If Writing Effective Emails is your goal, you should read this. Electronic
mail, most commonly called email or e-mail since around 1993, is a
method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more
recipients. Email operates across the Internet or other computer networks .
Some early email systems required the author and the recipient to both be
online at the same time, in common with instant messaging . Today’s email
systems are based on a store-and-forward model. Email servers accept,
forward, deliver, and store messages. Neither the users nor their
computers are required to be online simultaneously; they need connect
only briefly, typically to a mail server, for as long as it takes to send or
receive messages.
Historically, the term electronic mail
was used generically for any electronic
document transmission. For example,
several writers in the early 1970s used
the term to describe fax document
transmission.
As a result, it is difficult to find the
first citation for the use of the term
with the more specific meaning it has
today. The email has replaced letter
writing, what are some steps to
effective email writing?
1. Have a great Subject LineBefore you hit “send,” take a moment
to write a subject line that accurately
describes the content, giving your reader a concrete reason to open your
message.
If your subject line is vague — or even
worse, if it’s blank — you have missed
your first opportunity to inform or
persuade your reader.
2. Focus your messageWhy are you writing? Are you responding
to a request? Apologizing for an error on
your part? Asking for the recipient to
take some action for you?
Purpose: Any textbook on business and
professional writing will include
examples of complaint and adjustment
letters , proposal letters , progress reports,
application letters , and so forth.
Directness: You probably don’t need to
open with “Dear Ms. Jones,” engage in
personal chit-chat, and close with “Yours Truly.” (If you really want to
be that formal, send a letter on paper instead.)
Organization : Readers will often get partway through a complex
message, hit “reply” as soon as they have something to contribute,
and forget to read the rest. That’s human nature.
Number your points in more complex message. (Start with a clear
statement of how many parts there are to your message.)
Split unrelated points into separate, purposeful emails.
If you send all your employees a message that only relates to some
of them, a lot of people will waste time reading the whole thing, in
order to determine whether any part of it applies to them.
Other people will give up as soon as they find any detail that does
not apply to them. (Again, this is human nature.)
3. Do not Use AttachmentsRather than forcing you reader to download an attachment and open it in a
separate program, you will probably get faster results if you just copy-
paste the most important part of the document into the body of your
message.
4. Identify YourselfIf you telephoned someone outside your closest circle, someone who
probably wouldn’t recognize your voice, you would probably say something
like “Hello, Ms. Wordsworth, this is Sally Griffin.” A formal “Dear Ms.
Wordsworth” salutation is not necessary for routine workplace
communication.
When we send text messages to our friends, we expect a lot of back-and-
forth. But professionals who use email don’t enjoy getting a cryptic
message from an email address they don’t recognize.
While a routine email does not require a formal salutation such as “Dear
Ms. Wordsworth,” ask yourself whether the person you are writing knows
you well enough to recognize your email address.
5. Proofread before sendingIf you are asking someone else to do work for you, take the time to make
your message look professional.
While your spell checker won’t catch every mistake, at the very least it will
catch a few typos. If you are sending a message that will be read by
someone higher up on the chain of command (a superior or professor, for
instance), or if you’re about to mass-mail dozens or thousands of people,
take an extra minute or two before you hit “send”. Show a draft to a close
associate, in order to see whether it actually makes sense.
6. Reply Mails PromptlyIf you want to appear professional and courteous, make yourself available
to your online correspondents. Even if your reply is, “Sorry, I’m too busy to
help you now,” at least your correspondent won’t be waiting in vain for
your reply.
7. Know the Difference between Formal and Informal EmailsWhen you are writing to a friend or a close colleague, it is OK to use
“smilies” , abbreviations (IIRC for “if I recall correctly”, LOL for “laughing
out loud,” etc.) and nonstandard punctuation and spelling (like that found
in instant messaging or chat rooms).
These linguistic shortcuts are generally signs of friendly intimacy, like
sharing cold pizza with a family friend. If you tried to share that same cold
pizza with a first date, or a visiting dignitary, you would give off the
impression that you did not really care about the meeting. By the same
token, don’t use informal language when your reader expects a more
formal approach.
Always know the situation, and write accordingly.