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Email Etiquette:

CHEAT SHEET!

Write More Effective Emails At Work Reference ebook

By Dr Clare Lynch

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Lecture 3: Cultural considerations According to linguist John Hinds, there are two ways of writing - and both are culturally determined. Writerresponsible culture and reader-responsible culture. If you’re writing within a British, American or Australian business culture, keep things short, simple, direct and to the point - even if it feels like you’re being patronising. In such cultures, being overly formal, flowery or complex in your emails isn’t going to make you sound more professional - the opposite, in fact.

Lecture reference More on the cultural considerations of written English: https://www.dorisandbertie.com/goodcopybadcopy/2016/10/07/culture-shapes-way-write/

Lecture 4: SCRAP – How to structure your email

S Situation C Complication R Resolution A Action P Politeness

EXAMPLE

S C R A P

Hi Clare, The City Lit just got in touch with me about running their weekly copywriting course next term. However, it’s not suitable for me since (a) I’m not a trainer and (b) I’m not in London. Since you meet both criteria, I thought you might fancy it. Or, if not, perhaps you know someone who would? Please let me know if you or anyone you know would be interested – and I’ll pass your email on If not, sorry to bother you – and no need to reply. Best wishes, Tom

Lecture 5: The rule of one ●● Stick to one request/action per email ●● Use separate emails for separate topics ●● Limit yourself to one idea per sentence ●● Keep sentences short – 15 to 20 words maximum ●● One idea per heading, subheading or subject line

Lecture 6: Email layout tips

Ways to make your email easier to read ●● Short sentences ●● One-sentence paragraphs ●● Bullet points ●● Headings and sub-headings

Lecture 9: What you should never say in an email Six things you should never put in an email ●● Anything written in anger ●● Negative comments about others ●● ‘TMI’ - personal stuff ●● Offensive and unprofessional language

Before you hit ‘send’! ●● T  he court test – never say anything in an email that you wouldn’t be happy to hear read out in court. ●● T  he grandmother test – never say anything in an email that you wouldn’t say in front of your grandmother.

●● Private or confidential information ●● Humour

Lecture 10: When to email and when not to When to send that email ●● P  roviding helpful resources such as procedures or step-by-step guides ●● D  ocumenting what was agreed, decisions that were made, or actions to be taken

When to talk face-to-face

When to pick up the phone

●● Giving feedback

●● W  hen you want a quick answer or a simple piece of information

●● Delivering a difficult message ●● Discussing complex issues ●● Debating or negotiating

●● If the matter is urgent ●● Interviews are often better done over the phone

●● Talking about personal stuff ●● Apologising

Rule of thumb

If the idea of having a conversation makes you feel uncomfortable, that’s exactly when you should have the talk – either on the phone or in person.

Lecture 11: Replying to email Tips for being an empathetic emailer ●● R  espect work-life balance – especially if your company talks about the importance of diversity and inclusion

●● N  eed your reader’s help? Give them a deadline (politely!)

●● Acknowledge receipt of others’ emails

●● N  o response to your email needed? Let them know!

●● C  an’t provide an answer straight away? Let them know when you can get back to them

●● B  e present in the room – don’t put your smartphone before real-live human beings

Lecture reference Email response time research: http://www.toistersolutions.com/blog/2015/4/13/get-ready-to-respond-to-customer-email-within-one-hour https://viterbi.usc.edu/news/news/2015/why-hasn-t.htm

Lecture 14: Email greetings Notes ●● E  nglish and American business culture is relatively relaxed ●● I t wouldn’t be unusual for a graduate trainee to address the CEO by her given name and vice versa ●● I n general, if you’re emailing a colleague, a client, a supplier or even approaching someone cold like a hiring manager, it’s usual to address them by their given name ●● I f you’re emailing James Jones, then Dear Mr Jones might come across as too formal. Dear James or Hi James is better ●● I f you’re not sure of your recipient’s marital status - or how she prefers to be called, address her as Ms rather than Miss or Mrs

Lecture 15: Signoffs and signatures Signoffs The ‘Best’ group

The ‘Regards’ group

“Best wishes”

“Regards”

“All the best”

“Kind regards”

“Best”

“Warm regards” “Best regards”

Could be construed as rude “Thanks”

A little too formal “Yours sincerely”

“Thanks in advance”

Avoid abbreviations

Avoid colloquialisms

ATB

Cheers!

Rgds

Cheers mate!

Thx

Signatures Do include Job title Phone number Address

Don’t include Every social-media profile you have Cheesy quotations

Lecture reference Signoff response research: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/email-sign-offs-put-best-thanks-to-shame Creative responses: http://blog.boomerangapp.com/2017/01/how-to-end-an-email-email-sign-offs/

Lecture 15: Subject lines How to write a good subject line ●● Don’t ignore it!

●● Front-load keywords

●● Aim for under six words

—— ‘Project Zeus: Update’ not ‘Update on Project Zeus’

●● Avoid vague words like —— ‘Hello’

●● Ask for an action —— ‘New ad campaign - send your feedback’

—— ‘Update’ —— ‘Meeting’

—— ‘Board meeting: reply by 2pm Friday’

●● Make them information rich —— ‘Compensation strategy meeting: 27 Sep 2017’ —— ‘Comms strategy report’

—— ‘New ad campaign: FYI’ ●● Update it if the topic changes ●● DON’T SHOUT!!

Lecture 19: When to flag urgent emails Why not to flag ●● Overuse may irritate your colleagues ●● Danger people will start to tune out and ignore it ●● I f something’s urgent or important, say so in your subject line

Rule of thumb Only use the high priority flag when you need someone to take an action to avert an imminent disaster such as huge financial losses, law suits or reputational scandals.

Lecture 20: ‘To’, ‘Cc’, ‘Bcc’, ‘Reply all’ The ‘To’ Field When to use the ‘To’ field People directly affected by your email, such as when: ●● you’re asking them a question ●● you want them to do something ●● you’re replying to their message ●● they’re named in your greeting

The ‘Cc’ Field When to use the ‘Cc’ field

When NOT to use ‘Cc’

Use this field when you’re not expecting the recipient to take any action in response to your email.

●● Informal escalation ●● Powerplays ●● Back-covering ●● Delivering news that affects the recipient

Rule of thumb A good rule of thumb is to announce your use of the Cc to the email’s main recipient – for example, by saying something like: ‘I’m cc’ing my colleague Dave, who’ll be handling the design for the project’

The ‘Bcc’ Field When to use the ‘Bcc’ field

Dangers of using ‘Bcc’

When people shouldn’t be able to see the email addresses of all the other recipient – put your own address in the ‘To’ field to keep everyone’s email secret.

●● R  ecipient may respond with ‘Reply all’ – forward the original message to the third party after you’ve sent it instead.

When you want to copy someone in on a sensitive message. (See dangers of using ‘Bcc’)

Rule of thumb

When you want to Bcc your own manager or your HR team to keep them in the loop without alarming the employee. (See dangers of using ‘Bcc’)

If sending a Bcc makes you feel a bit guilty, sneaky or mean, don’t do it!

Lecture 21: Sending attachments Attachments – best practice ●● A  ttach it before you begin writing the email ●● M  ention that you’ve attached it in the body of the email ●● Keep file size under 5MB

●● W  atch your format. Use universal file types like .PDF, .RTF, and .JPG. ●● G  roup attachments in separate emails

●● Z  ip it or use a file transfer service if the file is above 5MB

Lecture 22: Out-of-office messages How to write a helpful out-of-office message ●● Be specific with dates ●● C  hecking in? Mention, but manage expectations

●● P  ut them in touch with a colleague ●● Keep it professional!

●● P  rovide your contact details if you’re happy to be contacted

Lecture 22: Proofing and polishing How to avoid cringe-worthy email errors ●● Fill in the ‘To’ field last

●● Use automatic spellcheck

●● Cut and paste from Word

●● P  rint it out – and enlist a colleague’s help

●● Check their name – always! ●● C  heck subject line, dates, times, hyperlinks and attachments separately

Remember . . . . . .to turn your automatic reply off as soon as you get back to the office!

Email

Email Etiquette: 7-step checklist for effective emails

CHEAT SHEET!

By Dr Clare Lynch

Step

ONE

Ask yourself: ‘Is email the best channel?’ Apply the ‘queasiness’ test: Are you emailing because the idea of doing it in person makes you feel uncomfortable? If so, email might not be the best approach.

Step

TWO Add attachments Step

THREE

Do this first. Keep them under 5MB.

Craft your message Remember the Rule of 1: include only one idea, request or action in the message. Consider using the SCRAP structure: ●● Situation

●● Resolution

●● Complication

●● Action

●● Politeness

Apply the reputation test: Would you say this to your grandma? Would you be happy for this message to be read out in court?

Step

FOUR Add some white space

What would the text look like on a smartphone screen? Could you introduce: ●● paragraph returns

Step

FIVE Step

SIX

Step

SEVEN

Write your subject line Proofread

●● bullet points

●● headings

Think: keywords.

Pay particular attention to:

●● recipient’s name

●● dates

●● subject line

●● times

●● hyperlinks

Insert addresses ‘To’ field: recipients you’re seeking an action from ‘Cc’: as an FYI. Check your motives: would others consider it bullying? ‘Bcc’: use with caution

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Dr Clare Lynch Clare Lynch is Doris and Bertie’s chief business writing expert. As a trainer and writing coach, she has been described as inspiring, engaging and entertaining. In the 1990s she worked at the Financial Times

tel:

+44 (0)208 127 1477

email: [email protected] web: www.dorisandbertie.com blog: www.goodcopybadcopy.co.uk twitter:

DorisandBertie

linkedin: w w w.linkedin.com/in/clarelynch

and has since helped a wide range of firms communicate better with their investors, customers and employees. Clare is also a director at Cambridge Language Education and Research Associates (CLERA), which provides English language training and consultancy to governments, universities, the private sector and schools, both in the UK and overseas Clare has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and teaches writing skills at the University’s Language Centre. She has also taught writing at the Judge Business School (Cambridge University’s business school), UBS, RBS, the European Commission, TowerBrook Capital Partners, the Prince’s Trust, Cause4 and Ofcom.

Doris and Bertie Doris and Bertie Ltd are business writing experts. We work with anyone who needs to write as part of their job. We will either provide the words for you or we’ll train you and your team to be more persuasive writers. Because most of our clients are in financial services, we take our inspiration from the world’s greatest investor, Warren Buffett. Well known for his down-to-earth communication style, Buffett writes all his business documents as if he were talking to his sisters, Doris and Bertie.

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