Writing Effective E-Mails

1. Writing Effective E-Mails

2. Addressing • Limit to who really needs to know. • Make it clear in text who has action and who is info addressee. • Use ‘To’, ‘CC’ fields appropriately. • Use BCC to protect Email addresses unless everyone knows each other. • Watch Reply All. • Make sure forward does not embarrass sender. • Fill in addresses last to avoid sending an incomplete Email by mistake.

3. Subject Line must be clear and concise • The Subject clearly summarizes your e-mail’s intentions. • Keep it short - long subject lines will get truncated. • Don't ever send an email with an empty subject line. • Don't have the subject as "Hi" or "Hello there" unless the purpose of your email is to simply say hello. If your reply is not relevant at all to the subject line, start a new thread with a fresh subject line which more accurately reflects the e-mail’s actual contents.

4. Rate These Subject Lines • Subject: Important! Read Immediately!! • Subject: Meeting • Subject: Follow-up About Meeting • Subject: Announcement • Subject: Do we need a larger room for Social meeting on May 14?

5. Use an appropriate greeting • The first line of your email should be a greeting, followed by an empty line and then your message body. • If it is the first time you are emailing somebody, "Hi (name)," should be preferred. Using "Dear (name)," is too stuffy and awkward. • Salutations are tricky, especially if you are crossing cultures. E.g.: It is safer to use "Ms." instead of "Miss" or "Mrs." unless you know the preference of the woman in question. • Identify yourself clearly to cold contacts. • Hello, I am…The reason I am writing… • Hello, so-in-so suggested I contact you…

6. The Page Layout • Use Shorter Paragraphs • Use Less Words • Keep it Short • Provide blank lines

7. Formatting • Put all important details at the top of the email body (or even better, in the Subject line). • Keep the rest of the email short (8 sentences max.). • Your goal is to have the person read your email and hopefully respond to it within a short time period, so keep your e-mail as short as possible to make it easier for your reader to comprehend. • Avoid HTML. • Avoid fancy typefaces.

8. Keep the message focused and readable.  • Read through the entire message before you hit reply button. • If your e-mail contains multiple messages, you could number your points to ensure they are all read. • Use short sentences and active voice. • The final sentence - Either provide something concrete to reply to or make it clear that a reply is not necessary.

9. Use Appropriate Language • Do not use:-(a) Smilies. E.g.: :-), :-( etc.(b) Abbreviations. E.g.: IIRC for "if I recall correctly", BTW for “by the way”, LOL for "laughing out loud," etc.(c) Chat Language • All-caps means shouting. • Use active instead of passive. Try to use the active voice of a verb wherever possible. Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT. • Use * * to highlight text if you must.

10. Proof-read • take an extra minute or two before you hit "send". • Poor spelling and grammar show a lack of attention to detail and sends the wrong message about yourself and how you do business. • catch and correct all sorts of mistakes before they get to the recipient • Spell checker won't catch every mistake, at the very least it will catch a few typos. • If you are asking someone else to do work for you, take the time to make your message look professional.

11. Attachments • Use sparingly. • Cut and paste relevant parts of attachment into text of Email. • Recipients who do not know you may be reluctant to open attachments or click URLs. • Post attachment first to avoid “Oops, here’s the attachment.” • Trend is posting large attachments into blogs followed by Email announcement.

12. Signature Line • Include (if you want people to contact you) • Your name • Title • Organization • Email address (especially on listservs) • Website • Phones • Can be shortened for frequent correspondents or placed in header of Email stationery.

13. courtesy: Citehr.com & Kofc Thank you