Optimizing your email
Do you ever experience email disappointment? I am sure it has happened many times, probably per day, that you will send a message and get a reply that was not expected in order to keep a working process moving along smoothly
A combination of advising my marketing team at work to better write for the web along with working on a few projects with big email chains to many people has led to a few observations. I would like to make a suggestion so that you can better get the results you want in a working process so that decisions are made promptly.
Use Numbered Lists
When working on a project that has multiple talking points to be worked out, do not provide an endless paragraph where each issue is covered by a sentence.
- Splitting the points out will create a clear organization of the tasks that need addressed
- The numbers provide an easy reference for others in the email chain
- Numbers can be marked as done and not deleted from the chain so that progress can be tracked
It has become a convention since the large use of twitter to address comments in a chain to an individual using the '@' symbol. This is essentially using the same principle so that people can directly reference an issue in their reply.
Advise Action
Some emails may seem unimportant to other but require immediate response, while others may seem urgent, but not require action.
If your email requires action, advise your contacts what the next step is. Mention at the bottom of your email before your signature and on its own line, "Please reply" or "No Reply Necessary". If you run into a case that you feel there should be a need for "Urgent Reply" please pick up the phone and call your contact. Your problem will be articulated and resolved better over the phone.
Proofread
It may take an extra minute, but it will ensure that your message is delivered clearly.
Comments
Do not forget:
"Keep it Simple"
Although a lot of today's email readers can do a multitude of formatting, the only standard in email is text. Formatting with colors, bold, indents, etc. may not be visible to all users, and your email could end up looking like a mess.
"Clear In-Line Responses"
In addition to the numbered lists, a lot of people choose to respond in line to lists of information or "to-dos." If this is the case, make sure you break up the original email, and provide extra space as necessary to make sure the response is legible, such as a single return after the item, and two returns after the response.
I think there might even be some more, but I do not want to hi-jack your article.
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