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Writing Effective Email: Top 10 Email TipsPosted by Dennis G. Jerz and Jessica Bauer, on March 8th, 2011

Some professionals get scores of emails a day. Follow these email etiquette tips inorder to give your recipients the information they need, so they’ll act on your message.12 Dec 2000 — original version submitted by Jessica Bauer (UWEC student)20 Dec 2012 — last modified by Dennis G. Jerz

Write a meaningful subject line.1.Keep the message focused.2.Avoid attachments.3.Identify yourself clearly.4.Be kind — don’t flame.5.Proofread.6.Don’t assume privacy.7.Distinguish between formal and informal situations.8.Respond Promptly.9.Show Respect and Restraint.10.

1. Write a meaningful subject line.

People who get a lot of email scan the subject line in order to decide whether to open,forward, file, or trash a message. If your subject line is vague — or even worse, if it’s blank —you have missed your first opportunity to inform or persuade your reader. Remember — yourmessage is not the only one in your recipient’s mailbox. Before you hit “send,” take a momentto write a subject line that accurately describes the content.

Subject: [Blank]

If you don’t put a subject line on your email, you are sending the message thatyour name in the “From” line is all your recipient should need in order to make it atop priority. That could come across as arrogant, or at the very least,thoughtless. Take advantage of the opportunity to get your recipient thinkingabout your message even before opening it.

Subject: “Important! Read Immediately!!“

What is important to you may not be important to your reader. Rather thanbrashly announcing that the secret contents of your message are important, writean informative headline that actually communicates at least the core of what youfeel is so important: “Emergency: All Cars in the Lower Lot Will Be Towed in 1Hour.”

Subject: “Quick question.“

If the question is quick, why not just ask it in the subject line? This subject line ishardly useful.

Subject: “Follow-up about Friday“

Fractionally better — provided that the recipient remembers why a follow-up wasnecessary.

Subject: “That file you requested.“

If you’re confident your recipient will recognize your email address, and really isexpecting a file from you, then this would be fine. But keep in mind that manyemail providers get scads of virus-laden spam with vague titles like this. The

Writing Effective Email: Top 10 Email Tips — Jerz's Literacy Weblog http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/e-text/email/

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more specific you are, the more likely your recipient’s spam-blocker will let yourmessage through.

Subject: “10 confirmed for Friday… will we need a larger room?“

Upon reading this revised, informative subject line, the recipient immediatelystarts thinking about the size of the room, not about whether it will be worth it toopen the email.

2. Keep the message focused.

Often recipients only read partway through a long message, hit “reply” as soon as they have something to contribute, and forget to keepreading. This is part of human nature.

If your email contains multiple messages that are only loosely related, in order to avoid the risk that your reader will reply only to thefirst item that grabs his or her fancy, you could number your points to ensure they are all read (adding an introductory line that stateshow many parts there are to the message). If the points are substantial enough, split them up into separate messages so yourrecipient can delete, respond, file, or forward each item individually.

Keep your message readable.

Use standard capitalization and spelling, especiallywhen your message asks your recipient to do work for you.If you are a teenager, writing a quick gushing “thx 4 ur help 2day ur gr8″ may make a busy professional smile at yourgratitude.But there comes a time when the sweetness of the gesture isn’t enough. u want ur prof r ur boss 2 think u cant spl? LOL;-)

Skip lines between paragraphs.Avoid fancy typefaces. Don’t depend upon bold font or large size to add nuances. Your recipient’s email reader may not have allthe features that yours does. In a pinch, use asterisks to show *emphasis*.Use standard capitalization. All-caps comes across as shouting, and no caps invokes the image of a lazy teenager. Regardlessof your intention, people will respond accordingly.

3. Avoid attachments.

Rather than attaching a file that your reader will have to download and open in a separate program, you will probably get faster resultsif you just copy-paste the most important part of the document into the body of your message.

To: All 1000 EmployeesFrom: Eager EdgarSubject: A helpful book everyone should read——–Hello, everyone. I’ve attached a PDF that I think you’ll all find very useful. This is the third time I sent it the file — theversion I sent yesterday had a typo on page 207, so I’ve sent the whole thing again. Since some of you noted that thelarge file size makes it a bit awkward, I’ve also attached each chapter as a separate document. Let me know what youthink!Attachments:

Big Honking File.pdf (356MB)BHF Cover.pdf (25MB)BHF Chapter 1.pdf (35MB)BHF Chapter 2.pdf (27MB)[... ]

Okay, raise your hands… how many of us would delete the above message immediately, without looking at *any* of thoseattachments?

To: Bessie ProfessionalFrom: Morris PonsybilSubject: Email tips — a subject for an office workshop?——–Bessie, I came across a book that has lots of tips on streamlining professional communications. Has anyone volunteeredto present at the office workshop next month? Let me know if you’d like me to run a little seminar (2o minutes?) on usingemail effectively.Below, I’ll paste the table of contents from the book. Let me know if you want me send you the wholething as a PDF.

Table of Contents


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Write a meaningful subject line.1.Keep the message focused and readable.2.Avoid attachments.3.[...]4.

Email works best when you just copy and paste the most relevant text into the body of the email. Try to reduce thenumber of steps your recipient will need to take in order to act on your message.

If your recipient actually needs to view the full file in order to edit or archive it, then of course sending an attachment is appropriate.

If it’s the message that matters, recognize that attachments

consume bandwidth (do you want your recipient to ignore your request so as to avoid paying for a mobile download?)can carry virusesdon’t always translate correctly for people who read their email on portable devices.

4. Identify yourself clearly.

To: Professor BlindersonFrom: [email protected]: [Blank]Yo goin 2 miss class whats the homework

Professor Blinderson will probably reply, “Please let me know your name and which class you’re in, so that I can respondmeaningfully. I don’t recognize the address [email protected].”

To: Professor BlindersonFrom: [email protected]: EL227 Absence, Oct 10

This is Morris Ponsybil, from EL227 section 2.

This morning, I just found out that the curling team has advanced to the playoffs, so I’m going to be out of town on the10th.

According to the syllabus, it looks like I will miss a paper workshop and the discussion of Chapter 10. May I email you myChapter 10 discussion questions before I leave town? And could I come to your office hour at 2pm on the 12th, in order tocatch up on anything I missed? I’ve asked Cheryl Jones to take notes for me.

Thank you very much. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.

(If you are asking the other person to do you a favor, providing the right information will give him or her a good reason todecide in your favor. In this case, Morris Ponsybil shows his professor he cares enough about the class to propose asolution to the problem his absence will cause.)

When contacting someone cold, always include your name, occupation, and any other important identification information in the first fewsentences.

If you are following up on a face-to-face contact, you might appear too timid if you assume your recipient doesn’t remember you; butyou can drop casual hints to jog their memory: “I enjoyed talking with you about PDAs in the elevator the other day.”

Every fall, I get emails from “[email protected]” or “[email protected]” who ask a question about “class” and don’tsign their real names.

While formal phrases such as “Dear Professor Sneedlewood” and “Sincerely Yours,” are unnecessary in email, when contactingsomeone outside your own organization, you should write a signature line that includes your full name and at least a link to a blog oronline profile page (something that does not require your recipient to log in first).


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5. Be kind. Don’t flame.

Think before you click “Send.”

If you find yourself writing in anger, save a draft, go get a cup of coffee, and imagine that tomorrow morning someone has taped youremail outside your door. Would your associates and friends be shocked by your language or attitude?

Or would they be impressed by how you kept your cool, how you ignored the bait when your correspondent stooped to personalattacks, and how you carefully explained your position (or admitted your error, or asked for a reconsideration, etc.).

Don’t pour gasoline on a fire without carefully weighing the consequences. Will you have to work with this person for the rest of thesemester? Do you want a copy of your bitter screed to surface years from now, when you want a letter of recommendation or you’re upfor promotion?

@!$% &*@!! &(*!

Go ahead… write it, revise it, liven it up with traditional Lebanese curses, print it out, throw darts on it, and scribble on itwith crayon. Do whatever you need in order to get it out of your system. Just don’t hit “Send” while you’re still angry.

From: Clair HaddadTo: Ann O. YingSubject: Re: Ongoing Problems with ProjectI’m not sure how to respond, since last week you told Sue that you didn’tneed any extra training, so I cancelled Wednesday’s workshop. I can CC Sue in on this thread if you like, since she’s theone who will have to approve the budget if we reschedule it.

Meanwhile, I can loan you my copies of the manual, or we can look into shifting the work to someone else. Let me knowwhat you’d like me to do next.

—Original Message –

From: Ann O. Ying

I tried all morning to get in touch with you. Couldn’t you find a few minutes in between meetings to check your messages?I’m having a rough time on this project, and I’m sorry if this is last-minute, but I’ve never done this before and I think theleast you could do is take some time to explain it again.

If your recipient has just lambasted you with an angry message, rather than reply with a point-by-point rebuttal, you canalways respond with a brief note like this, which

casually invokes the name of someone the angry correspondent is likely to respect (in order to diffuse any personalantagonism that may otherwise have developed) and

1.

refocuses the conversation on solutions (in this conversation, Ann has already dug herself into a hole, and Clair hasnothing to gain by joining her there)

2.

6. Proofread.

If you are asking someone else to do work for you, take the time to make your message look professional.

While your spell checker won’t catch every mistake, at the very least it will catch a few typos. If you are sending a message that will beread by someone higher up on the chain of command (a superior or professor, for instance), or if you’re about to mass-mail dozens orthousands of people, take an extra minute or two before you hit “send”. Show a draft to a close associate, in order to see whether itactually makes sense.

7. Don’t assume privacy.

Unless you are Donald Trump, praise in public, and criticize in private. Don’t send anything over email that you wouldn’t want posted— with your name attached — in the break room.

Email is not secure. Just as random pedestrians could easily reach into your mailbox and intercept the envelopes that you send andreceive through the post office, a curious hacker, a malicious criminal, or the FBI can easily intercept your email. Your IT departmenthas the ability to read any and all email messages in your work account (and your company can legally may fire you if you write anythinginappropriate).


4 of 10 1/26/2012 10:49 PM

8. Distinguish between formal and informal situations.

When you are writing to a friend or a close colleague, it is OK to use “smilies” :-) , abbreviations (IIRC for “if I recall correctly”, LOL for“laughing out loud,” etc.) and nonstandard punctuation and spelling (like that found in instant messaging or chat rooms). These linguisticshortcuts are generally signs of friendly intimacy, like sharing cold pizza with a family friend. If you tried to share that same cold pizzawith a first date, or a visiting dignitary, you would give off the impression that you did not really care about the meeting. By the sametoken, don’t use informal language when your reader expects a more formal approach. Always know the situation, and writeaccordingly.

9. Respond Promptly.

If you want to appear professional and courteous, make yourself available to your online correspondents. Even if your reply is, “Sorry,I’m too busy to help you now,” at least your correspondent won’t be waiting in vain for your reply.

10. Show Respect and Restraint

Many a flame war has been started by someone who hit “reply all” instead of “reply.”

While most people know that email is not private, it is good form to ask the sender before forwarding a personal message. If someoneemails you a request, it is perfectly acceptable to forward the request to a person who can help — but forwarding a message in orderto ridicule the sender is tacky.

Use BCC instead of CC when sending sensitive information to large groups. (For example, a professor sending a bulk message tostudents who are in danger of failing, or an employer telling unsuccessful applicants that a position is no longer open.) The name ofeveryone in the CC list goes out with the message, but the names of people on the BCC list (“blind carbon copy”) are hidden. Put yourown name in the “To” box if your mail editor doesn’t like the blank space.

Be tolerant of other people’s etiquette blunders. If you think you’ve been insulted, quote the line back to your sender and add a neutralcomment such as, “I’m not sure how to interpret this… could you elaborate?”

Sometimes Email is Too Fast!

A colleague once asked me for help, and then almost immediately sent a follow-up informing me she had solved theproblem on her own.

But before reading her second message, I replied at length to the first. Once I learned that there was no need for anyreply, I worried that my response would seem pompous, so I followed up with a quick apology:

“Should have paid closer attention to my email.”

What I meant to say was “[I] should have looked more carefully at my [list of incoming] email [before replying],” but Icould tell from my colleague’s terse reply that she had interpreted it as if I was criticizing her.

If I hadn’t responded so quickly to the first message, I would have saved myself the time I spent writing a longanswer to an obsolete question. If I hadn’t responded so quickly to the second message, I might not have alienatedthe person I had been so eager to help.

–DGJ

References & Further Reading

Alsop, Stewart. “My Rules of Polite Digital Communication.” Fortune. 142.2 (10 July 2000): p 76. Online. Academic Search Elite.9 October 2000.Cronin, Jennifer. “Netiquette, schmetiquette.” Des Moines Business Record 16.24 (12 June 2000): p 11. Online. MasterFILEPremier. 9 October 2000.“Email Etiquette.” I Will Follow Services. 1997. <http://www.iwillfollow.com/emailetiquette.html>. 9 October 2000.Nucifora, Alf. “Use etiquette when messaging via email.” Memphis Business Journal 21.51 (14 April 2000): p23. Online.MasterFILE Premier. 9 October 2000.Thorton, Sam. “Rules and Regulations: Email Etiquette.” 29 April 1998. <http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/ITS/rules/email.htm>. 9October2000.


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Jessica Bauer and Dennis G. Jerz

12 Dec 2000 — first submitted by Bauer23 Jan 2001 — posted by Jerz

16 Feb 2001 — updated by Jerz25 Oct 2001 — minor updates by Jerz16 Apr 2003 — further updates & changes by Jerz10 Jun 2004 — strengthened advice against attachments28 Aug 2004 — trimmed a few minor redundancies19 May 2008 — updated items 1-320 May 2008 — updated items 2-423 Jun 2008 — corrected typos identified by Bob Folline04 Mar 2010 — adding considerations for mobile email users08 Mar 2011 — formatting changes20 Dec 2011 — changed “e-mail” to “email” throughout

113 comments

113 comments to Writing Effective Email: Top 10 Email Tips

« Older Comments 1 2 3

Geek Revealed16 Oct 2011 at 1:34 pm · Reply

Very Very Good tips! But I would like to add one more point, that many times people use “Reply to all” option whilereplying to emails. But replying to all creates a headache for the other people who were in the senders distribution List.

So, I would like to say that first people should know the difference between “Reply” and “Reply to all” and then think if the reply isimportant for all or not. If the reply is only meaningful for the sender then there is no point in disturbing others in the senders list.

Well that was a very nice and informative article. I have bookmarked it for the future reference.Thanks for sharing!

jibby jacob17 Oct 2011 at 8:57 pm · Reply

Good work

Mohammad Gul19 Oct 2011 at 1:53 am · Reply

Thanks alot for sharing these kind of tip which is so useful and benfit for all email writers.

Sugna24 Oct 2011 at 1:17 am · Reply

Hi,

My Boss has sent mail , like this

First of all, start improving your communication skills especially during speaking/writing mails to higher ups/colleagues . Please dopick up a book in “Communicative English” or “Business Correspondence” and get started. Please feel free to check with Vinoth/mefor assistance as well.

Please help me

How to improve my communication skill?

Dennis G. Jerz24 Oct 2011 at 1:49 am · Reply


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I’d suggest that you do just what your boss suggested — pick up a book, and get started.

You can go to your local library, or spend a few bucks in a bookstore. Study the examples and do the exercises. Join a forumor email discussion list in your field, or in a hobby area where you already have special knowledge. Rather than writing in andsaying “Hi, I’m new here, everyone please help me with my business correspondence homework so I can keep my job,” juststart offering advice and answering questions. Edit a Wikipedia page, and follow along with the “Discussion” page, and helpresolve disputes. Start a blog about something you care about, and practice writing every day. Go to your company’stechnical writing department, make friends with the writers, ask them whether there’s some favor you can do for them, inreturn for their honest opinion. Is it your grammar? Are you too informal, talking to higher-ups like they are your buddies? Areyou too blunt, talking to colleagues as if they are your underlings? Is your email address [email protected]?

I don’t know the culture of your work environment; you will need to educate yourself on proper business writing etiquette, anddecide how you can change your communication style.

Laila Meadus28 Oct 2011 at 8:50 pm · Reply

Hello,Thank you for your information. I cannot underemphasize the importance of your etiqette, especially the comment about

walking away from an angry reply, get a coffee and don’t send it. Not only employers, but any recipient, can and will misconstrue ormisuse information like this that can permanently and horrendously damage not only a career, but defame a character. Be verycareful about email, as this has become a method of unforseen pitfalls…

S29 Oct 2011 at 9:22 am · Reply

Hi.thank U.very helpful.is it nessessery to have a signeture in our emails ?

my master ask us to write an e_mail for him, the e_mail etiqette is important for him. if you think that signture is important and haveeffect in my mark please tell me, where I have to place my signture. and if it possible for you tell me some signture. my majore is IT.Thanks a lot.

Dennis G. Jerz29 Oct 2011 at 10:25 am · Reply

I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I’d be willing to bet that putting in serious time and effort improving your Englishwould please your “master” more than a quick fix like adding a signature line. Calling your instructor “master”

suggests that you are his “slave,” which is demeaning to you and insulting to him.

How does your instructor sign his his emails? If you are especially interested in pleasing him, then use his emails as a model.

If your instructor is going to evaluate your email, ask for models of acceptable and unacceptable emails. But first, look in thesyllabus or textbooks to see whether that information is already part of the assigned readings.

James31 Oct 2011 at 4:15 pm · Reply

A great article, additional formats/example could help us a lot

Yogesh v4 Nov 2011 at 5:52 am · Reply

Its really helping…….. Thanks a lot

Michelle7 Nov 2011 at 2:16 pm · Reply

Hello, do you happen to have this in a printable or emailable format?

Dennis G. Jerz7 Nov 2011 at 4:47 pm · Reply


7 of 10 1/26/2012 10:49 PM

If you just print the page, the sidebars and navigation will disappear — the layout is quite readable, I think.

M.MURUGAN14 Nov 2011 at 3:39 am · Reply

very helpfull yes.

sangram15 Nov 2011 at 2:17 am · Reply

It helps a lotThanks for the tips

nagalakshmi15 Nov 2011 at 11:12 am · Reply

it was helpful, thanks a lot.

fresh17 Nov 2011 at 7:42 am · Reply

I’m curious about this scenerio: a person starts mildly flirting with a co-worker through IM. The flirt-ee always respondsin caps. Is that a subtle sign that they are not interested in being flirted with by the flirt-er? All caps emails and

messages are very unattractive so could “all caps” be a way for someone to discourage unsolicited flirting?

socialstruggler17 Nov 2011 at 6:01 pm · Reply

Great Article, thanks! Another great tip I found:

“When you’re not sure whether to write it down or not, DON’T!”

Sivakumar24 Nov 2011 at 1:05 am · Reply

It is interesting and got clarified with your suggestion. It was at the right time i say your pagethanks

Sivakumar.M ( India,Chennai)

Geoff Smith30 Nov 2011 at 1:45 pm · Reply

Thanks for addressing a very needed topic! It’s encouraging to know that others are equally frustrated by missing orotherwise useless email subject lines. However, I am somewhat leery of using the subject line to summarize the content

of the email message. Yes, the practice has its place, but I have received too many email messages with no message content at all,only a subject line that does an inadequate job of providing the information I need for an appropriate response. Instead of freeing upmy time with this summarized message, my workload has actually increased because now I must follow up with the sender in orderto learn all the details I need. And when I don’t even know the person sending the email or I am only slightly acquainted with thatindividual, and I am greeted by a “message” consisting of a few terse words in the subject line, I find the practice rude andinconsiderate as well as unhelpful. Summarize the email’s message? Absolutely. But in the process, please don’t eliminate essentialcontent from the body of the message.

Delaram1 Dec 2011 at 4:45 am · Reply

this page is abso-bloody-lutely useless and pathetic

Saeed Akhter Khan5 Dec 2011 at 1:46 am · Reply


8 of 10 1/26/2012 10:49 PM

i want to know more about official mail. I am new in mail writing . please help to improve my mail language,thanks n best regard,

josh8 Dec 2011 at 3:49 am · Reply

Thanks. This article helps a lot.

Zabihullah safi22 Dec 2011 at 1:29 am · Reply

Very help full article, Thanks a lot… looking for more good articles.

sumit22 Dec 2011 at 7:36 am · Reply

Very nice learning, may i please know any dedicated site(free) for writing good emails, I always find myself at loss ofright words instead of having good vocabulary.

Regards,Sumit

Dharm Pal24 Dec 2011 at 3:11 am · Reply

Thanks you very much sir for very needed topic. I am a student of MBA(RM) from Central University Lucknow, UP, India.Please suggest me how can i improve my communication and writing skill.

Dennis G. Jerz24 Dec 2011 at 4:50 am · Reply

Thanks for your comment — I’m glad you found the page useful.

I hope my answer doesn’t come off as sounding flippant, but what if I asked you, “Please suggest how I can improve mybusiness knowledge”? Where would you even start?

Your university may offer technical writing courses.

Meanwhile, I can suggest that you browse my other technical writing handouts:

http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/technical-writing/http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/technical-writing/what-is-it/

You can also see the tips I left for Sugna, above: http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/e-text/email/comment-page-3/#comment-58519

Muhammad Haider27 Dec 2011 at 1:51 am · Reply

ThankYou so much Jerz. It definitely helped alot.

Amelie31 Dec 2011 at 12:10 am · Reply

My boss should seriously read this. She never gets it right. HAHAHAHA!

korosh3 Jan 2012 at 12:10 pm · Reply

i love you very very very very much


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love16 Jan 2012 at 6:23 pm · Reply

Thanks a mIllion times for the tips

ramesh.k20 Jan 2012 at 6:32 am · Reply

hi sir/ madam,

It is very usefull to us,

I am working as a marketing executive, how can i improve my skills, please tell me.

spiky24 Jan 2012 at 2:32 am · Reply

you got to the point man.well done.

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