The "good" email

The email completely replaced the office memo (or “mee-mo” as they used to say) a generation ago, so it might seem a little late to be laying down the rules. However, recent engagements have suggested that the textual communication is running riot. We all know the story of the office worker emailing his colleague on the desk behind him rather than turning round to talk to him, but I saw it happen last week, which prompted me to think that it might be time for a reminder of how to write "good" emails. Some of my clients in the public sector, believe that the rules that applied to the memo are still relevant for the email. I say "emails" but most of the advice in this blog applies to any type of textual communications. See what you think.

The first thing they do is to ask themselves:

• Should this be an email? Would a phone call or personal appearance be more effective?
• Am I writing to the right person?
• Am I bypassing anyone in the process?
• Who should I be copying in, or blind-copying in?
• Am I asking for information, telling someone to do something, or just passing on information?
• Am I clear on the purpose of my email?

 If you are providing information do not forget to headline it “For Your Information” or “FYI” otherwise somebody is sure to interpret it as an action request. If you ARE requesting action are you doing it politely? Requests can come across as very peremptory in an email. One trick is to phrase it as a question: “Will you do this by August 31st?” is nicely unthreatening. If you leave off the question mark it means “I am phrasing this as a question to be polite but refusal is not an option …”

Is there any emotional content? Remove it. Are there any phrases or expressions that you think are particularly good or clever? Remove those, too.

If you want something have you said by what date? And state a date: “mid-day on November 18th 2017”. “Next Thursday” or “a week on Tuesday” might mean something now, but it could cause confusion when the email is re-read in a month.

Is there an office standard for emails? Have you checked your email against it? If your email is sensitive, tricky or contentious put it into DRAFT until next day and see if it still looks good, if you can. If you have any doubts about anything in your email do not send it. Trust your intuition.

If your email is more than one screen put it in an attached document and have a precise or summary in the body of the email. Otherwise it probably won’t be read carefully. Put yourself in the place of the recipient. Would the email be clear to you?

What will happen after your email is read? Are you ready for the reaction? Can you avoid receiving a reply in the form of another email? Do you want to avoid provoking an email rally? Working on channel shift programmes I have come across the “Zero Reply Email”.

The Zero-Reply email

If you want your email to close the file on the subject then think about what replies you might receive and pre-empt them. This works for letters, too.

• Do not ask questions unless you have to. If your email is looking for information that is inevitable; however, do not put extra little questions in that will start a new line of enquiry.
• Do not raise new points; if they want something they will ask for it. Otherwise you risk opening a whole new problem area.
•  Be diplomatic, tactful, friendly or whatever the situation calls for. If you have to say “no”, for example, be tactful and explain why. To do otherwise is showing disrespect, is likely to annoy them and will probably prompt another message from them.
• Do not admit an error unless you have to and do not start defending yourself until you are attacked. However, once it is clear that you are in the wrong do not be shy about admitting your mistake. There is no need for sackcloth and ashes, do not try to hide behind a screen of words, just simply say “I was wrong”.
• Think about the person receiving your message. What are they going to do next? Will they ask for more information? Include it in this message. Will they ask you to prepare a document? Prepare it and attach it. This will avoid a reply other than, perhaps, a “thank you”.
• Do not be vague. If the situation is tricky there is a temptation to avoid hard facts. Resist it because you will just end up seeming shifty. If you have a reason for something give it. If you have something to say, say it without frills.   
• Avoid tagging on to the end of a long train of emails, even if it is easier than re-entering all those email addresses. New topic, new email. No more “… and by the way …” emails.

All the principles of good writing apply to emails

The Process          

1. Define the Challenge
2. Decide your Goal
3. Understand your Audience
4. Select the right Tone
5. List your Content
6. Plan the Organisation
7. Decide how to Lead In
8. Evaluate your email
9. Review from the recipient’s point of view

PROOF READ AND SPELL CHECK

Subject Lines     

Write a strong subject line because that makes it easy to find a specific email. It should be strong, concise, direct and self-explanatory and tell the story of the email directly and clearly in the minimum words. It should NOT be cute, suggestive, bold or nasty unless you want to alienate your reader and lose the message of your email. If your message is Urgent or Important then do not leave the reader in any doubt, put the word in the subject line. If the thread of the topic changes then change the subject line. A useful rule of thumb: make the subject line a specific heading for the topic it contains, imaging that it may be used in legal proceedings.

Guidelines

I have always found these guidelines useful when creating effective emails:

• Put the bottom line at the top!
• Keep them short and stick to one subject
• When you have a major goal plan a series of emails instead of overloading one email
• If you need to email a group of people of different levels do not try to make one email fit all
• Use attachments
• If the subject is long and complex and cannot be trimmed: put the bulk of the content into an attachment and use the email as a covering/introductory note but NOT if you know that the recipient will not open the attachment
• If you have to put a lot of text into an email put the ‘cover letter’ element at the top and separate it from the bulk of the text by a headline or bold lead in
• Short and concise in every possible way
• Avoid making the reader scroll
• Make text size readable: preferably 12 point, never smaller than 10 point, with line length no longer than 60 characters
• Organise clearly and simply
• If recipient may not read to the end of the email use bullets or numbered paragraphs
• When using numbers start with e.g. ‘These three items need your attention’ or put it into the subject line e.g. ‘Two questions about the DVLA contract’
• Follow up on important emails. Check that it was received; it may have been filtered out
• At the end ask for what you want even if you have to repeat yourself
• Do NOT use graphics that need HTML
• Use black text in a plain typeface
• No fancy backgrounds
• Do NOT use all CAPITALS or all italics
• Do NOT use emails for subtle messages
• Avoid sarcasm, irony and most humour
• Do NOT email anything that you would not want to see on your boss’s wall
• Do NOT put emotion, anger or criticism into an email
• Very bad form to put breaking up, resignation etc. into an email
• NEVER send an email without:

               spellchecking & proofreading

               checking the recipient’s address

               reviewing attachments

• Set a reminder to add attachments by including a reminder sentence e.g. ‘Clutterbuck Feasibility Report attached’ (reminds both you and the recipient)

Avoid unprofessional email addresses. If possible, for business use, have an email with a domain name.

Messages must be short, sweet and aligned to a single clear purpose with no buried points or subtleties.

I hope you find something useful in all this. Most is common sense; however, there are a few handy tips and wrinkles that you might like to try.