This document provides tips for effective email habits and avoiding common problems. It discusses best practices for subject lines, message text, attachments, signatures, style, confidentiality, and email management. Specific recommendations include keeping subject lines brief but descriptive, writing concisely in email messages, using attachments sparingly, maintaining a professional signature, avoiding sensitive topics in email, and regularly organizing email folders. The goal is to write emails that are clear, secure, and minimize wasted time or confusion for recipients.
2. ““9 common9 common
e-mail habits that waste timee-mail habits that waste time
and cause problems”and cause problems”
1. Vague or nonexistent subject line.
2. Changing the topic without changing
the subject.
3. Including multiple subjects in one
note.
4. Sending before thinking.
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3. 9 habits contd.9 habits contd.
5. Inadvertent replying to all.
6. Omitting the context of a reply.
7. Misaddressed recipients.
8. Displaying addresses of recipients
who are strangers to each other.
9. Replying vs. forwarding.
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4. AgendaAgenda
1. Addressing
2. Subject Line
3. Message Text
4. Signature Line
5. Attachments
6. Style
7. Confidentiality and Security
8. Managing Email
9. References
10. Discussion
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5. AddressingAddressing
Limit to who really needs to know.
Make it clear in text who has action and
who is info addressee.
Use BCC to protect Email addresses
unless everyone knows each other.
Watch Reply All.
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6. Addressing (contd.)Addressing (contd.)
Use address book with mail groups &
validate often.
Avoid typing addresses free hand; many
addresses are similar; watch auto fill.
Send same message to multiple recipients
by editing message as new or cutting and
pasting.
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7. Addressing (contd.)Addressing (contd.)
Make sure forward does not embarrass
sender.
Get permission if in doubt.
Never “diss” sender in forward or reply.
Fill in addresses last to avoid sending
an incomplete Email by mistake.
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9. Rate These Subject LinesRate These Subject Lines
1. Subject: Important! Read
Immediately!!
2. Subject: Meeting
3. Subject: Follow-up About Meeting
4. Subject: Announcement
5. Subject: Do we need a larger room for
Social meeting on May 14?
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10. Message TextMessage Text
Keep the message focused and readable.
Keep it short.
Use inverted pyramid (newspaper).
Break into paragraphs; skip lines between.
Use short sentences and active voice.
Use plain text editor, not MS Word.
Avoid HTML.
Avoid fancy typefaces.
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11. Message Text (contd.)
Write in standard professional English
with Capitalization and correct spelling.
Don’t try to impress.
Avoid chat speak, e.g., CUL8R & emoticons, .
Don’t type in All Caps – like yelling.
Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT.
Use * * to highlight text if you must.
Proofread & spell check.
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12. Message Text (contd.)Message Text (contd.)
Quote back selectively when replying to
long messages.
“Yes, I agree.” is useless without context.
Top quote vs. bottom quote – no consensus.
Avoid “Fisking,” replying line by line in an
argumentative manner.
For URL links use SNIPURL to shorten
long URLs or enclose in < >.
Free service http://snipurl.com/
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13. Message Text (contd.)Message Text (contd.)
Identify yourself clearly to cold
contacts.
Hello, I am…The reason I am writing…
Hello, so-in-so suggested I contact you…
Respond Promptly.
Apologize if you don’t.
Interim reply when too busy.
Don’t shoot the messenger.
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14. Attachments
Use sparingly.
Cut and paste relevant parts of attachment
into text of Email.
Use URL links instead.
Upload attachments to website and cite URL.
Recipients who do not know you may be
reluctant to open attachments or click URLs.
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15. Attachments (contd.)Attachments (contd.)
Post attachment first to avoid “Oops,
here’s the attachment.”
Trend is posting large attachments into
blogs followed by Email announcement.
Gives people a chance to comment on
attachment without a series of “Reply All”
messages.
Those interested can check comments or
use RSS feed to be notified.
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16. Signature LineSignature Line
Include (if you want people to contact you)
Your name
Title
Organization
Email address (especially on listservs)
Website
Phones
Can be shortened for frequent
correspondents or placed in header of
Email stationery.
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17. Signature Line (contd.)
If you must include a quote in signature
keep it short.
“This message is intended for…”
Clutters up Email.
Often longer than message.
Omit unless your company requires it.
Avoid vCards because some readers
treat them as attachments.
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18. StyleStyle
Threads
Multiple replies can get out of hand, but
continue them to maintain the tread.
When they start to drift start a new thread
with explanation.
Be true to venue.
Formal vs. informal
Don’t Flame
More common in chats and blogs, but still
wrong.
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19. Style (contd.)Style (contd.)
Forwarding stuff, e.g., chain letters
Avoid; annoys most people.
Check address list before forwarding a ”Did you
see this?” - They may have received it.
If you must forward, strip out addresses and
use BCC to hide your address list.
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20. Style (contd.)Style (contd.)
Do not overuse high priority option.
Avoid delivery and read receipts.
Do not ask to recall a message.
Just apologize and correct.
Do not copy a message or attachment
without permission.
Do not scoop someone else’s message.
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21. Style (contd.)Style (contd.)
Chill out!
Avoid sending a snarky reply to a pissy
Email.
Wait 24 hours.
Write, but don’t send.
Don’t reply at all and let them wonder.
Offer to speak by phone or in person; Email
is not a good tool for “clearing the air.”
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22. Style (contd.)Style (contd.)
Chill out (contd.)
Leave no record of sensitive or emotional
responses.
Never say in Email what you wouldn’t say
in person or would not like to see in the
press or defend in court.
Once you hit “Send” you have lost control of
the Email.
○ You can never be certain that it was erased
from all locations. Think of all Email as
Permanent.
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23. Confidentiality and Security
Don’t assume privacy.
Unencrypted Email is not secure and may be
monitored.
Don’t include in an unencrypted Email
anything you would not want a third party to
read.
Details of encrypting and digitally signing
Email is beyond the scope of this
presentation.
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24. Confidentiality and SecurityConfidentiality and Security
(contd.)(contd.)
Protecting yourself
1. Have a separate free Email account for
newsletters, white paper registration, etc.
2. Delete browser history, cache, cookies,
userids and passwords after using a public
Internet connection.
3. Logout and close all Apps after using a public
Internet connection. (Restart if possible.)
4. Don’t conduct company business on non-
secure personal computer.
5. Back up your Email.
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25. Confidentiality and SecurityConfidentiality and Security
(contd.)(contd.)
Protecting yourself (contd.)
6. Beware of spam.
– If it sounds too good, it is.
– Report it.
6. Beware of Phishing attacks.
– Forward them to customer service.
6. Never include personal or financial info in an
Email.
7. Don’t unsubscribe from anything you did not
subscribe to.
8. Beware of friend’s Emails.
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26. Confidentiality and SecurityConfidentiality and Security
(contd.)(contd.)
Protecting yourself (contd.)
11. Install a good security suite on your personal
computer.
– Many ISPs, e.g., COMCAST, provide them free.
11. Never share account info, even with family.
12. Use strong passwords.
– Encrypt them on a password protected thumb drive.
11. Encrypt wireless connections.
12. Use encryption and digital signatures for
important Email.
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27. Managing EmailManaging Email
Organize Email into folders.
Use company file plan for in-house Email.
Keep a copy of all sent Email.
Review and clean out folders periodically.
Good for rainy day or slow day at work.
Comply with company retention schedule.
Don’t print Email unless you need to refer
to it remotely.
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28. Managing Email (contd.)Managing Email (contd.)
Declare Email bankruptcy
Inbox clogged with overdue responses.
Send Email to all correspondents
apologizing for not replying and asking
them to resend important Email.
Delete all old messages in Inbox.
Then check your inboxes daily.
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29. Managing Email (contd.)Managing Email (contd.)
Use separate Email channels for
separate communities:
Professional
Business
In-house
Family and friends
Hobbies and interests
Listservs
Use “out of office” agent when away.
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Email has become so common and so easy to use that it is easy for us to become careless and fall into bad Email habits. This presentation will provide some guidelines that will
Make you look more professional,
Make it easier for your correspondents to understand and respond to your Email, and
Keep you and your organization out of trouble.
This is the outline of a TechRepublic newsletter article that sparked this presentation. It is a good summary of the presentation. These points will be covered in more detail later in the presentation.
Now, none of us are guilty of any of these habits, but we have probably received Emails from those who are.
Most of the articles on writing E-mail that I referenced were unorganized lists of tips.
I organized them into the following topics for presentation.
It is all to easy to send shotgun messages to a long list of people hoping that someone has the information you need or will take the action you want.
It is much more effective and less annoying to the recipients when you limit your addressees and make it clear who has the action.
When our membership director sends out Eblasts to the chapter membership she is careful to use BCC.
If someone is trying to organize coverage of an event then a reply all is useful in order to see who is available when.
(Use coffee duty reply as good example of Reply All.)
Nothing is more devastating to an Email user than losing part or all of an address book.
Use one of the address book fields to link people in a mail group, e.g., family, ARMA chapter.
Then you can sort on this field to group all the names together when you want to build a list.
Add new correspondents to your address book as you receive Email from them.
(Use example of sending seminar RFP to several addressees as separate Emails.)
There is not much to add to this.
This is the area where most of us could do better.
Many of your correspondents are faced with large numbers of Emails when they check their inboxes.
You need to make your message standout and make it easy for the person to decide when to read your message.
A good subject line also makes it easier to locate you message later.
(Use Email to Region announcing election loss as example of last bullet.)
All but the last are too brief and general to determine what the message is about.
The purpose of your Email text or body is to convey a message to your addressees as quickly and clearly as possible.
Take the time to craft the text using all the rules of good writing that you learned in school.
Remember that some of your addressees my have Email readers that only handle plain text.
They are the lowest common denominator.
Others, who use high end Email applications like MS Outlook, may be able to read Rich Text Format and HTML messages.
The bottom line is to write like a professional.
Top quote is when you quote the portion of the original message that you are replying to above your reply.
Bottom quote is just the opposite.
Line by line or question by question responses are OK, just don’t make them argumentative.
(Use example of long .gov job listing URL)
(Use example of Chicago speaker Email with no intro.)
(Use Tina’s Attorney-Client Email as a good example of imbedded attachment.)
Scribd.com is recommended by Peter Kurilecz, CRM, CA of the RM Listserv.
Most of us have been guilty of forgetting attachments or sending large attachments that take forever to download.
There are enough free blog and wiki sites on the Internet that we can avoid sending attachments.
Trend in most businesses is to post meeting agendas, presentations, and minutes on in-house blogs or wikis and just use Emails to announce their posting.
This reduces the communication bandwidth needed for large distribution lists and the Email storage needed for multiple copies of Email with large attachments.
(Use example of CRM Workshop announcement with link to website brochure.)
(use example of ARMA vendor follow up Email.)
How many times have you received a message where the signature block was longer than the message?
Be selective with your signature line.
VCards are standard contact information that can be shared on the Internet. They are convenient for sharing contact information.
But they may be difficult for some Email readers to handle.
Use sparingly.
(Use example of Region Assessment Email for large signature block.)
(Use example of dialogue with ICRM on obtaining CRM credits.)
(Use example of driver’s license Email hoax.)
The things on this list tend to annoy other people.
Protect your reputation as a courteous Email user.
Mother always told you to count to ten.
Except in rare cases with internal Email, you really can not recall an Email. So be careful what you send.
Check your company policy if you are using their Email server.
Secure socket layer (https) provides encryption of information exchanged via web browser.
Safer than giving credit card info via phone or fax.
May become clogged with spam if you don’t use a service with a good filter, like Hotmail or Gmail.
A later user can track back your activity and collect info on you.
Leave nothing behind.
Working from home may be tempting but it is dangerous.
Some websites offer a free automatic service. Do it every 3 months.
6. Most of know what it is.
7. Call or write customer service when in doubt.
8. Online commerce sites will have a secure socket layer (https) form for collecting this info, not Email.
9. Unsubscribing confirms your Email address.
10. Friends may pass along malware and viruses unintentionally.
11. Firewall, virus checker, spyware blocker, spam filter, etc.
12. Once used on another computer consider it compromised.
13. Like wearing your seat belt.
14. Unless your wireless access port is in the middle of nowhere.
15. All other Email is subject to compromise.
(Use Netscape folders as example.)
For personal Email folders need to make sense to the user.
For official company Email the company file plan should be used.
Once in a while we all get overwhelmed with the unread messages in our inboxes.
Here is a way to start over.
Another, less honest way is to claim that you had a computer malfunction that lost your Email.
Most companies and agencies permit a limited amount of unofficial Email correspondence at work.
To avoid overwhelming your office inbox with outside Email, or having the office firewall trap outside Email, use other Email accounts for non-business correspondence.