Effective E-mail Writing - calhoun40.net€¦ · Effective E-mail Writing . Improve Your Organization Write a clear subject line. Organize your thoughts before writing. Include a

Effective E-mail Writing

Improve Your Organization

Write a clear subject line. Organize your thoughts before writing. Include a closing.

Use an Appropriate Voice

Know the reader. Use a professional voice. Make your voice sound personal when possible. Write as you would speak to the reader.

Professional, courteous voice Brings a professional, courteous reply

Angry and unprofessional Brings the same to come back to you.

An Effective Subject Line is…

Short Specific Yes: Employee Career Options No: To offer our employees the opportunity to explore career options within our company, both horizontally and vertically.

Positive—State the point of the message in positive neutral terms.

Yes: Company Phone Policy No: Warnings about abuse of company phone system

An Effective Subject Line is…

Making the

simple

complicated is

commonplace

; making the

complicated

simple,

awesomely

simple, that’s

creativity.

Charles

Mingus

Relevant— How is subject related to reader? Yes: Employee Career Options No: Career Options

Professional Use professional words and phrases Yes:

Security Equipment Installation No:

Smile! We see you!

Subject Line Requesting Action

Subject: Urgent Problem Needs Your Input Subject: Come to Important Meeting at 1:30 Readers use subject lines to prioritize in-box messages.

Salutation or Greeting in Email

Client/Customer email should have opening or greeting. In-house e-mail may not, check company policy. Tips for greetings:

Use a standard greeting. To all employees Dear Ms. Jackson Dear Elizabeth

Use a less formal greeting for someone you know well. Good morning Liz

When sending a series of messages and responses back and forth with a customer or client, you may drop the salutation after the first exchange.

Body of Memo

Organize thoughts before writing Even short, routine e-mails.

First sentence states the main idea. It states purpose It is specific It keeps reader(s) in mind

Additional sentences contain necessary details Closing sentence may emphasize the main idea or make a statement about specific action that is needed.

Closing

If you want to thank a person, do so in the last line. Be short and to the point. Senior management usually does not include a closing when writing to each other. E-mails sent to clients and customers and sent “down” to employees below you in the company’s hierarchy should use a closing.

Use an Appropriate Voice

Know your reader. Use a professional voice. Make voice sound personal when possible. Write as you would speak to your reader.

Know Your Reader

Imagine yourself in the reader’s position. If you’re writing to someone for the first time, ask yourself the following questions:

What does my reader already know about this subject? What does the person need to know? How will my reader react to this message? Do I want the person to do something? What?

Professional Voice

Professional voice sounds specific, positive, and reasonable. An unprofessional voice sounds rude, negative, and disrespectful.

Unprofessional Voice

What makes this message sound unprofessional?

1.Using the last name as a greeting is rude. 2.This use of you sounds disrespectful and

accusatory. 3.This personal reference lacks tact and

common courtesy. 4.The use of “big” words is unnecessary. 5.The overall tone is negative and harsh.

Professional Voice

What makes this message sound professional?

1.A specific action is requested. 2.A positive aspect is emphasized. 3.A reason is given for the concern. 4.Tact is used instead of blame—the “we”

indicates a partnership. 5.The sender adopts a supportive tone.

Try It

Rewrite each of the following sentences to create a more professional voice.

1. You understood about half of the points I presented at the meeting.

2. You lost the bid.

3. Try not to mess up this project like you did the last one.

4. Your loan rates are going up next month.

Appropriate Professional Voice

Be sincere. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Be courteous. Imagine you are receiving the message. Be upbeat. Focus on solutions, improvements, and gratitude. Be tactful. Focus on the issues, not the people. Don’t place blame.

What kind of voice is it?

Characteristics Example

Formal No contractions

Few personal pronouns

Objective words

Specific terminology

As previously indicated, ABC Corporation appreciates serving your clients in the St. Louis area.

Informal Friendly, but professional

Occasional contractions and personal pronouns

We’ve enjoyed working with your clients in the St. Louis area.

Conversational Frequent contractions

Appropriate humor

Some jargon or slang

Your St. Louis customers are the best!

4 Basic Types of Readers, 4 Basic Types of Voices

Supervisors: Use a formal voice. Colleagues: Use a conversational voice. Workers you supervise: Use an informal voice. Clients and others outside the company: Use a businesslike voice.

Design E-mails for Clarity

Use double-spacing between paragraphs. Select a readable, 10-12 point font. Avoid using color, highlighting, italics, or other unusual types of format.

Sending Attachments

Inform your reader that the file is attached. Compress large files, if possible, using a compression software program. Keep the number of files sent limited to two or three per e-mail. Check a file for viruses before forwarding it. Check to see that the file is not too large for the receiver’s server. Save any attachments you wish to keep to a folder on your computer. When you must respond to a received file, don’t resend the attachment with the reply.

Suggestions for Try It

1.You understood about half of the points I presented at the meeting. You understood the most important points that were presented at the meeting this morning. Thank you for your attention. However, could you suggest ways to make points 5 and 9 more clear? It is, indeed, difficult to understand these difficult points.

2.You lost the bid. We lot the bid. Let’s meet tomorrow at 9 a.m. to improve our strategy.

Suggestions for Try It

3.Try not to mess up this project like you did

the last one. Thank you for managing this new project. I realize

you encountered some problems last time, so see me

whenever you have questions or need input

4.Your loan rates are going up next month. The above list of improved services will necessitate

a small increase in our monthly fee.