Ten Texting Tips*

A good friend (the former CPO at Peet's) was looking over the "Ten Commandments of Email" I recently published and suggested that the next logical step was to consider texting, as that is just as common as email (if not more) and has even less convention to it. With that in mind, here is the companion piece to The Ten Commandments of Email; Ten Texting Tips.

1. Texting is Email’s Fashionable Cousin. Just because it’s not in an email doesn’t mean you get to throw away the email rules. Don’t send an angry or contentious text. Text, like email, is a severely limited medium when it comes to conveying tone and is often misunderstood. If in doubt, get on the phone. Even better, face-to-face communication is best when dealing with sensitive or personal issues.
2. It’s Alive! Assume that every text you write will be shown to a judge someday or displayed on Reddit. You might autodelete texts after 30 days, but does your recipient? I’m not even going to talk about stupid pictures. Really.
3. Start with Hello. While you need not write a poem, start with “hello” and then “please”. Many text “requests” read like orders from above. 
4. Beware the Autocorrect Demon!  Sure, it’s really funny when someone else posts an exchange on Facebook with funny spellcheck errors. But you don’t want to be the person who writes the text to your boss where a four-letter word is replaced with some “other” four-letter word. Slow down sparky.
5. Emojis are a Side Dish, Not the Main Course.   Yes, you can and should use emojis. ?? Sometimes they are critical for context or if you just have to express yourself. And a work text is not the time to dig up the toilet emoji when talking about meeting sales quota. See Tip # 2. Stick to something safe, like smiles, or ducks.
6. Break it Up. To help the reader, break up the salient points into text bubbles that act like sentences. It allows the reader to help organize the thoughts you are conveying. Most important points first, then details later.  
7. 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.
8. Set a Timeline.  Emails have deadlines. Texts have timelines. While it walks and quacks like a duck, a text is viewed as less formal than email and it’s read that way. If you want something done on a schedule, with detailed deliverables, perhaps you are using the wrong medium.  
9. Avoid Group Chats. If you are trying to communicate with a group of more than two people, consider an email. More likely than not someone will have a question and then you have created the “reply to all” syndrome that plagues email. Get everyone on the phone, or at least on a coherent email string. If you find yourself in a large text group, consider whether you really need to reply to all.
10. End the String. While “thanks” emails back and forth clog up inboxes, a quick “thanks” in a text string is both polite and a signal to your reader that they can now move on to other things. Don’t leave them hanging.

*According to Seth Weissman, who realized after drafting the “Ten Commandments of Email” that half of his audience was texting instead of emailing. Much of this content is derived from things he read on the internet, his 14 year-old daughter’s text etiquette lessons and mistakes he made along the way.  Visit him at www.sethweissman.com.