Truth 24. Know your e-mail do’s and don’ts

We’ve become a nation of scanners. We screen every incoming message for relevance and importance, and if we decide to read it, usually give it a rapid review and stop as soon as we feel we’ve gotten the gist. Beyond the fact that there are so many demands on our attention, we don’t like reading a lot of text on screen, and there are physical reasons for this—it tires our eyes.

Take this into account in crafting your e-mails. Here are some things to keep in mind.

E-mail do’s

• Put the bottom line on top. Don’t make people guess why you’re writing or what you want.

• Take the time to write strong subject lines that work as leads and clearly identify the subject—which shouldn’t need saying again but it does. People will delete anything frivolous, irrelevant, and unclear.

• Make e-mails short and stick to one subject. People read quickly and distractedly—if you ask two questions in the same e-mail, often you’ll get a response to only one. Buried points and subtleties will also be overlooked.

• When you have a major goal to accomplish, you might plan a series of e-mails rather than trying to jam a lot of information into one. If you need to spell out to a group what’s involved in various stages of a project, for example, consider covering one area at a time.

• Use attachments when your subject is necessarily long and complex, unless you know the person or company won’t open it. In that case, separate the body of the message graphically from the “cover letter” aspect by using a headline or bold lead-in.

• Think short and concise in every possible way: words, sentences, paragraphs.

• Aim to avoid making the reader scroll. People don’t like to and won’t.

• Make sure your text size is readable on screen. It should never be smaller than 10 point; 12 point is better. Also ensure that your line length doesn’t exceed 60 characters, or it may run off the end of the recipient’s screen.

• Organize clearly and simply. Bullet points and numbered paragraphs are useful for people who might not read to the end of the e-mail. When you use numbers, start with a sentence such as “Here are three items that need your attention.” You can also put this information into the subject line, such as, “Two Questions re Finch Contract.”

• Follow up. Don’t rely 100 percent on cyberspace. When an e-mail is important to you, check that it was received. Rarely will people mind. It’s risky to assume that they got your message, given the increasing number of filters that might identify your message as spam or high risk.

E-mail don’ts

• Don’t forget to ask for what you want at the end, even if you have to repeat.

• Don’t use fancy graphics that require HTML; many people don’t have the option or won’t use it, and your message may look terrible. Some corporate spam filters also reject such messages.

• Don’t use a color other than black for your typeface, a fancy typeface, or a background with a design on it for business e-mail. Not only does it look unprofessional, but it also makes reading the message more difficult and these elements may not display properly on the recipient’s screen.

• Don’t use all capitals, which make it look as if you’re shouting and make the message hard to read, too. And avoid using all italics, which are also hard to read.

• Don’t use e-mails for subtle messages—and keep away from sarcasm, irony, and for the most part, humor. It is easy to take such things the wrong way when voice and visual clues are absent.

• Never, ever e-mail anything you don’t want to see on your boss’s wall or on anyone else’s computer anywhere in the world.

• Don’t let emotion, anger, or criticism rear their heads in e-mails. Breaking up, resigning, or firing someone via e-mail is very bad form.

• Never click Send without proofreading, checking to be sure the e-mail is addressed to the person you want to send it to, and reviewing your attachments. If you often forget to attach documents you intend to, writing a reminder sentence into the e-mail is helpful, such as, “Report 5A attached.” It helps you remember to attach it and also helps the recipient, in case he or she fails to notice the attachment itself.