The number of e-mails send daily is 47 billion. No wonder some of us get annoyed when we receive spam emails, dumb e-mails and even long e-mails. A message thrown together without concept, reason or thought may just tick off your boss, ruin your relationship with your friends or derail your romance. So what’s the best ways of sending e-mails and how can you avoid this issue?
Cut to the chase: No one wants to receive a two page e-mail, if that’s the case pick up the phone and call. There’s no reason why your e-mail should be more than two paragraphs long. I certainly don’t have the time to read these long e-mails and can also be very annoying. Respect your higher – up’s crazy full schedule and get to the point. Your pitch should be short and to the point otherwise you will loose your boss’s attention. Put something specific in the subject line that will keep the person reading.
Respect the title: Don’t add coworkers names on the “to” line as they pop in your head; there’s a pecking order, and people notice where they fall on the list. Melissa’s mistake may not be obvious to you but it will be to others.
Don’t text speak: Even if you e-mailing your friends try to avoid text speaking such as OMG, LOL, PCM, DGC. Limit yourself from using xoxo or smiley when talking to a client or co-worker unless you have an established friendship or business relationship with them. Sometime it tends to come across as either exasperated or kind of obnoxious.
Shorten those words: Contractions aren’t too casual for interoffice correspondence. Spelled out words and phrases like cannot, will not, or do not.
Wait before sending and make sure to proofread: When writing an angry message, don’t fill in the ricipient’s e-mail address until you’ve had a chance to consider your tone.
Don’t get divalike: Never use caps; it’s the e-mail equivalent of YELLING. Also, steer clear of exclamation points.
Nix the nasty stuff: Stay away from using sarcastic criticism and condescending kind of complaint.
