Tips for Writing an Effective e-mail
https://www.computersprofessor.com/2017/06/tips-for-writing-effective-e-mail.html
Tips for
Writing an Effective e-mail:
Below
is a listing of our top 10 tips for writing an effective e-mail. Following
these suggestions will get you a better response from your e-mails and make
e-mailing more enjoyable for you and your recipients.
Keep
your e-mails short
Less is
more. The shorter you can keep your e-mail while still relaying your message or
question the better. At most we suggest no more than three paragraphs of text.
Make
the subject line clear and easy to read
The
subject of the e-mail should contain enough information to let the recipient
know the contents of an e-mail.
Make
the e-mail personal
Always
include the name or alias of the e-mail recipient. If you want the e-mail to be
even more personal include your real name in the e-mail as well.
Watch
your spelling and grammar
E-mail
with spelling and other grammatical errors tells the reader it's not that
important. Always spell check, keep the below suggestions in mind, and proof
read the e-mail before sending it out.
- Always use proper punctuation and
capitalization.
- Never use shorthand or
acronyms people don't understand.
- Do not WRITE IN ALL CAPS; it gives
the impression you're YELLING.
Don't
forward jokes and other e-mails
While
you may find a joke funny or find an e-mail interesting or disturbing most
people don't enjoy getting forwarded e-mails. Never forward e-mails to all your
friends' and family.
Remember
e-mail isn't private
Realize
that e-mail is not encrypted and can be forwarded to
other people. Never send personal or company confidential data in e-mail.
Reply
to e-mails effectively
When
replying to e-mails keep the below suggestions in mind.
- Try to reply to e-mails as quickly
as possible.
- Use the "Reply to all"
option cautiously. Really make sure if there are multiple recipients in
the CC that
everyone really needs to see your reply.
- Keep the e-mail thread (previous
messages) in the body of the message and your response at the top. Keeping
the previous message helps the reader remember the e-mail discussion.
- Do not over use e-mail program
options such as "high-priority", "automatic replies",
"read receipts", etc.
Keep
the CC and BCC to a minimum
When
using CC to send to e-mail to
multiple recipients try to keep the list to a minimum. Often when someone sees
more than four in the list they will disregard it as not important or think one
of the other recipients are going to take care of the e-mail.
Also,
use BCC instead of CC when it's
not important for the e-mail recipients to see whom the e-mail was sent to and
to help keep everyone's e-mail addresses private.
Use
plaintext instead of HTML
Always
send your e-mails as plaintext. It may not be as pretty but it
does allow the e-mail to be read easier and is often less distracting.
Use a
clean signature
Signatures
can be an effective method of displaying your contact information at the bottom
of e-mails. However, follow e-mail signature etiquette when
creating a signature.