Before you click “Send,” think again. This advice comes from the experts, who have conducted a number of studies to find the most common pet peeves of people from all walks of life when it comes to email. According to the studies, many people tend to find the same kinds of things annoying. Here are some easy rules to keep in mind when composing your next reply.
- For one thing, always keep it brief and to the point. Email messages aren’t supposed to be very formal, or very long.
- If there are any questions in the email message, answer them.
- Always use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation. Just because it’s email doesn’t mean it doesn’t count.
- Make it personal. An email message shouldn’t be a cookie cutter response.
- If time of of the essence, use templates for frequently used responses.
- The beauty of email is its immediacy. Answer swiftly.
- Don’t go crazy with the attachments.
- Use a clean structure & layout
- Don’t mark everything as “high priority”
- Don’t write in ALL CAPITALS
- Don’t omit the message thread
- Read every email before you send it; once it’s gone, it’s too late to fix.
- Do not use “Reply to All” unless you really, really mean it. And finally,
- Don’t be one of those people who forwards chain letters to everyone! That is super duper annoying.
Remember, once you click “send,” whatever you typed is going to be completely out of your hands. Don’t wait until it’s too late to say what you mean, concisely, and with great attention. There is nothing like looking back at a sent message and discovering that you made a very big mistake that can’t be repaired. Another thing people hate is finding out that they have to append the first email with a second (and sometimes even a third one) just to explain what went wrong with the original message. For busy people who have to answer a lot of email on a daily basis, this sort of thing is an accident waiting to happen. There is a very good chance your “explanation” email might be overlooked as a duplicate or a mistake. That is why it is so important to say what you really mean the first time, and get it right. Email messages are so short, why not spend a few extra minutes making sure they clearly state what you intended, and are understandable?
So, with these things in mind, make sure you stick to just a few basic email conventions, and you will have a lot less to worry about.
