Email Communication Tips

Effective communication is the key to success in any thing you do. It is imperative to make sure you are clear, concise, kind and considerate.

An email is a business correspondence and needs to be treated as such. It is also a permanent document and one that can be easily forwarded to hundreds of people.

Having to read an email that is full of typographical errors, slang and/or acronyms is painful. It is important to draft your email correspondence as if you are writing a letter on company stationery or an internal memorandum. Proper use of the subject line, greeting, body of the email and closing are necessary. Spell check does not replace proofreading as it is not very effective in picking up grammatical and punctuation errors.

Equally as important is the message the reader receives. Because an email can easily be misconstrued as to its meaning and tone, it is important to take the time to construct it so that a clear, friendly message is sent. Using all capital letters is considered raising your voice; using acronyms and all lower case letters is considered juvenile and unprofessional. Not having the proper greeting and closing is considered rude. People can form all kinds of opinions of you from your email exchanges without you even being aware.

The best way to determine whether your communication sets the proper tone and provides complete information is to proofread it as if you are the recipient. Putting yourself in the receiver's shoes for a minute and allowing yourself to think about the message and feel its tone will allow you to construct better emails. In addition, think about whether you have any questions after reading it. The goal is always that the reader has no additional questions after reading your email so you can avoid multiple exchanges in an attempt to clarify what you could have already set forth in the initial communication.

Other email pitfalls to AVOID are:

- Sending the email to the wrong person or not including all parties. If you are drafting a lengthy email, leave the To: section blank until just before you are ready to send and then carefully include the proper individuals.
- Forgetting to attach the attachment. As soon as you refer to an attachment, go ahead and attach it at that point rather than waiting until you complete your draft which increases the likelihood of forgetting.
- Including information in an email that you would not want anyone but the recipient to see. Remember that email can be forwarded to anyone. Leave editorial and unpleasant comments out as you do not know where your email could likely land and the written word cannot be retracted.
- Sending an email while angry. Use the 24 hour rule . Draft your email and then let it sit as a draft until your cooler head prevails. There is a very good likelihood that you will re-draft it the next day.