Effective Email communication for Business

Effective Email Communication

Lokesh GuptaStartup Guy & growth hackerhttp://lokesh.co

Why need to write effective emails

Make sure emails are read

Convey message clearly

Increase productivity Avoid

confusion/conflict

Some common email mistakes

Vague or non existent subject line

Changing topic without changing subject

Sending before thinking

Inadvertent Replying to all

Misaddressed recipients

Replying Vs. Forwarding

Effective Email Structure

Addressing Subject Line Message Text Signature Line Attachments Style

Addressing Limit to who really needs to

know

Make it clear in text who has action and who is info addressee

Use Bcc to protect email addresses unless every one knows each other

Watch reply all

Avoid typing addresses free hand. Many addresses are similar.

Fill addresses last to avoid sending an incomplete email

Subject Line

Headline (think newspaper) Grab attention Summarize message

Subject Line Examples

Bad Example Subj: Important! Read

Immediately! Subj: Meeting Subj: Announcement Subj: Follow up about

meeting

Good Example Subj: Do we need a

larger room for social meeting on May 14th?

Subj: 99acres Team Building Meeting (10 Jan) MoM

Message Text

Keep the message focussed and readable Keep it short Use inverted pyramid structure (like newspaper) Break into paragraphs Avoid Capital letters, fancy typefaces Proofread and spellcheck Add attachment first so that later you do not

forget it

Signature Line

Include (if you want people to contact you) -

Name, Title, Organization, Email, Phone Can be shortened for frequent correspondents

Do's for Email Communication

Check spellings Check attachments Check if only relevant people are

included Proper salutations and signature are

in place Subject is relevant Set clear actionable items for

different people Keep content short and bulleted Review before sending

Don't for Email Communication

Never let your emotions control your mails. Wait for 24 hours before replying to any heated conversation. Let it cool down.

Never say in Email what you wouldn’t say in person or would not like to see in the press or defend in court.

Do not use professional mails for personal use Do not send mail to everyone in your team or company.

No body has time to read irrelevant mails. Send to only relevant people.

Do not write long essays. Keep mail short and crisp.

Questions & comments?