We’re all busy. We all have overflowing in boxes. But lazy e-mail habits could lead to misunderstanding, frustration, non-action, wasted effort, wasted time, damaged relationships and ruined reputations. Are you guilty of any of these lazy habits? If so, it’s time to take action now, before it’s too late.

1. Using a vague or outdated subject line

An e-mail with a subject line like ‘Update’ or ‘Hi’ or ‘News’ is not likely to inspire me to open it. Similarly an old subject line like ‘Meeting on Tuesday’ is useless when the meeting happened last week and today’s e-mail is attaching a proposal. Help yourself and save your reader’s time by making sure every subject line is clear and specific.

2. Not using a greeting or sign-off

Internally I can understand if you sometimes drop the ‘Hi John’ at the beginning, but externally there’s no excuse. Please remember the simple courtesies of an appropriate greeting and sign-off. And that doesn’t mean “Thanks and regards”!

3. Not proofreading

Have you ever sent an e-mail to the wrong person? Have you ever misspelled the reader’s name? Have you ever mentioned the wrong date for a meeting? Imagine my embarrassment recently when I read back an e-mail sent from my i-Phone saying: “Hell get a $50 credit toasted or annual conference.” (Hell instead of he’ll, and toasted instead of towards). I’m much more careful now when I send messages using my phone. If you regularly make errors in e-mails, people will question your attention to detail and your ability to handle your work.

4. Using abbreviations or acronyms

You may think these will save time, but they can lead to confusion for readers. While FYI is globally recognised as ‘for your information’, FYA could cause chaos because some people think it’s ‘for your action’ while others think it’s ‘for your approval’ – there’s a big difference. Only use acronyms that the reader is sure to understand. By the way, a word of warning with FYI. So many people complain that they often spend time trying to figure out why they received an email with FYI, when one sentence from the sender would have answered that question.

5. Clicking ‘reply all’ when not everyone needs the reply

We are all complaining about it, but we are still receiving ‘Reply all’ e-mails that we don’t need to read, then we have to open them, read them and delete them. Please, think carefully before you ‘Reply all’.

6. Writing everything in one long paragraph

When I receive an e-mail that’s all one huge paragraph, it’s impossible to focus, to pick out the main points, to find any action items, or to respond effectively. Make it easier for your readers by structuring your messages logically and by leaving a blank line between your (short) paragraphs.

7. Missing out essential details

If you’ve ever read an e-mail and wondered what you’re supposed to do, you know how frustrating this can be. Make sure you include all essential information: dates, times, places, names, action points. Otherwise that inevitable ‘ding-dong’ will begin, wasting time and causing frustration. Again it comes back to proofreading carefully to ensure everything is included and nothing is missed.

8. Using unfriendly tone

People often type out exactly what they would say without thinking of the tone of voice they would use to signal their emotions if they were speaking. If your tone is not quite right, readers could easily be hurt or offended. Take time to read messages carefully and add some extra words if necessary.

9. Not answering with the requested information

If your sender asks you two questions and you answer only one, you are not only creating more work for everyone, you are also causing frustration and damaging the relationship. Before you click ‘send’, scan through the sender’s email again to make sure you’ve answered all points.

10. Not answering email

A major annoyance is not receiving a reply to a business email. This means senders have to keep sending “Did you receive this?” messages, plus it will surely damage your reputation because people will say things like, “She never answers her email.” Take some time to make sure every e-mail receives an appropriate response, even if it’s just “OK will work on it.” or “Thanks. I’ll do that.”

This is a guest post. About the author:

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A great article this weekend about how to make sure your email gets read.

We’re inundated with email these days. A lot of it spam. How can you make sure your email gets read?

This is especially important for job seekers. Especially if you’re sending in a job application, what can you do to make it more likely the hiring manager will open an read you email?

I’ll summarize the advice list after the jump, but I encourage you to read the entire article for detailed tips.

1. Keep it short.
2. Make the subject line a summary.
3. Start and end with “you.”
4. Only one topic per message.
5. Use an appropriate tone.
6. Don’t send extra copies.
7. Respect spelling and grammar.
8. Remember it’s not private.
9. Email isn’t for arguments.
10. Mind those threads.

I can think of instances where each of these points have direct application for job seekers.

Read the whole thing here.

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Here’s an appropriate post for a Monday.

BusinessWeek has a short article about how some companies, in the name of worker and server sanity, are encouraging workers to hold off sending emails over the weekend.

I think we can all relate to coming fresh into the office, only to be deluged by a mountain of emails that can derail you from getting started on real work for several hours as you dig out.

Since late 2006, the PricewaterhouseCoopers email system sends an automated warning to workers logging in on Saturdays and Sundays: “It’s the weekend. Help reduce weekend e-mail overload for both you and your colleagues by working offline.”

The article points out that sending an email urges others to respond right away. Some might respond just then, some might not right away… and sometimes the email gets lost since others might not be looking for work issues on a Saturday afternoon. It’s better to wait until work hours so that this disconnect of attention doesn’t cause unneeded confusion.

I’ve thought a lot about this over the last couple of years as smartphones and blackberries have entered my life. Just because you might have transitioned over to a 24/7 workday, doesn’t mean I did as well. When someone says to me, “Didn’t you get the message I sent you on Saturday?” I think, “Well, no. It was Saturday.”

There are a lot of things changing in the world of etiquette related to the new technologies in our life, none more so than communications etiquette. I think the time may be coming when those of us who chose NOT to plug into an “always available” lifestyle will have to stand up for our right to only deal with work during work hours.

BTW, I’d link to the BusinessWeek article, but it’s not online.

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Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Patricia Robb of Laughing all the Way to Work: The Ultimate Secretarial Survival Blog

E-mail is no longer just for personal use, with all our accepted short forms: LOL, U, GB and a co-worker’s favourite, OMG! With the increasing use of e-mail as the first choice for business correspondence it opens a whole new world of dos and don’ts for the assistant.

Here are Some Good-Sense E-mail Etiquette Tips

E-mail Salutations:

Although people in external business e-mail. Jane Watson of J. Watson Associates gives the following e-mail tips for Email Salutations in her e-bulletin Business Writing Updates:

“There are several options for starting an e-mail in North America as our business culture is not as formal as other areas. You can use “hi,” “hello,” “good day” or any other variant – including just the first name. I usually tell people to use whatever they would say when they are greeting someone face to face.

I recommend staying away from “good morning” or “good afternoon” as the person may not open the e-mail during that time frame. You could use “greetings” or “hello all” when sending a message to a group. If I didn’t know the person, and it was my first communication to him/her, I would use both names: John McDonald.

Not putting a salutation on the first message of the day to someone is often considered impolite. As you e-mail back and forth during the day, you can drop the salutation when it feels comfortable. “Dear” is considered too formal in North America for an e-mail and is reserved for letters. Note: “Dear” in an e-mail is considered appropriate in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, France, Japan and Indonesia.”1

Be Courteous With E-mail

Are you There?

Who hasn’t been annoyed when you e-mail someone and are waiting for an answer, only to find out the person is on vacation, but didn’t put their Out-of-Office Assistant on. It is important to let people know when you will not be in the office.

For those who are unfamiliar with Out-of-Office Assistant, go under Tools, Out of Office Assistant.

The following information should be included in your message:

1. The start and end dates of your absence.
2. A message to let your contacts know you’ll answer messages when you return.
3. The name, contact information, and office hours of someone to contact if they require immediate assistance. Of course, be sure to check with your co-worker first before providing his or her information.

Who are you?

Be sure to add your signature to your business e-mail with your coordinates. Your company may have a strict policy on what they want you to include in the signature line and what it should look like, but generally you would include your name, title, company name and address, telephone and fax number. They already know your e-mail address if they have received an e-mail from you so no need to put this in your signature line unless your company policy states you should.

To set an e-mail signature file:

1. From the Tools Menu, choose Options
2. Select Mail Format
3. Select Signatures
4. Select New and follow the instructions to add your e-mail signature. You can make more than one signature to use for different e-mails
5. If you want your signature to be applied automatically to new messages and for replies and forwards. Go back to Mail Format and you will see a drop-down menu for Signature for new message and Signature for replies and forwards. You need to select the signature you want applied to these functions or leave at None if you do not want this set.

Saying Thank you

It is always correct to be courteous, but not annoying? This is a great tip from Jane Watson of J. Watson Associates for Saying Thank You in an Email:

“In our recent poll on pet peeves regarding emails, a number of respondents expressed irritation about receiving messages that contained only the words thank you. They reasoned that opening these short messages wasted their time. They were merely doing their job and didn’t need to be thanked.

I understand their rationale; however, sending a thank you indicates the receipt of information and a close of the requested action. My suggestion – to keep the process short but to acknowledge the receipt of information and your appreciation – is to put the thank you on the subject line along with the indicator END. END on the subject line means there is no need to open the message as there is nothing in the body text…” 2

DON’T SHOUT!

Writing all in caps is a form of e-mail shouting. Is that the message you want to send to your recipient? If you are visually impaired and need to use all caps and large font and don’t want to offend the reader, my suggestion would be to state that in your opening sentence. That way the reader can relax and continue to read the email knowing you are not shouting at them.

Seeing Red

Does it matter what colour of font you use in your e-mail? Colour blindness affects a significant number of people, especially men, when it comes to distinguishing the colour red and green. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) report that, “some 10 million American men – fully 7 percent of the male population – either cannot distinguish red from green, or see red and green differently from most people. This is the commonest form of color blindness, but it affects only .4 percent of women”.3

If you want something to stand out, rather than using a colour you can always use bold or italics for emphasis. I would not recommend using underlining for emphasis in an electronic document as underlining a word usually means you are linking to something else. Because it has taken on this new meaning you may have some confused readers trying to link to another site from your underlined word.4

And what about all that pretty wallpaper that is available for your background? Be sure to check your company email policy: Having butterflies flutter across the screen on the opening of the business e-mail may not be the image your company is looking for.

Reply to all

If you are copied on an e-mail and want to respond to the sender is it really necessary to Reply to all and have every one of the recipients receive your e-mail? If your message is an answer to the sender then just pressing Reply is appropriate or if you are only copied, do you need to reply at all?

Be Angry but Send not!

It is too easy to press Send and then regret what you have written or find yourself in some legal trouble. If you need to vent, try sending yourself the e-mail you wanted to send. Take a few moments to calm down and then go to your Inbox and open your message. You will get a greater sense of what impact that e-mail will have on the recipient. But it is never a good idea to send an angry e-mail in business correspondence.

Good Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation

The rules still apply for using good grammar and punctuation in e-mail: Are you starting that new sentence using a capital letter? Are you asking a question or stating a fact? Is this a new paragraph? Your e-mail will be easier to read if you follow some basic business writing rules. Read the e-mail over for completeness and accuracy. SpellCheck never replaces proofreading your e-mail.

If you say in your e-mail you have an attachment, is the attachment actually there? And please verify to make sure the attachment is the correct attachment, it is easy to drag and drop the wrong attachment.

Check the name of the recipient and make sure they are the actual person (people) you want to send to. Some names are similar in your contact list and it is easy to choose the wrong person, which, depending on the sensitivity of the e-mail, could be embarrassing or worse.

Mixed Messages

If you are changing the subject, please do not reply to the old e-mail with the same subject line. This can get confusing for the recipient. A good rule of thumb is if you change the subject, start a new e-mail message.

In Summary

In our fast-paced society e-mail is a quick way of communicating and used properly can be a effective business tool, but e-mail can also be impersonal and is not always the best form of communication. Sometimes a better way to communicate would be picking up the phone or meeting someone face to face. So think twice before pressing Send: Is e-mail the best way to communicate your message?

Tip for filing e-mails: If it is necessary to file a hard copy of the e-mail. File e-mails chronologically by date and time. This will make it easier for the reader to follow the chain of e-mails.

1. Watson, Jane, J. Watson Associates Inc., Copyright © 2005 All rights reserved. Tel: 905-820-9909, Email Salutations, http://www.jwatsonassociates.com/newsletter/jwa_086.htm, (accessed October 22, 2007) (Used with permission)
2. Watson, Jane, J. Watson Associates Inc., Copyright © 2005 All rights reserved. Tel: 905-820-9909, Saying Thank you in an Email, http://www.jwatsonassociates.com/newsletter/jwa_073.htm, (accessed October 22, 2007) (Used with permission)
   
3. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Color Blindness: More Prevalent Among Males, (1995 report) (Accessed February 2, 2008) (Used with permission)
   
4. Gaertner-Johnston, Lynn, Business Writing “Talk, tips, and Best Picks for Writers on the Job”, Underling: A Bad Choice Online, http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business
   

A version of this article appeared in OfficePro Magazine, January/February 2008 edition.

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Hopefully, not too many of you were affected by the email system outages yesterday. Hopefully, you weren’t also affected by the FPL power outages.

It’s a reminder to all of us that depending on one system alone works fine, right up until the time that it doesn’t. In this case, commercial email services were affected, but the next time it could be your server at work.

Fortunately, it’s easy these days to create backup email accounts. They’re free, easy to setup and they can sit there waiting for you when you need them. In a worst case scenario, you just jump over to your free web account and send out notices that your normal email is down temporarily.

I have two Gmail accounts, a Yahoo account and even a Hotmail account I haven’t visited in years. Whenever my work email goes down, I can transition over to those with no problems whatsoever.

The key to quick transitions, I’ve found, is to keep local copies of all emails. I route my email accounts through Outlook so there are hard copies of everything just in case. I even do this with my Gmail accounts.

Of course, the inverse also works. You can easily set up a Gmail account to forward copies of all messages to other accounts for backup purposes. Some people even route their mail through Gmail and then back again, to weed out spam, and to keep copies.

But even if you don’t go to such lengths, the key to surviving downtimes is to make sure you have copied your address book over to all your email accounts. After all, it’s no good to be back up in email if you can’t remember anyone’s email address to alert them to your situation

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Oh, I know, I know. You can set an “out of office” autoreply on your email. Everyone can do that! Sheesh.

Everyone but you, right? C’mon, it’s just you and me talking here. Every time you encounter one of those “I’m away from my office…” emails, you’re a little jealous. It’s a basic business communication skill these days, but you don’t know how to do it.

Well, don’t live with the shame any longer. I got’yer back. And I won’t tell anyone.
Create an Out Of Office AutoReply in Outlook (HowToGeek)

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If you’re like me, you spend most of your day wrestling with Microsoft Outlook. Let’s just say that Outlook is not the friendliest, nor the most self-explanatory software program Microsoft ever made. But part of the reason Outlook is such a bear is because Bill built in a virtual encyclopedia of features and tools to help you manage email. Just because you don’t know of, can’t find, or wouldn’t know how to use these tools in a million years isn’t exactly Outlook’s fault, is it?

Blog WebWorkerDaily has a run down of 10 easy tips that will help you get more out of Outlook this very morning!

10 Tips for Getting Much More Out of MS Outlook

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Work in an SMS-heavy environment? Not sure what all those young temps in the creative department are saying when they pepper their emails with words like BRB and IMHO (be right back and in my humble opinion, in case you’re still wondering)? Sure you know LOL, but are you feeling like an old fogey cause you can’t follow the kids today with these new fangled interwebs werdz? Then quickly bookmark the Internet Slang Dictionary.

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Lots of us have begun using Gmail in conjunction with with our work email systems (if for no other reason than Gmail makes a swell spam mail filter). Still more of us have switched all our personal email needs over to Gmail… for the space, the ease of use, the threaded conversations, the “coolness factor” or what-have-you.

This week, Google has launched some new features for Gmail. What does this mean for the average Joe or Jo-Ann?

Actually… not much. The changes aren’t that major, and since Google is doing a limited roll out, some of you might not even be able to see the changes yet. Apparently, you have to select the new changes by clicking on your topline menu (see the picture below).

But the incremental changes hint at a major Gmail overhaul coming soon. And hey, while limited, this update has some cool features, including:

• Increased loading speed. If true, this is the best feature. With all that Ajax, Gmail can sometimes take 20 seconds to do something simple like… well… open an email. They’ve added some sort of message pre-load to cut down on wait times.
• Some small cosmetic changes to the overall look and feel.
• Better message filtering options.
• What looks to be a completely overhauled contacts management system.
• The ability to load pictures directly from Picasa.

Thanks to Google Blogoscoped for the screenshots.

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