Alan G's Tips for Writing Effective Emails

Writing effective e-mails is crucial if you wish to succeed in clearly and concisely delivering your message. In this post I will go over each key part of an e-mail and the do's and don'ts for each.

Subject Lines:

The subject line should be concise and specific. This allows the recipient to determine which messages are the most urgent and which messages can be read at a later time. Subject lines should only be written in all CAPITAL LETTERS if the message is extremly urgent, otherwise it may be obnoxious to the reader.

Message Content:

"Brevity is the key to an effective e-mail." The purpose of the e-mail should be easily determined in the first sentence or two. Also, topic sentences are often used to allow the recipient to easily skim the message; most readers expect messages to be clear and direct. Try to avoid drawn out introductions, discussions, or analyses. If an e-mail becomes longer than a single screen it should be sent out as a memo or included as an attachment.

Paragraphs and Spacing:

Although there are a few exceptions when emails may become longer than a single screen, a paragraph in any email should NEVER be longer than a single screen. E-mails are typically written in black format with paragraphs that are two or three sentences long.

Formatting Issues:

"Italics, underlining, bolded text, bulleted and numbered lists, tables, graphs, and visuals can be problematic in e-mails." Some e-mail programs do not the above formatting and add unnecessary symbols, making messages difficult to read.

Signatures:

Every e-mail should have the senders name at the bottom of the message. This is called a signature. Some e-mail programs can create signatures that include your contact information, like a business card, and are added to the end of every e-mail. Signatures should avoid large graphics or long quotes. Long signatures can lengthen the message and become annoying to the recipient.

Attachments:

It is possible to attach an exact replica of a document to the e-mail and send it as an attachment. An attachment can sometimes contain viruses and should be mentioned in specific detail in the e-mail to alert your reader the message is safe.

Following the above tips will allow you to effectively communicate via e-mail in both the work place and socially.

Source: Dorbin, Sydney. _Technical Communication in the Twenty-First Century_. 2nd.