind. It's better to have too much information than not enough
Reorganize your information as needed
= Check your sentence structure. Do not use fragment sentences.
— Each new idea starts a new paragraph
— Double check misspelled words, proper word usage and
grammar and fix as needed. Once you are finished editing, if you
Used a word processing program, copy the content and paste it
into the main composition area of your email
Brainstorm, Edit, and Proof the
Contents of Your email (2)
+ Proof
= Final (and an extremely important) step for writing effective emails,
= Don't confuse it withthe edit step
= Recipient's Email Address:
Check the recipient's email address for accuracy
* Verify the accuracy of any additional recipients you copy (cc) or
bind copy (bec) too
= Attachments
‘Make sure that you have actually attached the files you
reference in your email
+ Be careful f attaching files ending in "exe". These may be
rejected by the recipient's email server as potential virus
attachments (even when they are not).
+ Respect the wishes of your recipient For example, i the
recipient expressly states that he or she does NOT accept email
attachments, do not include any.
— Subject Line:
ee Virite a summary in the subject line of your email
‘Make it as short and concise as possibhWriting Effective emails 2009-06-03
Brainstorm, Edit, and Proof the
Contents of Your email (3)
+ Proof (cont.)
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Keep the message focused and
readable
+ Focused message