The Ten Commandments of Email!*

Email can be a valuable tool, or the bane of your existence. Here are some tips for your team to avoid the latter.

1. Email Only When It's the Most Efficient Way to Communicate. Never substitute email for a face-to-face meeting. Face-to-face communication is best when dealing with sensitive or personal issues.
2. Use the Subject Line. Some messages can be conveyed in the subject line alone, which reduces the need to open an email. Just append an (“End of Message” or “EOM”) to the end of the subject line, so the recipient knows that there is nothing else that should have come through. If replying and the subject has morphed or is inaccurate, change the subject line.
3. First Things First. Get to the point and list “action items” first, not last. Extravagant greetings are for snail mail or for clients. Kill it in emails. Being as concise as possible makes digesting a message easier to digest especially for those on a Smartphone, and ensures you are more likely to get a response. Think about adding an executive summary to the top of any long email.
4. Bullets and Numbering. To help you get to the point, use bullets and numbering. Don’t use verbose sentences to communicate—they are hard to read and even harder to read on a phone. If you want answers, list your questions.  Lists are always more effective than essays.
5. Make a Call to Action.  State what you want, and how to get it. If you don’t know, suggest a route. As far as possible, avoid leaving room for doubt. And don’t pass the buck – own the outcome by giving clear directions.
6. Set a Deadline.  Deadlines help people organize their lives. You could even set a deadline for when you expect a response from your correspondent. The more organized you come across the more likely you are to get the response you require.
7. The “FYI” rule. Not all emails require an action. A simple “FYI” tag at the top of or in the subject line of emails that contain important information but that do not call for an action allows for easy filtering of non-actionable emails. Do not send an FYI email with a long chain. Tell the reader why you sent the FYI email. Don’t make the reader fish through a dozen responses.
8. Watch Your Tone.  Don’t send an angry or contentious email. Email is a severely limited medium when it comes to conveying tone and is often misunderstood. If in doubt, get on the phone. Avoid exclamation points and yelling (ALL CAPS). Assume the New York Times will get your email and/or you will have to explain that snark to a Senate Sub-Committee.
9. Avoid “Reply to All”. “Reply to all” is seldom necessary. Rather, reply to the project owner, who will collate the ideas once all the feedback is received and update the group. Put simply, your default should be to reply only to the person who sent the email and then use discretion as to who else should be included.  Never, and I mean NEVER, reply “Thanks” to all! (Yes, I meant to shout ??).
10. Read it Twice. Have you followed steps 1-9 above? Take the extra 30 seconds and make sure you are sending a clear and concise message that can be read quickly on a phone at 2 a.m. by a distracted genius who is hell bent on changing the world.   Really.

*According to Seth Weissman, who borrowed much of this content from things he read on the internet and mistakes he made along the way. Visit him at www.sethweissman.com