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Writing Effective Workplace E-mails |
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E-mail has quickly become the preferred method of communication for many businesses. Employees are no longer writing memos to each other; they are sending e-mails. In some companies, like Toyota, e-mails have completely replaced memos. Whether you send the occasional e-mail or you use e-mail for all of your correspondence, you still need to use good grammar and correct spelling. You are still communicating and you need to be understood. When should you use e-mail?
When should you not use e-mail?The number one rule is not to use e-mail if you know it will evoke an emotional response from the receiver. For instance, you don’t want to send someone an e-mail to say they are fired or that the company is going to be downsizing. Face-to-lace communication is still your best bet when giving bad news. The visual, vocal and verbal clues of the spoken message make it much easier to understand. E-mail is just too ‘bare bones” to adequately convey your concern when giving bad news. E-mail is DifferentOne of the main reasons e-mail is so popular is its speed. But with this speed comes problems. People tend to quickly dash off an e-mail without much thought and little planning. There are often misspelled words and grammar errors. Sometimes the message makes no sense because it contains jargon the reader is unfamiliar with or abbreviations that make the message look like it was written in code. When crafting a quick e-mail, you might run the risk of conveying an unfriendly tone. Since it is difficult to communicate emotions in e-mails, some people bluntly say what they need to say without realizing they may be offensive in their writing. Without body language to read, a written message can communicate the wrong message. With e-mail, it is often worse because not much thought goes into composing a quick e-mail. Think before you write. Before you send out an e-mail, you need to decide what you want in a response and when you want it. Frame your e-mail around your response. For instance, if you are sending out an e-mail to find out what day would be best to schedule a meeting, you need to make sure you are clear about what information the recipients need to send back to you. Then, specifically ask for that information. For example:
After you decide what response you want you need to take some time to logically organize your thoughts. Just dumping your thoughts onto the computer in a random manner is too confusing for your reader. Ask yourself, “Why am I writing this message? What is most important? What details do I need to include? Who am I writing to?” I find it is easier if I jot down some notes for myself before I begin to compose my message. Once I have answered the above questions I am usually ready to begin. Use ParagraphsOne of the biggest mistakes I often see in e-mails is the lack of paragraphs. People lump everything together in one giant paragraph that you have to scroll down to read. Use paragraphs to separate your thoughts, just like you would in a formal letter. E-mail is not any different than a written letter. Your reader still needs that white space to make the message easier to read. Try to limit your paragraphs to six sentences. The longer your paragraph, the more difficult it is for your reader to comprehend your message. Use a Descriptive Subject LineAlways use a subject line in your e-mails. Make sure the subject line is brief, but descriptive. Don’t just say “monthly report” Say “April 2003 Monthly Report.” Your reader wants to be able to scroll through his or her e-mails and easily find the right e-mail. "Monthly Report" doesn’t give me enough information, especially if I have five e-mails from you that say “monthly report.” Which e-mail is the one for April 2003? Make an effort to keep your subject line to six or fewer words. The subject line is supposed to be brief, not the whole e-mail content And if you are asking a question, don’t put the question in the subject line. For example, the subject line should not be, "May I have next Friday?" Instead, the subject line could be, "Vacation Request." Now your boss knows what the e-mail is going to be about. You can go into the details during the e-mail and explain why you need Friday off. Be ConciseE-mails are not meant to be lengthy novellas. Say what you
need to say in as few words as possible. Don’t leave out any
details, but don’t ramble on with unnecessary words. Also use
short sentences; the longer your sentence, the more difficult it
is to read. Limit Your Message to One IdeaAs simple as this sounds, most people do not limit their e-mail message to one idea. They ramble on and on about different subjects and then wonder why you didn’t give them back the answers they wanted. Of course you are going to forget something. Instead, write a separate e-mail for each idea you want to talk about. The reason you want to do this is to help people organize their e-mail and organize their responses to you. It doesn’t matter that each e-mail is only one or two sentences. The easier you make it for people to understand your message, the more likely you will get a response. Use good grammar, sentence structure and punctuation.A sloppy e-mail reflects badly on you and your company. Take the time to proofread and edit your e-mails before they go out Slowly read over your message and look for missing words. Look for correctly spelled words that are the wrong words (using you, instead of your). Your computer will catch some of your mistakes, but not all of them.
Reprinted from the Riverside Business Journal |
