E-mail best practice
Posted 11th September 2007 at 14:00 by Simon Donnelly
Updated 12th September 2007 at 17:18 by roymoggadmin
Updated 12th September 2007 at 17:18 by roymoggadmin
Having just been reading a blog by Stephanie on technology and saying I ought to put pen to paper, here are some hints and tips I've drawn together over the years. Hope it might be of some interest and use.
Good time management
• Diary times to deal with your email. Twice a day should be enough. Avoid the temptation to check email more frequently.
• If the system is set up to notify you visually or audibly every time an email arrives, then switch it off. It’s too tempting to “just have a look” as it’s always nice to know that someone is sending you something.
• Just say no. If you’re on a mailing list for which you have no interest, reply by writing “unsubscribe” or “remove” in the comment box or find the “unsubscribe” link. Be careful though. Sometimes mass-mailers use your response to confirm that you have an address, and send you more stuff. Use a filter to prevent mail with features that are repeated from being downloaded.
• Use the edit and paste commands as you would in word processing. This is helpful in repeating information or creating a type of form letter to be sent to various participants.
• Sort incoming email by subject, key word, or author so you can process related mail together.
• Write descriptive subject lines. Many busy people will only open messages with captivating subject lines. Think creatively.
• If you must forward a message, put your comments at the top.
• If you are responding to a long “email trail”, summarise the previous information to save people having to read through it all.
• Learn how to keep an address book to save email addresses, automatically insert them into a new message and maintain groups of contacts.
• Use auto responders to offer frequently requested information. These email bots will automatically respond to the sender with a prewritten message. They are often used for brochures, price lists, directions, etc.
• There is a convention to intersperse someone else’s original message with points of your own when you reply. Consequently, it takes a while to figure out what is original and what is new. Avoid wasting people’s time. Create a proper response as you would a business letter. Instead of leaving an entire message that you received intact, just refer to it. They don’t need to read everything they wrote when you respond to them.
Good housekeeping
• Delete all unnecessary mail. Old messages congest servers. Delete old, duplicate or reply version copies and free up space for new incoming mail.
• Save attachments to appropriate folders on your hard drive, then delete the messages. Attachments take up a lot of space on the server. If necessary, save the message to your hard drive.
• Create new mail folders with names that categorise your mail and move messages into them. This way, new mail is not only easier to find but quicker to load (which is especially true when dialling in remotely). Using your Inbox or Sent Mail as catchall holding tanks slows everything down and finding a particular message can become a nightmare..
• Use a stacking tray or file folder labelled “EMAIL” to store paper items associated with email you plan to send. Then you can batch them more efficiently.
Good protocols
• Check the spelling of your email before sending it. Spelling errors seem to have become generally accepted in email. But go beyond acceptable. Aim for excellence.
• DON’T TYPE IN ALL CAPS. This is perceived as shouting.
• Documents from other programmes, such as MS Word contain odd characters such as apostrophes that can show up as gibberish. Special formatting may go wonky. Rather than copy the original document into an email, send it as an attachment.
• Re-read your email before sending it. Writing quickly often results in awkward grammar.
• If responding to a message you perceive to be rude, aggressive, etc. and which has made you angry or irritated, compose your response, then wait for a couple of hours. Reread your reply and reword it as necessary. It is too easy to send back an irate message when your original perception may have been incorrect. This is why emoticons such as have become popular – they show the actual intention of the wording.
• Consider carefully what you write; it’s a permanent record and can be easily forwarded to others. Never accuse people, call them names, suggest they aren’t being smart or criticise their spelling. Assume their intentions are genuine. Avoid sarcasm. Be polite and assertive if necessary (e.g. to spammers) but not vindictive.
• Only attach large files with permission from your recipient first.
• When replying to a message, be sure you reply to just the person you want. Be careful not to “Reply All” unless it’s necessary for everyone to know your message.
• Be careful with punctuation. Full stops can separate thoughts... but use a lot of exclamation marks and it looks like you’re angry!!!!!!!!!! How does a line of question marks look??????? You might not intend strong emotion but the other person might think you do.
• Use the blind carbon copy (bcc) feature for your own mailing lists. You can send out periodic announcements to a list of people. By using the bcc feature, recipients won’t be able to copy other people’s names and addresses.
• Only forward personal email to a discussion group with the author’s permission.
• Attaching files when posting to discussion groups is not good practice. Refer participants to a web site where they can find the information.
• Just post the web address rather send entire web pages to a discussion group,.
• Avoid blatantly promoting your business by posting an advertisement to a discussion group, unless it is unmistakably an accepted use and you have cleared it with the moderator (if there is one) first. Otherwise, you are “spamming”. Offer information of value, rather than simply inviting people to your web site.
• Avoid cyber-speak. Not everyone is familiar with acronyms commonly used in email correspondence, such as IMHO (in my humble opinion) or FWIW (for what it’s worth). Performing a mental translation each time slows down the reader. It is better to make reading easy for them.
• If you manage staff, institute a new policy that no one may cc you on anything. Never. If they want to forward something to you, they must always include a cover note. Managers complain that they have no idea why they are receiving most of the email that they are copied on. This policy will cut down on unnecessary copies being sent, and it will improve communication. It will also help to reduce unnecessary office politics.
Good time management
• Diary times to deal with your email. Twice a day should be enough. Avoid the temptation to check email more frequently.
• If the system is set up to notify you visually or audibly every time an email arrives, then switch it off. It’s too tempting to “just have a look” as it’s always nice to know that someone is sending you something.
• Just say no. If you’re on a mailing list for which you have no interest, reply by writing “unsubscribe” or “remove” in the comment box or find the “unsubscribe” link. Be careful though. Sometimes mass-mailers use your response to confirm that you have an address, and send you more stuff. Use a filter to prevent mail with features that are repeated from being downloaded.
• Use the edit and paste commands as you would in word processing. This is helpful in repeating information or creating a type of form letter to be sent to various participants.
• Sort incoming email by subject, key word, or author so you can process related mail together.
• Write descriptive subject lines. Many busy people will only open messages with captivating subject lines. Think creatively.
• If you must forward a message, put your comments at the top.
• If you are responding to a long “email trail”, summarise the previous information to save people having to read through it all.
• Learn how to keep an address book to save email addresses, automatically insert them into a new message and maintain groups of contacts.
• Use auto responders to offer frequently requested information. These email bots will automatically respond to the sender with a prewritten message. They are often used for brochures, price lists, directions, etc.
• There is a convention to intersperse someone else’s original message with points of your own when you reply. Consequently, it takes a while to figure out what is original and what is new. Avoid wasting people’s time. Create a proper response as you would a business letter. Instead of leaving an entire message that you received intact, just refer to it. They don’t need to read everything they wrote when you respond to them.
Good housekeeping
• Delete all unnecessary mail. Old messages congest servers. Delete old, duplicate or reply version copies and free up space for new incoming mail.
• Save attachments to appropriate folders on your hard drive, then delete the messages. Attachments take up a lot of space on the server. If necessary, save the message to your hard drive.
• Create new mail folders with names that categorise your mail and move messages into them. This way, new mail is not only easier to find but quicker to load (which is especially true when dialling in remotely). Using your Inbox or Sent Mail as catchall holding tanks slows everything down and finding a particular message can become a nightmare..
• Use a stacking tray or file folder labelled “EMAIL” to store paper items associated with email you plan to send. Then you can batch them more efficiently.
Good protocols
• Check the spelling of your email before sending it. Spelling errors seem to have become generally accepted in email. But go beyond acceptable. Aim for excellence.
• DON’T TYPE IN ALL CAPS. This is perceived as shouting.
• Documents from other programmes, such as MS Word contain odd characters such as apostrophes that can show up as gibberish. Special formatting may go wonky. Rather than copy the original document into an email, send it as an attachment.
• Re-read your email before sending it. Writing quickly often results in awkward grammar.
• If responding to a message you perceive to be rude, aggressive, etc. and which has made you angry or irritated, compose your response, then wait for a couple of hours. Reread your reply and reword it as necessary. It is too easy to send back an irate message when your original perception may have been incorrect. This is why emoticons such as have become popular – they show the actual intention of the wording.
• Consider carefully what you write; it’s a permanent record and can be easily forwarded to others. Never accuse people, call them names, suggest they aren’t being smart or criticise their spelling. Assume their intentions are genuine. Avoid sarcasm. Be polite and assertive if necessary (e.g. to spammers) but not vindictive.
• Only attach large files with permission from your recipient first.
• When replying to a message, be sure you reply to just the person you want. Be careful not to “Reply All” unless it’s necessary for everyone to know your message.
• Be careful with punctuation. Full stops can separate thoughts... but use a lot of exclamation marks and it looks like you’re angry!!!!!!!!!! How does a line of question marks look??????? You might not intend strong emotion but the other person might think you do.
• Use the blind carbon copy (bcc) feature for your own mailing lists. You can send out periodic announcements to a list of people. By using the bcc feature, recipients won’t be able to copy other people’s names and addresses.
• Only forward personal email to a discussion group with the author’s permission.
• Attaching files when posting to discussion groups is not good practice. Refer participants to a web site where they can find the information.
• Just post the web address rather send entire web pages to a discussion group,.
• Avoid blatantly promoting your business by posting an advertisement to a discussion group, unless it is unmistakably an accepted use and you have cleared it with the moderator (if there is one) first. Otherwise, you are “spamming”. Offer information of value, rather than simply inviting people to your web site.
• Avoid cyber-speak. Not everyone is familiar with acronyms commonly used in email correspondence, such as IMHO (in my humble opinion) or FWIW (for what it’s worth). Performing a mental translation each time slows down the reader. It is better to make reading easy for them.
• If you manage staff, institute a new policy that no one may cc you on anything. Never. If they want to forward something to you, they must always include a cover note. Managers complain that they have no idea why they are receiving most of the email that they are copied on. This policy will cut down on unnecessary copies being sent, and it will improve communication. It will also help to reduce unnecessary office politics.
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