Save yourself from the Pitfalls of Email!

Have you ever received a real badly written email? Or have you ever been told you need to brush up your own email writing? If you work in an office, you probably write emails every day-to colleagues, your boss, clients, etc. So, being able to write a professional, business-like email is a crucial skill. A few guidelines to help avoid mistakes...

Stick to One Topic

• If you need to write to someone about several different issues then don't put them all in the same email

•  It's hard for people to keep track of different email threads and conversations if topics are jumbled up

Check Your Punctuation

• Try to follow the rules of punctuation to both your and the reader's benefit and understanding

• Professional emails are usually not the right place for many exclamation or question marks
•  Strive for very few exclamation marks, and don't reduplicate other punctuation marks, even if they are in their proper place

Acknowledge Receipt

•  Do send a quick note back, possibly involving an informal thank you, to acknowledge receipt even if no reply is necessary otherwise

•  Even if you do plan to reply later, an email acknowledging receipt and letting the sender know when you will get back to them can be welcome

Keep it Neutral

• At times words can be misleading or can be misinterpreted by the readers

•  It is good to write the message in a neutral tone. This way you can ensure that it will not be mistaken

Take a Second Look

•  Allow every message at least some minutes of rest after you have finished it before you press the ‘Send' button

•  Reread and reconsider the whole message when you return to it, possibly from the recipient's perspective

Keep them Crisp

•  Write as much is necessary and appropriate. It is important for business emails to be concise

•  Personal emails can be flowery
• For clarity, fewer and simpler words are still better

Subject Matters

•  Include detail that allows the recipient to identify what you are talking about quickly and unambiguously

•  Leave out unnecessary words

•  If the action associated with your message includes a date or deadline, do include it in the email subject

•  The subject needs to be concise. Skip articles, adjectives, and adverbs

Don't Shout

•  Text in upper case is significantly more difficult to read than lower and mixed case text

•  Always capitalize ‘I' and the first letter of proper nouns (names)

•  Capitalize acronymns

•  Always start sentences with a capital letter

Don't Overuse Cc/Bcc

•  When sending to several people who know each other, it's okay to put their addresses in the ‘To' field

•  When sending to many people who don't know each other, put their addresses in the Cc and Bcc field instead

•  Don't mark copy to people if not required