As a final test, make sure your email will be clear to the recipient – and not just to you as the sender. Because it appears to be a much less formal communication medium than, say, paper-based mail, there can be a danger of taking a more relaxed attitude to it. Your message might appear more jokey, sarcastic, even cynical, than you want it to!
Be careful not to pad the message out with waffle phrases e.g. at the end of the day, all things considered, there’s always a slight chance that etc. Or, to add “don’t blame us if it doesn’t work” qualifiers that lessen the impact e.g. hopefully, you might find that, you should be able to etc.
Equally, don’t be over-formal – an email isn’t a letter from your bank manager threatening immediate and dire consequences if a certain course of corrective action isn’t forthcoming Remember, let the recipient know at the end of your email what you’d like them to do next! And, show them how to do so with as little effort as possible Alternatively, state a clear line of action that you intend to follow e.g. “I’ll contact you on Tuesday morning at 10am to discuss this further. If this time isn’t convenient, please email to let me know any time on Tuesday afternoon when I can call”
Be aware that your email could be forwarded to others by the recipient – whether you want them to or not – so make sure anything you say could – theoretically at least – be “spread around the world”. Therefore, be careful of making offers by email that you wouldn’t want others to be bale to take advantage of!
Generally, avoid sending messages by email that needs to be either private or secure – no email carries the weight of a “private, personal and confidential” envelope Please appreciate that, whilst emails might appear to be personal or confidential, when, for example, the recipient is either on holiday or off work for any other reason, another member of the team or department may be authorised to deal with their email!
So there you have it: lots of different tips to help you create effective emails. As Paul Ehrlich once said: “To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer”. But, of course, in this series of articles, we've been looking at the human frailties - rather than mechanical or electronic ones! When the words are wrong, no machine will take the blame!
Any comments or questions? Please email me at gordon@thevenworks.com and I'll try to help.
Thanks for reading these articles
Email Communication Tips - Part Four - To learn more about this author, visit Gordon Veniard's Website.
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