Power Emailing

I admit it. I’m addicted to e-mail. I love it. I love how I can be in Arizona or Australia and you can be in Zurich or Zermatt, and we can communicate instantaneously and for (just about) free. I love how I can send my message at my convenience and you can respond at yours. I love how I can forward your message to everyone else on the team and how I immediately have a permanent record of our "conversation."

By the numbers of e-mails generated, I am confident I am not the only one who loves the ease, efficiency and simplicity of clicking on a button and knowing my message is not only on its way — but that it is there — just waiting for you to open and respond.

When e-mail is written well, it is an incredibly powerful business tool. Poor use of e-mail, however, not recognizing the traps implicit in the immediate response time, can be fatal to clear communications and the writer’s reputation. Rules of writing do not automatically apply to electronic mail. Not quite a formal document, definitely not a voice message, and not quite face-to-face conversation, e-mail has its own set of guidelines and etiquette.

Here are five rules to guide you:

1. Write one subject e-mails

There are few things more frustrating than writing an e-mail that discusses five different ideas (Are you available to meet Wednesday? Who else from the committee will attend? Will you have the prototype of the brochure? Have you confirmed the general session speakers? Has the destination management company been selected?), all lumped under a subject line, "March 22" and receiving a response that simply says, "All is okay."

Do you remember what you wrote? Do you recall each question you asked? Are you confident the reader read each question before answering "all is okay."

How do you forward the information? What if you had intended to send the info about the general session speakers to Bill and the information about the brochure to the vice chair of the committee who is out on maternity leave and will be back, Tuesday?

Use a specific and clear, one- subject subject line (Subject: General Session speakers – March 22) for each e-mail message. Yes, sending numerous e-mails may clog the mailbox but it’s well worth it, when you receive the responses and each can be easily understood, forwarded and filed.

2. Allow time before responding to any emotion-laden e-mail

The biggest challenge to professional e-mail writing lies in the beauty of the technology; that is, we have the ability to respond immediately to any message. In the "old" days, when we relied on "snail mail," there was a natural cooling off period before responding. Opening their envelope, finding your stationery, typing the address, date and salutation on your letter of response, waiting for the letter to print, etc., allowed the writer to think through what he or she was saying in response. Because we now read and — boom —respond, that period of thoughtfulness is eliminated.

Additionally, we, the readers are often so rushed — after all now we have to answer our regular mail, our voice mail and our e-mail —that we rush through the reading of our e-mails. Misunderstanding has always occurred with the written word — now miscommunication is rampant.

Read the e-mail message carefully before responding. Close it and read it again if you need to. Print it out and read the hard copy if it helps. Avoid responding while emotional. Take a few moments of thought to organize your response and respond to the writer’s issues — not to the writer’s emotion.

3. Proofread twice

When I received the e-mail that talked about the "manger" when the writer meant "manager," I wasn’t surprised. It’s an easy spelling error and not terribly embarrassing. When I received the one that used the word "any" instead of "and," I was a bit more surprised because the content of the sentence actually seemed to make sense (but didn’t). When I received the e-mail from the organization that talked about their "pubic" programs (rather than "public"), well, that one was a bit shocking.

Spell check provides the correct spelling. It does not care if it is an incorrect word that it is spelling correctly. You need to care. Spell check and then proof.

4. Write to make it easy to read

There is no sense in creating a message that isn’t readable. Using all UPPER case letters or all lower case can be distracting. Using incorrect grammar or ignoring the conventions of grammar isn’t just rude, it’s difficult to read and track. It is much easier for the writer to lump everything into one giant paragraph and so much harder to follow for the reader. Blowing off punctuation — or inventing your own — is offensive. There are good reasons why we have grammar rules (much like stop lights and traffic signs). They make it easier to read — and respond. Use them!

5. Write as if you care about your reader!

Sometimes, because we are sitting at our computer, we forget that an actual human being is the recipient of our e-mail creation! Focus your information on them. How will they benefit? What’s in it for them?

Make the deadlines reasonable. (Do you think they’re sitting at their desk, doing nothing, waiting for your e-mail so that they can respond at that second?) Don’t expect immediate response — even though you may receive it.

Provide only the information they need. E-mails that mention irrelevant (to the reader) facts like, "I’m 35,000 feet flying between New York and Scottsdale…" simply confuse the issue. (If you don’t know where you are, what makes you think your reader will care?!)

Provide complete information. I was reprimanded (and rightfully so) when I sent a request to a busy meeting planner who I don’t know well, and signed it only, Sue." Sue who? Because my e-mail address contains the beginning five letters of my last name, she was able to figure it out, she told me. She wasn’t pleased, however, and if my return address hadn’t been so obvious, I never would have received a response from her.

Well-written e-mails get things done. These guidelines will help you create electronic messages that are efficient and effective, will get you the result you want and will make you a hero to your readers!

©Sue Hershkowitz-Coore, CSP - All Rights Reserved.

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