Tips On Writing Good Email
From Tip Sense
Note: When you add a new tip, please make sure that they go to correct section by looking at existing sections.
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Subject Lines
- Choose a subject line that pertains clearly to the email body will help people mentally shift to the proper context before they read your message.
- The subject line should be brief (as many mailers will truncate long subject lines), does not need to be a complete sentence, and should give a clue to the contents of the message.
- If your message is in response to another piece of email, your email software will probably preface the subject line with Re: or RE:.
- If your email composition software doesn't do this, it would be polite to put in RE: by hand.
- For time-critical messages, starting with URGENT: is a good idea (especially if you know the person gets a lot of email)
- If you are offering non-urgent information that requires no response from the other person, prefacing the subject line with FYI: (For Your Information) is not a bad idea.
- Do yourself a favor and eliminate the word "information" from your subject lines (and maybe from the body of your message as well).
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Quoting Documents
- If you are referring to previous email, you should explicitly quote that document to provide context.
- Instead of sending email that says yes, say "Did you get all of the left-handed thromblemeisters that you needed?"
- The greater-than sign (>) is the most conventional way to quote someone else's email words, but your email software may use a different convention.
- Even if there are a fair number of words in your response, you still might need to quote the previous message. Imagine getting a response on Monday to some email that you can't quite remember sending on Friday.
- You need only enough context to frame the question being answered
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Remove Pronouns
- A good rule is to look very carefully at all pronouns in your first three sentences.
- If they don't refer to something explicitly stated in the email, change them to something concrete.
- If you want to quote a sentence that is in the middle of a paragraph, or wraps around lines, go ahead and remove everything but the part that you were really interested in, inserting "[...]" if you have to take something out in the middle.
- You can also paraphrase by using square brackets, as above.
- If the message isn't important enough to you to warrant the time to pare the original message down, include the whole thing after your response, not before.
- If you put the original message at the end, your readers don't have to look at it unless they don't understand the context of your response.
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Keep it brief
- DO NOT let the reader get bored.
- Keep your emails as concise and to the point as possible.
- This will ensure an effective email.
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Don't check it compulsively
Check email once or twice a day. Check email when you have enough time to properly respond. If you don’t have time you may rush a reply and not give yourself time to think. Don’t have email on auto prompt. – I.E. every time a new email comes you get a prompt, - you will never get anything done.
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Be polite
- No matter who you are replying to, always try to be polite and cordial.
- Remember any negativity can get magnified in an email.
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Mind your language
- The problem with email is that the personal contact is lost.
- Therefore, we feel detached, sometimes this can make it more willing to say things we may regret.
- When writing an email, feel you are actually speaking to the person.
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DO NOT WRITE IN ALL CAPS
- IT SEEMS LIKE YOU’RE SHOUTING. PLEASE TURN IT OFF!
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Explain your Problem Carefully
- I could write a whole post on how to report technical faults.
- The important thing is to give as much detail about what has gone wrong.
- Bearing in mind the sys admin is not psychic. Avoid “It doesn’t work! This is useless!”
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Don’t Respond When Angry
- American President, T. Jefferson said
“When angry count to ten before you speak. If very angry, count to one hundred”
- May I add “When angry and emailing count to one thousand.”
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Let Emails Wait
- If you have a difficult email to write, before sending, let it wait overnight.
- Go back the next day and revise the contents.
- Often you may wish to moderate your comments.
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Do you Really Need to Write the Email?
- Some emails are essential, but some are non essential.
- If we have the opportunity to speak to somebody anyway, there is no need to send a stream of emails about general chit chat.
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Good English Should not to Be Forgotten
- Maybe I am bit old fashioned, but when writing emails I like to maintain the basics of good spelling and punctuation.
- Some people feel they don’t have time to use Capitals, spelling and the basics of grammar.
- However, it is likely that they are writing more emails than necessary.
- If you don’t have time to write emails properly it is better to try and write less.
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Break up your Email into bullet points
- If your email is long, or contains several points, don’t write in long one sentence.
- White space gives the reader a breathing space.
- If you break up the mail into parts it makes it more likely it will be read.
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Standard Replies
- If you have many people writing about the same thing, write a standard reply you can customise.
- Save a short note in word or in an email draft. You can then add this standard reply to all relevant emails, saving time.
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Sources/Reference
- Internet site [www.netwriting.co.uk]
- Word of mouth
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