By Rick Ross

Introduction

Since email only recently became a common mode of communication, practices surrounding its use are still evolving. As a result, “conversations” can sometimes be awkward or down right frustrating. In fact, you may find yourself reading this article with an ulterior motive; because of annoyance with a co-worker’s bad habits, you’re contemplating a stealth after-hours mission to post this in their cubicle!

How can you make your emails more effective and less frustrating to others? We’ll look at several tips. We’ll also consider the communication mode with which is email is most closely related – conversation. It can sometimes be used as an effective model for evaluating and improving our email exchanges.

Selecting an Address

There are two parts to an email address. The recipient’s user name and the server address or domain (the part after the @ symbol).

User Names
In a large company, administrators usually assign names. First initial with the last name added is a common scheme, but unfortunately a middle initial is sometimes added. What’s wrong with adding the middle initial? While business contacts or co-workers may know both your first and last name, the initial usually insures that your email address can’t be easily guessed and is more difficult to remember.

Of course, in smaller companies there are more options. While the most important criteria for selecting a user name is personal preference, there are other points to consider. For business, it’s obvious that cute names and names that are in bad taste should be avoided. Use a simple name that contacts can easily remember. First initial and last name is common; using just your first name or your first name and last initial adds a personal touch and is easier to remember.

Finally, for a few, a reminder that vowels are allowed! We’ve all seen user names that look like they belong on a personalized license plate; just consonants and numbers with the vowels removed. The problem is that this makes the name more difficult to remember or even find on a list.

Domains
Many businesses have a web site and they’ll use email associated with that domain. However, if your business doesn’t yet have a web site (and you should) you can register a domain and use it for email only for just a few dollars a month.

Why would any business person be using a yahoo, hotmail or AOL address? I have no idea, yet I regularly see business people and professionals using them. How intimidated will the other party be when your attorney, James C. McClellan IV, Attorney at Law, emails them with a return email of jimmym@hotmail.com?

There’s another good reason, beyond business image, to use an account tied to your own domain. It’s independent of your ISP (Internet Service Provider). If you decide to change providers later, you don’t have to change your email address too.

Addressing an Email

To
Of course, you’ll list the primary recipient of the email here. However, add additional names only with caution. Appropriate times for adding multiple recipients are when a response is requested from more than one person or when sending a message with content that’s strictly informational.

A common mistake occurs when a sender needs to ask a question of more than one person. If multiple names are added in the “To” box, recipients may be unclear as to whom should respond. Often no one responds assuming that someone else has already answered.

CC (Carbon Copy)
While the “Carbon Copy” is a wonderful way to keep others in the loop, face it, it’s just too easy to use. The problem is that once a group starts to use it, inboxes can easily become buried in CC’s of dubious relevance.

No matter how important you are, there’s a finite amount of attention reserved for reading your communications. Once you hit the limit, readers begin on skimming or even skipping them.

The bottom line, only use CC when it’s really needed. If you’re a manager, encourage your staff to only use CC when it’s really needed or when it’s requested.

Copying the recipient’s boss
Think about this as a conversation. If you needed to communicate with someone in another department, would you insist that their boss be present? If you did, what would this say to the person with whom you’re trying to communicate? How would you feel if someone requested that your boss be present for a conversation? What does this request “non-verbally” communicate? If someone did this to you would it make you more likely to respond positively to the sender’s request?

While the email route doesn’t inconvenience the boss as much as a meeting, it’s just as socially inappropriate. Don’t do it! While the consequences are usually far from obvious, they’re often severe.

Make no mistake about it; while this is a common practice, it’s at best a huge faux pas. At worst, it will seed resentment that can destroy a department; managers – take heed!

If you need to keep someone in the loop regarding communication or you need to document discussions for a higher up you can easily forward the sent message at an appropriate time.

BCC (Blind Carbon Copy)
This is the email equivalent of letting a third party listen to a conversation without full disclosure to the primary party. Beyond the questionable ethics, there are a few important reasons to only use BCC with caution.

WARNING: With some email software, the BCC appears just like any other message to the recipient. In other words, there’s nothing to tell them that they were on the BCC list. They see their name in the “To” box, and have no idea that the message has been sent without the knowledge of the primary recipient. At this point, the BCC recipient may add their own comments and forward a response on to the original primary recipient, exposing the deception.

Another reason to avoid BCC could be the most important. Some SPAM filers delete messages that have a BCC recipient! This means that outside your own company you can’t be assured that such a message will even be delivered.

The BCC does have one useful purpose. Let’s say that you have a mailing list of customers, but don’t want recipients to see the names of others on the list. If you place ALL names in the BCC box, a recipient will only see that the email is addressed to them and no one else.

Reply to All
This button adds a lot of clutter to most email boxes. Someone sends out a suggested meeting time and some recipients indiscriminately hit “Reply to All” when sending the reasons that they can’t come, will be late, etc. These are details that need to be managed by the meeting coordinator, not everyone in the group.

This really isn’t a problem when done infrequently. However, when several associates start habitually hitting “Reply to All” your inbox can quickly become cluttered with unneeded reading. Recommend that your colleagues use this button with discretion and not as matter of course.

Writing the Content

What’s in a Title?
Only a small portion of the email that I encounter has an appropriate title. While using “Find” or sorting helps locate emails, both of these methods still leave dozens of emails to review. Part of the reason email is valuable is that it provides a history. That history is useless if it can’t be found.

Just being conscientious about titles is a good start. But a problem is that emails often start on one topic before evolving into another. This leaves content with an inappropriate title; but there’s an easy solution. If the topic changes, be sure to change the header from “RE:Topic 1” to simply “Topic 2”.

If you have more than one topic to “discuss” it’s best to simply send an email for each. One answer might only require a ten seconds to read and type “yes” in response. Another might require the recipient to perform research. Sending two separate emails allows the recipient to respond to and organize communications in a more effective way.

If you still feel compelled to cover more than one topic, separate the topics with backslashes in the subject line. For example, Quarterly Report \ Lunch with Job Candidate.

Tone Deafness?
The big downside to email is that it’s easy to misinterpret the tone. Remember that a person can’t see your face. You know how you mean it, but the recipient may not.

Leave out innuendo and implication, and only use humor with great care. While cute little symbols or emoticons can help a user understand your intent, the majority of users still don’t understand their meaning. Be careful!

Email always comes across more harshly than intended. While tone is hard to communicate, making all your emails more positive feeling isn’t hard. Let’s use our informal communication model to demonstrate how.

Recall how abrupt it feels when someone comes up to you in the hallway and just starts talking business without even saying hello. Don’t repeat the same mistake in your email. Start emails with a “Hi Sarah” instead of just “Sarah,”. Also, just like you would in a conversation, close with something pleasant. “Have a nice day” and “Best Regards” are both common and safe. The positive opening and closing markedly alter the tone in a positive way.

I wouldn’t say it to your face, but …
Watch that your staff isn’t throwing barbs via email that they’d never attempt in person. The situation can quickly degenerate when the “combatants” decide to start carbon copying large groups of “spectators”. Managers must have guidelines in place to prevent this from happening.
No Shouting, PLEASE!
While the vast majority of email users practice proper capitalization, we’ve all gotten emails typed in all caps. Like me you may have wondered, “Is the senders CAPS LOCK stuck?” If you’re one of the offenders, take note that many may perceive you as sloppy or worse yet they may interpret all caps as shouting, so DON’T DO IT!

Length
Any length email can be appropriate. Whether you’re sending an informal “I’ll be there” to detailing the reasoning behind a new product line, almost any length will work with a few caveats.

Occasionally, we all receive email from senders that seem to believe that messages are somehow limited to 50 words or less. They send hastily worded messages with partial sentences and a full spectrum of abbreviations. No matter what the topic or how important it is they never break form.

Although lack of typing skill and having other meaningful work limits the time most of us have to compose communications, there seem to be a few budding novelists lurking in cyber-space. These “writers” regularly go far beyond what’s needed and regularly send messages that take considerable time to read.

Just like any other communication medium, skills need to be developed and honed. If any of your staff members fall into either of the extremes listed above, email professionalism and effectiveness needs to be addressed just as any other on the job skill would be.

Selecting a Format
Emails come in three formats: HTML, RTF and plain text. Because some network administrators are concerned about security risks, they sometimes don’t allow staff to receive mail in HTML or RTF formats. This is unfortunate, as the risks are often manageable and other types of attacks are far more likely.

When you’re sending email and you receive a plain text reply, keep in mind that all of your careful formatting (in HTML or RTF) may be converted to plain text on the other end! You have the option of attaching a document with the formatting of your choice (and this may be the best option) but your recipient will now lose the ability to find what you’ve written with an email test search. (NOTE: They can still find the email, especially if it’s appropriately titled, they just are unable to search the text).

Other Issues

Avoiding SPAM
Of course, the #1 source of unwanted email is SPAM, although some will disagree that it’s your co-workers CCing you on everything they send! (See the earlier CC section.).

Always guard your business email address. Use a separate address for each type of email. For example, use separate addresses for personal email, business email, newsletters to which you subscribe and on-line purchases. Free accounts are ideal for non-business use. This separation allows you to easily stop using addresses that have become overrun with junk.

Lack of Response
Unfortunately, delivery of your email is far from certain. Emails can be lost in transition, accidentally deleted, removed by a SPAM filer, lost in the blizzard of daily junk mail or be just plain set aside and forgotten.

While most email software allows you to ask for delivery receipt, in practice, most people are annoyed by them. If you don’t receive a prompt response resend your message. If you still don’t get one, there’s always the phone!

Even once your email has been delivered, not everyone treats the content with the importance it deserves. A major source of frustration among email users are those who forget to respond or who only partially respond to what was asked.

As with conversation you may be left wondering, “Didn’t they hear me or am I just being ignored?”? The only way to deal with lack of response is to persist, try finding another way to get through or to find another business associate who is responsive!

If You Have It, Check It
Last year I decided to change insurance companies. I searched the web and found a nearby agent with an email that met my criteria. I’d already made up my mind that I was going to change companies and just needed to verify that the details were reasonable, so the next day I called the agent.

During the conversation, I asked is he used his email. I explained that it was my preferred method of communication given my long work hours and he indicated that wasn’t a problem. We concluded by agreeing that I’d contact him in a few days to setup an appointment to review his offerings.

I emailed him the following Monday and asked if we could meet on Thursday. Three weeks later I got an email that read, “I’m busy Thursday, how is next week?”. Do I even need to say it? I didn’t continue to pursue new insurance with this agent.

Closing Comments

Like other forms of communication, email skills must be developed. As we’ve seen, to test the appropriateness of our messages, conversation sometimes works as a good model. However, avoid innuendo and implication while only judiciously using humor. Only sparingly use CC and BCC. Be business like in business settings. Finally, don’t forget the pleasantries and remember the importance of a good title. You’ll find your inbox and those of your associates will be better place as a result. .