Composing an Effective E-mail
An e-mail is no different to any other written communication – it needs structure and content. The principles of effective writing still apply here.
We use e-mail for all the same reasons we use any other written communication, although there is also a temptation to over-use or misuse, when another form of communication (phone call or teleconference) may be more appropriate.
A company needs to implement etiquette rules for the following three reasons:
• Professionalism: by using proper email language your company will convey a professional image
• Efficiency: emails that get to the point are much more effective than poorly worded emails
• Protection from liability: employee awareness of email risks will protect your company from costly lawsuits.
There have been many examples of embarrassment through unintentional misuse of emails, and also examples of legal action. An e-mail in business is an official document and needs to be thought of in that way.
If we look at the list of ‘Disadvantages’ many of these are really poor use of this communication method rather than a disadvantage as such. We can remove or reduce those disadvantages / bad practices by thinking in business terms and, as usual, focusing on the reader.
Address (To)
Who should you send the e-mail to? If it was letter you would think carefully as to who should receive the e-mail, but because it is easy to add people to an e-mail the temptation is to send it to too many people. What problems might this create?
• The person does not need to know or should not know
• Unnecessary work for the recipient who does not need to know
• Confusion of responses – how do you handle multiple replies and control the results?
Subject
It is easy to be lazy with an e-mail subject title – but it needs same thought as any other heading line. It actually requires more thought, as some people reject or open an e-mail based on the
subject line (and / or the sender name). This one is easy to fix simply by using the principles of effective headings.
The subject must also relate to the body of the e-mail. Easy and obvious when you write the first e-mail, but more important when you reply to an e-mail you receive. It is very easy for the subject and the content to lose each other.
Be SMART with your subject line
S – Specific
M – Meaningful
A – Appropriate
R – Relevant
T - Thoughtful
The second danger here is that the e-mail string (all the previous e-mails) in the same message may contain something that one or more of the most recent recipients (To) should not actually see.
Body of e-mail
Salutation:
E-mail is often used as an informal way of communicating, and this is reflected in the salutation people use (if they use one at all). We are only concerned here with business emails … so you need to use the same rules as you would for a letter. If you are addressing a broader group of people then you need to think about the group salutation.
Introduction and main text:
Like a letter, you should structure the content of an email. One of the main advantages of an email is to get information to people very rapidly. How long and complex should the e-mail content be if it is to be effective?
Remember, some people (hands up) use phone for receiving email … so scrolling and attachments may be an issue.
An email should be short and any detailed information should be placed as an attachment. How much scrolling is too much scrolling?
Use a very short introduction (one or two lines) followed by short paragraphs.
An e-mail is no excuse for bad English, and yet all too often people use non-standard abbreviations, fail to use a spell checker, and generally treat the email as if it is not really important.
Close:
As with a letter, it is good to have a single closing sentence. The most frequently used is something along the lines of:
‘I look forward to your reply’
This is not really a good closer, and you should give thought to what the final line will be. Maybe something like:
‘I look forward to discussing this with you in our meeting next Monday’
Signature Block: The use and content of a signature block is usually determined by company policy and you may have a guideline for this. The main purpose of the signature block is allow the recipient(s) to identify the sender and to be able to contact them if required (the ‘Reply To’ option in the email only allows you to write back … and that might not be the best way to respond).
The minimum content for a signature block is usually:
Name
Job Title
Phone number
If you have a standard signature block then you set this to automatically be displayed every time you compose an e-mail and every time you reply to an e-mail.
Disclaimer: Your Company may also mandate a disclaimer paragraph after the signature block.
E-Mail is probably the most used – and misused – of all modern written forms of communication.
