Hello there again readers. I stumbled across this article in one of our trade magazines, found it interesting, so I am passing it along. Enjoy!
Hello there again readers. I stumbled across this article in one of our trade magazines, found it interesting, so I am passing it along. Enjoy
A recent report estimated that more than 7 trillion e-mails were sent worldwide last year. Spam messages are jamming in-boxes across the globe and the average office worker now gets between 60-200 messages a day. While no one denies the obvious productivity gains we’ve realized from the efficiencies of e-mail communication, many people find themselves drowning in all these messages.
Here are 8 tips that will make your e-mail communication more effective.
1. Practice being clear and concise with your message.
- You’ll save time and your reader will appreciate it,
- Consider using bulleted points to clearly express your thoughts,
- Everyone has a different style of how they intake info,
- Email communication works best if you outline the points you are trying to get across in an easy to understand format.
Investing extra time while authoring e-mail pays big dividends by giving your reader a clear understanding of your message. Remember, if your e-mail is written with the purpose to educate, inform or persuade, then making sure to get your point across is even more critical.
With the sheer volume of e-mail messages most business people receive, there’s an inverse relationship between the volume of test and successfully making the point. Most people will immediately read and understand a ten sentence e-mail. Send them a 10,000 word document and they’ll likely scan the highlights, save it for later and you risk it not being read fully. People appreciate brevity. Remember if your objective is to tell the reader what time it is, you don’t need to explain how to build a clock!
2. Before sending, always reread your message and double check for grammar and misused words.
It’s obvious to most of us to use spell check after we’ve composed our message. You should also make it standard procedure to reread your entire message before sending. Often times, you’ll notice words which have been left out, grammar that’s incorrect and worst of all – words which our spilled write butt knot used inn the write weigh (NOTE, THAT THIS LAST SENTENCE RUNS THROUGH THE SPELL CHECKER PERFECTLY)! How many times have you caught something too late, making your only option to curse at your spell-checking software!
3. Copy back salient points when replying to an earlier message.
Most people receive hundreds of e-mails every week. When you combine that with face to face meetings and phone calls, it’s dangerous to assume your recipient will remember your earlier exchange. Which of these messages has the greater chance of reader confusion? It is frustrating when someone sends you an-email with a specific answer, but you’re unable to recall the original issue. This problem is largely avoidable by copying a portion of the original message alluding to the context.
4. Use specific subject line descriptions.
Since many e-mail messages go back and forth several times over the course of many weeks, it’s important to accurately describe what the reader will find inside. Considering the level of spam and anti-spam software in place today, you can’t afford to risk your message not being delivered because of a generic or poorly worded subject line.
5. Practice the 24-hour rule when you’re upset.
It is never a good idea to send an e-mail when you’re angry. We’ve all been guilty of this. In the heat of the moment we type up a literary bombast. A message that will reduce the recipient to mush. We even reread it, and we’re actually sort of proud of how powerful the wording is. We imagine that recipient opening and cringing as he/she reads our words. Then we send it.
Only later, after we calm down, we revisit the message and realize that we dramatically overreacted. But it’s too late to do anything now, except apologize and try to mend fences. This is more common than you think.
If you compose an e-mail in anger, wait a predetermined period of time before sending it. If your emotions are legit, then your issue will still be there tomorrow. But in 95 percent of the cases, you’ll be glad you waited and toned things down after you’ve gained the perspective that can only come with some additional time.
6. Avoid sh-cuts and abbr. in biz e-mail msgs.
Anyone with a teenager knows you practically need a decoder chart to understand the abbreviations and shortcuts that are popular in e-mail, papers, text messages and instant messages. These cutesy short cuts and misspellings are ill advised to use in any corporate context, regardless of whether your customer is external or internal. Even common shortcuts like LOL (laughing out loud) BRB (be right back), 2 (to) and u r (you are) are simply too casual for most business communication. What’s hip to one sender can be read as flip and disrespectful by another reader. Since a casual message to a co-worker could easily be forwarded, it’s best to practice the same high level or professionalism no matter whom you’re writing to.
7. Don’t forward viral messages
Unlike obvious computer viruses that involve actual destructive code, many messages are viral in nature, in that they are purposefully crafted so you’ll send them on to friends with the idea that you weren’t positive if this was real, but wanted to be sure that they saw it just in case! Although not usually harmful, these e-mails prey on normally smart individuals desire to inform others.
Everyday, intelligent people who would never consider themselves gullible forward on hoax messages. If you are the recipient of an e-mail message you think is relevant to your friends and family, run it by this test: Copy and paste a few words from the message into Google.com along with the word “hoax”. If the returns come back showing articles claiming the message is a fake, save everyone in your address book some time by hitting the delete key! The same rule applies to jokes and pictures, which would be deemed as inappropriate by your employer.
While there may not be a silver bullet that saves us from an onslaught of never ending messages, common sense practices can make our business e-mail correspondence more effective and productive every working day.
How about you? Do you have a story to share? On my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s a plug-in for bloggers. If you leave a comment, you can leave a link back to your own blog. But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d like to hear from everyone!
Until next time,
Karen
Tags: avoiding spam, Cartridge World Newmarket, email communication, Karen Thompson
What is cartridge or toner re-manufacturing? It is reusing and refilling ink and toner printer cartridges so they can be used again. Used cartridges are collected from consumers and businesses, and sorted by re-manufacturing companies. The cartridges are disassembled and cleaned and any necessary replacement parts are added. High quality toner or ink is added and the cartridges are tested and packaged for distribution.
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Is the recycling practiced by the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers e.g. HP, Canon, etc) or the recycling practiced by the remanufacturing industry more beneficial to society and the environment?
