Tips:
- Subject: The subject is the first part of an email that recipients read. Make certain it pertains to your email. Just entering "About Friday" or "help- important!!" in a subject line may cause the reader to overlook its importance. Subjects like, "Friday JH Basketball schedule change" or "need help adding grades in STI" are more effective, and the recipient immediately begins thinking about your message, not about whether or not to open the email.
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- Focus: Often recipients only read part way through a long message and hit “reply” as soon as they have something to contribute; forgetting to read the rest. If your email contains multiple points, in order to avoid the risk that your reader will reply only to the first item that grabs him or her, you could number or bullet them to ensure they are all read.
If the points are substantial enough, split them up into separate emails so your recipient can delete, respond, file, or forward each item individually. Help your reader focus on your message: keep your text readable. - Avoid over-the-top customizations: Keep font choice simple, use a reasonable font size, and a white background with black text. Signatures should be simple, concise, and offer only very relevant information. Quotations should not be included here unless very relevant.
- Anticipate: Anticipate what questions your reader might want answered, and what your reader might infer from your letter. Write specifically so your reader understands your message. Your writing style may change depending on your intended reader, which is okay. Ask yourself, "If I were the other person, what part of this letter might confuse me, or be of no use to me?"
- Avoid attachments: Avoid attachments if you're able to send the intended information in the body of the email. This cannot always be avoided, but use of attachments should be reserved for times when there are no other options. Copying and pasting content into the body of an email cuts out steps for all involved.
- Proofread: We tell our students to do it all the time; we should too, especially in our written messages. Re-read what you write to ensure that your message makes sense and that all of the content is relevant. No extraneous content should exist in email messages.
- Be a good cyber citizen: We tell our students this also; if you find yourself writing an overly-emotional message, try to stop yourself and take a break. Take a walk, have a cup of coffee, step away from the message somehow. Email messages can stick around for a long time, so just remember, "Say it forget it, write it regret it." Don't ever assume total privacy when writing an email.