How to email
SMART guides: email

Figuring out how to email effectively can be one of the best ways of saving time.  If you're like me and get a lot of mail then you'll appreciate those people who really know how to email well.

There are a few things you can do to email effectively.  The great thing about using them is that others follow suit and you'll get effective email back from them.

Subject Line

Most people I know scan the subject line before deciding whether to read an email or not.  This makes it a really important part to get right.

Before writing anything in the body of the mail work on the subject line.  Make it personal and make it snappy, "I need your help on Carte Inc today".

Try to get across as much as you can in the subject but remember that often you can only see the first 60 characters (or less) of the subject line.

To, CC, BCC

One of the most important aspects of how to email is addressing the email to the right number of people.  When you get a mail and it's addressed to lots of people, if you're like me your less likely to read it quickly - if at all.  So when you send mail to others don't include lots of people on the mailing list.  Include as few as possible.

I've tried a how to email experiment a few times that you can easily repeat.   Find a subject and send out a mail to a lot of people about it.  Log how many responses you get.  Then send out an identical mail but with only 2 recipients and check the responses.  Whenever I've tried this I get responses from the two people and none from the general mailing.

I don't know about all the psychology behind this but I guess that it's simply if there are a lot of people on the list, people assume someone else will deal with it.

Lenght and Format

Keep the mail short.  People don't read long mails.  Keep it short and attach a longer document it you need to.  If you're focused in your mail then people will read it.  A great thing to do is to use bullet points.

Bullet points are great since someone can reply using your mail and add their comments under the bullet points.  If you give them a lot of text they'll reply in kind.

Use plain text.  You don't know what the other persons mail system will cope with so use plain text.

Don't use CAPS it's equivalent to shouting.

Don't embed pictures or anything else.  The spam and virus filters will stop the mail so send it as an attachment.

Use a plain font like Arial or Verdana they are easy on the eye

Attachments

If you're sending an attachment try to make it small.  A lot of email systems won't accept files larger than about 2MB so you're mail will get rejected.

You should also remember that if the person doesn't know you and you're sending them a mail it's polite to ask permission first.  I really dislike it when I get mail from people I don't know who "include our (20MB) brochure to enable you to ...." If I want a brochure I'll ask.

Replyingo an Email

When you're replying to an email quote back the original text of the email.  If you don't then you stand a good chance that the person might not remember the context correctly.

Replying to a mail without quoted text saying "I agree" and nothing else, isn't going to help the other person.  Be kind and make life easy for them by quoting their original text.

If you know the person well it can help to add "inline" comments.  This is when you quote back their text and add your own in a different color.  This can work really well if you do it in a positive manner.

But beware; if you are argumentative about the contents of their mail then inline comments will seem picky and unhelpful.

Email Chains

Use Email for short conversations not long stories.  If you find that you need to have multiple mails backwards and forwards then probably you should switch from using email.  Why not give the person a call or if it's multiple people set up a meeting.

Don't get tempted into ever longer mails that seek to solve the problems of the world.  Use this great system as a tool to help move things forward.

I've included a free checklist that pulls together how to email guidelines.  Why not print it out and have it where you can see it as you write mails?

Finally remember other people might not know how to email effectively so don't get frustrated if you get mails that don't follow these guidelines.  Remain calm and email back effectively.