Communication

Four tips to help you avoid email catastrophes

Email is a huge part of most people’s work lives. Sometimes it seems so commonplace that we forget to take it seriously, but below are four tips you should consider before sending your next email.

Tip #1: Don’t put anything in an email you wouldn’t want everyone in your office to read.

Did you know your employer has the right to review your email? Take a look at your company’s email policy and review the FAQs at privacyrights.org to get a better idea of your particular situation, but in general, your employer owns your email address and everything in it.

This means your emails should be a reflection of complete professionalism. No love notes, no ripping on a co-worker or competitor, and no inappropriate jokes or topics. Here’s the simple rule: If you wouldn’t want everyone in your office, including your boss and your CEO, to read it, don’t put it in an email.

Tip #2: Keep it short.

For every sentence you add, you also add the chance that your reader is going to lose interest and stop reading. Approximately 183 billion emails are sent every day (2 million every hour). Of course, our particular portion is between 25 - 400 emails a day (or more if you’re really popular!), but that’s still a whole lot of reading. Respect your reader by keeping your writing brief and by clearly articulating your message. Learn more about how to do this here and here.

Tip #3: Watch your tone.

It can be extremely challenging to tell tone from an email. You may send a perfectly friendly “yeah, right!” message and the reader may perceive it as a sarcastic, eye-rolling “yeah, right!” message. How do you combat this? Well, for starters, don’t send two-word emails. The previous tip was to keep it short, but there is such as a thing as too short.

Instead of saying, “Yeah, right!” say, “I agree. That’s an excellent idea. When can we get together to discuss?”

Instead of saying, “Whatever.” say, “I trust your decision making skills. Whatever you decide is fine with me. Thanks for asking.”

Instead of saying, “Let’s discuss.” say, “I need more information on this. Can you set up a meeting to provide more details?”

Do you see the difference? The first messages were ambiguous; they could be read in a number of different ways, but the second message was clear, actionable (and still short!).

Avoid sarcasm in emails because it just doesn’t translate well in email. Sarcasm relies heavily on body language and tone of voice, neither of which are present in an email. Keep the tone of your email professional and straight-forward, and save the jokes for in person.

Tip #4: Double check before you hit send.

The worst feeling in the world (ok, maybe not the worst, but it feels pretty bad) is to hit that send button and then realize you made a major mistake, like sending the email to wrong the person, forgetting the attachment, or hit “reply to all” when you meant to just reply. These things happen to the best of us, but with a quick check these common pitfalls can be avoided. Once it’s sent out, it’s almost impossible to get back, which makes it even more important to pay close attention before you click send.

Give your email a quick check:

a. Is this going to the right person or people?

b. Did I attach the appropriate documents?

c. Is the purpose of the email clear and appropriate?

d. Did I provide enough details to make sense, but keep it short and sweet?

e. Is my tone professional or could it be easily misconstrued?

Keep these four simple tips in mind the next time you’re sending your an email and you should avoid any major email catastrophes.