6 Tips on Writing E-mail


Image Credit: Webseo Analytics

1. On Salutations:


I highly recommend you encourage readers to say hello, hi, buon giorno, anything that gets the 'hello' across (especially when they're asking for something!). It's easy, it's nice and it warrants a response other than 'Why should !?!'



2. On Writing a Good Subject Line


Make your subject heading useful to the recipient.



3. On Not Saying the Wrong Thing


Never email anything you wouldn’t mind having on the front page of the newspaper (you never know when someone will forward the message or who knows what).


4. On Not Receiving a Response


In the business world (the one inhabited by fast-moving strangers asking questions) has a Cardinal Rule: If you don't receive a reply, the answer is "No." People don't call back to say,"No."



5. On Using the Phone


If it’s slightly tricky or a very nuanced message where you want to make sure not to offend, pick up the phone!

If what you need to say is too long and complicated, pick up the phone! In other words, keep emails short and to the point



6. On Keeping the Peace


Thich Nhat Hanh advises to "write in such a way that the other person is receptive toward reading"...

There are pacifists who can write protest letters of great condemnation but who are incapable of writing a love letter. You have to write in such a way that the other person is receptive toward reading; you have to speak in such a way that the other person is receptive toward listening. If you do not, it is not worth the trouble to write or to speak.

To write in such a way is to practice meditation.

Comments