Q: What are some e-mail basics that will make me use this communication channel expertly?A: Below, I’ve provided some guidelines for you to consider.
There are more and more people who don’t bother to read an entire e-mail. They just skim it and try to pick out the essential information. Why? They have too much information coming at them all day long and they must find ways to handleeverything thrown at them.
You don’t want your e-mail to be one of those that is only skimmed and not read, so here are some ideas to consider:
- Limit each e-mail to one topic. If you put too many things in one e-mail, people won’t respond as quickly and may neglect to respond to some of the items.
- Give people a deadline so that you know when you are expecting action. If you don’t include a deadline, yours will be left on a pile and you will end up having to call them back.
- Always put a specific subject in the subject line so that people can find your e-mail when they are sorting through all the others.
- Try your best to say everything in the subject line and then put “-end-“, so that they know they don’t need to go down in the body of the e mail.
- If you must list multiple points in one e-mail, number each item so that your reader can refer to the number instead of having to read the e-mail. It saves both of you time.
- Keep your e-mails positive. If there is something negative that must be dealt with, do it in person. You don’t want an e mail document to haunt you down the road
- Consider attending one of my seminars on “E-mail Effectiveness & Etiquette”. (You didn’t see that self -promotion coming, did you?
ACTION STEPS FOR THIS WEEK
Do an e-mail audit for your organization (and you).
Do you follow all the guidelines we listed above?
Do the people in your organization follow them?
Start listing how you want your e-mails to be handled and make it part of your company culture.
