Business Writing Skills

© Intellevate India 1

E Mail Etiquette Business Writing Skills


Contents Learning objectives

At the end of this session, you will be

able to:

1. Understand the impact of poorly written emails

2. Understand what makes a personal email different

from a business email

3. Write emails that people read… and act upon


Agenda

• Why email etiquette?

• What is email etiquette?

• How to write effective emails

• Email best practices

• Practice


Why email Etiquette?

1. Face to face

2. Voice

3. Written

Perception

Reality

??



??



Casual

To gossip

To entertain

To socialize

Formal

To inform

To convince

To enable action

With respect & dignity

??


Why email Etiquette? The Problem

Lack of e-mail etiquette has resulted in

it’s becoming one of the biggest time-

wasters

a source of stress & frustration in many

organizations


An Information Mapping (IMI) survey done with

organizations having a workforce of 5000+

employees, shows that:

•40% respondents "waste" 30 minutes -

3 hours per day reading poorly written

emails!

•80% of respondents deem email writing skills

as 'extremely' or 'very' important to their jobs.


??



The study identified the biggest email

problems as:

• Disorganized content

• Missing critical information

• Unclear action or request

• Content is too wordy, long and difficult to read


The 4 C’s of effective emails

C

C

C

C


CONTENT

Can be divided into 2 parts:

• Subject Line

• Body of the mail



CONTENT : Subject Line

1. Should convey the essence of email

2. Must not be a complete sentence

3. Brief and to the point

4. Urgency of the message must be indicated in the

subject line:

• If it is not urgent, indicate “FYI” before the subject line

• If urgent, type “URGENT” before your subject line.

5. Be diplomatic, be assertive




CONTENT : Body of the mail

1. Relate content to the reader

2. Limit your message to one subject

3. Keep to a 15 line message (about half a

computer screen) if you can

4. Good idea to use bullets


CONTENT : Call To Action

The call to action is the

Instructions or information we want the reader to

take away from the message.

Or

The Actions that need to be taken



Example

To: Team members From: The PM

Date: Today

I received a phone call from Jimm Bobb Incorporated and spoke with Jimm Bobb.

He said that we need to evaluate our current procedures when we are

typing our e-mails. If we are not obeying the current policies, practices, and

procedures which are already set in place, then he will need to conduct a full

investigation. So when you are typing your e-mails, please be aware that

what you are typing could be viewed as offensive by the reader. Also, when

using our e-mail system, keep it limited to just work-related e-mails. Do not

transmit chain letters, large documents etc. as it may bog down our mail

servers. Jimm and I are going to lunch to discuss what we can do to try to

combat the number of inappropriate e-mails being transmitted throughout

our campus. See me if you have any questions! Have a nice day!

Thanks,

PM

Exercise: Call to action


Example

To: Team members From: The PM Date: Today

I received a phone call from Jimm Bobb Incorporated and spoke with Jimm Bobb.

He said that we need to evaluate our current procedures when we are

typing our e-mails. If we are not obeying the current policies, practices, and

procedures which are already set in place, then he will need to conduct a full

investigation. So when you are typing your e-mails, please be aware

that what you are typing could be viewed as offensive by the

reader. Also, when using our e-mail system, keep it limited to just

work-related e-mails. Do not transmit chain letters, large

documents etc. as it may bog down our mail servers. Jimm and I are

going to lunch to discuss what we can do to try to combat the number of

inappropriate e-mails being transmitted throughout our campus. See me if

you have any questions! Have a nice day!

Thanks,

PM

Exercise: Call to action


CORRECT

1. Convey information appropriately

2. Check accuracy of figures facts & words

3. Accept and apologize: if data is not

available

4. When in doubt- Ask.



CORRECT

• Spelling & Grammar - proofread for errors

carefully.

• Use precise words

• Program your e-mail to auto spell check

all outgoing mails



CORRECT

Who is it marked to?

• Wait to fill in the "TO" mail address!

• Proofread the mail beforehand to be sure that it is

exactly the way you want it

Put yourself in the receiver shoes and decide:

• Am I the relevant person to be getting this mail?

• Am I clearly able to make out why did I get this

mail?

• Avoid sending a “Reply all” mail unless absolutely

necessary. Send replies on a need to know/act

basis.



CORRECT : Attachments

1. Make sure to create an attachment if you

are mentioning the same in your mail

2. Check with the receiver

1. if he/she would like to receive the attachment

2. whether they have software to open

attachment

3. Do not attach very heavy attachments



CONCISE : Language

1. Use simple language

• avoid jargon

• excessive phrases or repetition

2. Be brief. Get to your point as quickly without

leaving out any necessary details

3. Avoid using SMS lingo: U instead of you, 2 instead

of to or too, plz instead of please, and thanx

instead of thanks. It's fine for personal email

4. Frequently used abbreviations such as Mr. & Mrs.,

FYI (for your information) and etc. are fine



CONCISE : Exercise

This is to thank you for the quick response

Thank you for the quick response

This report is in connection with the internal job postings

This is a report on internal job postings

In majority of cases it is found that the trains are on time

The trains are usually on time



CONCISE : Exercise

Rahul will arrive at about nine o’clock Rahul will arrive at or about nine o’clock

I need the following information in order to complete the report

I need the following information to complete the

report

The meeting will be held for the purpose of discussing the visit of Simon Webster

The meeting will be held to discuss the visit of Simon Webster



COURTEOUS

• Use “Please” and “Thank You” where appropriate

• Avoid writing your message using all uppercase

letters. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING.

• Make sure that you have spelled out the name of the

recipient correctly. If not sure, confirm before

sending the mail.




C oncise

C ourteous

C orrect

C ontent


We would like to start a green belt project which will be a

Quality project and therefore we would like to invite

everyone to join us in to be a part of the team. The name of

the project would be “Need Based Nominations”.

It is essentially to design and implement a process of

Nominations for various non-process related training

programs offered across Intellevate. Bhaskar, who is very

keen on the project kicking off on time would be sponsor

proposed for the project and Ebby is the black belt

attached with a very vast experience on the subject.

Inder would champion the green belt project which is a Quality

project and Himanshu who is the green belt on the project

has nominated Satya and JP.

Please confirm participation as then we would like to schedule

our first meeting.

Exercise


Exercise

Subject: Green Belt project

We are planning to kick off a Quality Project “ Need Based Nominations “ .

Goal : To design an implement a process of Nominations for various non-process related training programs offered across Intellevate

Proposed Sponsor : Bhaskar

Champion : Inder

Black Belt : Ebby

Green Belt : Himanshu

Team Members : Satya & JP

We invite you to participate as a core team member and add

value to this project.

Please confirm your participation. I would then schedule our

first meeting.


Use these helpful practices to ensure proper

etiquette when composing e-mail:

• Use black or blue font only. Do not use red font.

• DO NOT USE ALL CAPS.

• Arial / Verdana fonts

• Use a 10 or 12 point font. Do not go too small or too

big!

• Use bullet points whenever possible.

• Do not use excessive punctuation (!!!!!!)

• Be sure recipient has proper software to open

attachments.

• Never respond to an email when you are angry/upset.

E-mail Best Practices


Use these helpful practices to ensure proper

etiquette when composing e-mail:

1. FYI and FYA

2. Avoid using humor unless understood clearly by the

recipient

3. Use an auto-signature.

4. Proofread all messages and use spell check before

sending.

5. Insert attachment file before sending.

6. Distribution lists / filtering lists

7. BCC

E-mail Best Practices


Before you hit the send button, ask yourself

these questions:

• Are the name and email address in the "TO:" field

correct?

• Have I properly addressed the recipient?

• Have I used the appropriate tone?

• Is my email too wordy (or is it not wordy enough)?

• Have I attached unsolicited attachments?

• Have I proof-read my message?

Before you hit send

Business Writing Skills

Technology

email etiquette

c c c c c

cs of effective emails

business email

essence of email

written emails

mail check

mail servers