E-mail communication

COMMUNICATION:
E-MAIL ETIQUETTE
Abu Zafor Md. Shaleah
Senior Executive – HRD
Concord Group of Companies

OVERVIEW
• Communication
– What it is?
– How we do it?
– Is there any preferred ways?
– Research findings
• Electronic Mail
– Advantages vs. Disadvantages
– Types
• Effective Communication through e-mail
– 8 Common Mistakes
– 10 ways for Writing Effective E-mail
– Seven (07) things to Think in writing e-mail
– E-mail: Examples and Tips
• Managing Inbox
• Summary

COMMUNICATION:
DEFINITION
(American Heritage)
Com·mu·ni·ca·tion (noun)
• the Act or process of communicating;
fact of being communicated.
• The imparting or interchange of thoughts,
opinions, or information by speech,
writing, or signs.
• Something imparted, interchanged,
or transmitted.
• Document or message imparting news, views, information, etc.
“Communication takes place when one person transfers some
understandable data to another person.”

COMMUNICATION:
HOW WE DO IT?
How do we communicate with:
• Colleagues?
• Supervisors?
• Partners?
• Clients?
Do you have a preferred way of communicating?
Preferred way of communication:
• Face-to-face
• Phone
• Business Letter or Print Memo
• E-mail: noun (e·lec·tron·ic mail)

THERE IS NO FORMULA
FOR
PERFECT E-MAILING
AUTHENTIC
AND
HONEST MESSAGING WORKS

COMMUNICATION:
PERSONAL ETHICS
Communicator is responsible to be:
– Honest
– Clear
– Accurate
– Comprehensive
– Accessible
“Every instance of workplace writing occurs for a specific reason and is
intended for a particular individual or group... Although this may seem
obvious, awareness of purpose, audience, and tone is the single most
crucial factor in determining whether your communication will
succeed.” - George Searle.

COMMUNICATION:
RESEARCH FINDINGS
According to Carnegie Mellon Study, an employee:
• Receive 30-50 e-mails per day
• Immediately delete 29%
• Check e-mail 12 times per day
• Spend 2+ hrs. reading and responding to e-mail
• Keep 187 e-mails in their inbox (Some in study with over
500!)

COMMUNICATION:
RESEARCH FINDINGS

E-MAIL:
ADVANTAGES VS. DISADVANTAGES
ADVANTAGES:
• Fast
• Cheap
• Easy to use
• Digital (saves paper)
• Expands a businesses’
capability to communicate
with their customers
DISADVANTAGES:
• Digital divide
• For legal reasons, some
people need original hard
copies on letterhead
stationary, complete with
signatures.
• Some still PRINT emails
• Not all email formats are
made alike

EMAIL:
TYPES
Four common types of E-mail are:
1. Self-fulfilling: You tell the receiver something. There is no
reply.
Example: “Daughter is sick and will be out of the office for the
rest of the day”.
2. Inquiry: You need something from the receiver. The reply is
the desired outcome.
Example: “Request of colleague as to whether they achieved
proper permissions to move ahead on project from marketing”.

EMAIL:
TYPES
3. Open ended: Communication lines are open for future
purposes.
Example: “Working schedule about a new procedure or process”.
4. Action oriented: The goal is action on the part of the receiver,
not a reply.
Example: “Complete a particular form for HR and send if you
want to be a part of a new wellness program”.

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Things to be considered:
1. Personal efficiency
2. Corporate professionalism
3. Protection of potential liability issues
4. Create e-mails that will –
– be read by the receiver.
– be understood by the receiver.
– engage the receiver to achieve the intended purpose.
– not require too much time on the part of the receiver.

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
“Most people know roughly what they want, but do not
take time to clearly think it through. This is how we end
up with pointless email … our thoughts are
disorganized, and we can easily confuse the reader.”
“E-MAIL ETIQUETTE ASKS YOU TO PUT YOUR READER’S NEEDS
FIRST, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU WANT THE OTHER PERSON TO DO
SOMETHING FOR YOU.”

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
1. Over-copying people on emails (“reply all”)
2. Being relaxed about checking e-mail
3. Vague subject lines
4. Subject lines that don’t match the message
5. Sending one-liner responses
6. Immediately replying to an email but without purpose
7. Overusing the high priority button
8. Not including a signature

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
1. OVER-COPYING PEOPLE ON EMAILS (“REPLY ALL”):

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
2. BEING RELAXED ABOUT CHECKING E-MAILS:

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
3. VAGUE OR NO SUBJECT LINES:

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
4. SUBJECT LINES THAT DON’T MATCH THE MESSAGE:
• Replying month long old e-mails (unrelated & confusing)
• Change subject line as soon as the content of the email chain
changes
5. SENDING ONE-LINER RESPONSES:
• Replying as:- "Thanks" or "OK" (not advances the conversation)
• It is not mandatory to answer every email
• Difficult to send an appropriate one-liner response
• To avoid being the victim of one-liner emails, it is good to add "no
reply necessary" at the top of an email if you don’t anticipate a
response.

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
6. IMMEDIATELY REPLYING TO AN EMAIL BUT WITHOUT PURPOSE:
• Similar to One-liner response
• Example: Immediate responses of "Got it – I’ll get back to you later.“
• Overloads receivers inbox (annoying)
7. OVERUSING HIGH IMPORTANCE BUTTON:

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
8. NO OR INAPPROPRIATE SIGNATURE:
No, he did not say that!

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
MORE ABOUT E-MAIL SIGNATURE BODY:
Including own (same) e-mail address in the signature body.

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
Including a FAX number: Most people are not living in 1994 or
1894 (riding horses to work)

E-MAIL:
COMMON MISTAKES
• Not including a phone number (since, it will work as a secondary way of
communication following an e-mail)
• Not including international prefix (country code)
– For example: in Bangladesh
• For telephone : +88 (02) XXXX XXX
• For mobile phone : +88 01712 XXX XXX

TEN WAYS OF
WRITING EFFECTIVE E-MAIL

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
1. USE A MEANINGFUL SUBJECT.
Just as a meaningful title makes a reader read a blog post, a
meaningful subject of your email sets it apart from the crowd. A
meaningful subject saves time as the recipient can grasp your
idea quickly.
For example: If you want to post a guest article at Daily blog tips
and want to contact Mr. X, use the subject line as “Guest article”
rather than “Hello Mr. X”.

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
2. SKIP THE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS, JUMP DIRECTLY TO THE POINT
• Keep the purpose in focus
• Do not add unnecessary introductions or links
• Avoid boring intros and jump directly to your point
• Save time at both ends
• Your recipient(s) may have dozens of unread e-mails

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
3. USE SAVED TEMPLATES FOR ANSWERING COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS
• In case of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), make some
templates for further use.
4. ADD A HUMAN TOUCH. MAKE IT PERSONAL
• Do not overkill by making everything automated
• Some emails that will need personal attention
• Spend some time on providing some value, care

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
5. NEVER WRITE IN CAPITAL CASE
• WRITING AN EMAIL IN CAPITAL CASE MAKES IT DIFFICULT
TO READ AND THE RECEIVER WILL GET ANNOYED FOR
SURE.
• Avoid writing email in capital letters or else your message
might end up in the trash folder.

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
6. STICK TO THE PROPER MESSAGE THREAD
• Including earlier conversations in reply is a good habit
• Helps receiver to recall subject, earlier conversation
• Saves time for searching earlier threads of the
conversations
Gmail/Outlook, automatically includes the threads in “reply”
messages. While replying to an email conversation, its good to
click “reply” instead of composing a new email message.

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
7. READ THE EMAIL BEFORE YOU SEND IT
• Before you hit the send button:
• Read what you have just typed
• Check for spelling & grammatical mistakes
• Read it from receiver’s angle
AN E-MAIL CAN MAKE OR BREAK A POTENTIAL OPPORTUNITY
SEND AND RESPOND WISELY!

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
8. DON’T USE ABBREVIATIONS, SLANG AND EMOTICONS
• Business emails should be formal as they reflect the
posture of the organization/company
• Using unnecessary acronyms/smilies lowers the value of
e-mail & message

E-MAIL:
AVOID CHARTROOM ACRONYMS
Avoid abbreviations and acronyms hatched in internet chat room
and other informal context, such as:
BTW : by the way
FWIW : for what it worth
HAND : have a nice day
IMHO : in my humble opinion
IOW : in other word
IRL : in real life
OTOH : on the other hand
TMOT : trust me on this
TTYTT : to tell you the truth
WADR : with all due respect
As with so many aspects of workplace communications, the sue
of acronyms is largely governed by the considerations of
Audience, Purpose and Tone.

EMAIL: TO ENSURE
9. BE CAREFUL WITH FORMATTING
• Avoid decorate your email message with lots of colors and
formatted stuff
• Unnecessarily highlighted text or e-mail body gives a spammy
appearance & increases chance to delete/avoid
10. USE SHORT AND SIMPLE SENTENCES
• Email’s should be simple to read and should convey the
meaning as quick as possible
• Never think that, Shakespearean writing will be interested to
the receiver
• Keep the sentences short and simple
• Never write an email when you are angry – it reflects!

2. SALUTATION
• Important for setting Tone
• To value and show respect
• Be careful about Title and name Spelling
• In case of Gender confusion, use first and last name together

3. TONE
• AFR: Approachable, Friendly, Respectful
• “no u didn’t rite ur tchr lyk dis. U r uskng 4 trbl” Bad…bad..bad!
• Avoid unnecessary use of UPPERCASE
• Read again before clicking “Send” button Remember
these ???
1 2

TONE: EXAMPLE 02
Dear Mrs. Crowley
When i was checking on home access tonight, i noticed that you entered a
zero in for the assignment due on 9/3. Although i turned the assignment in
late, i do have a reason that i would like to explain. I understand the policy,
but there were extenuation circumstance that night, and i turned the paper
into the basket later in the day. Could I possibly talk to you about this
sometimes soon? Let me know when you are free and i will come to your
room. Thank you for your time.
Subject: A Concern

5. FONT
• Natural • Easy to convert • Easy to read
Informal

6. WORDING:
NEGATIVE VS. POSITIVE
NEGATIVE:
• We cannot process your claim
because the necessary form
have not been completed.
• We do not take phone calls
after 5:30 PM.
• We closed your file because
we did not receive your
information requested in our
letter dated October 10, 2016.
POSITIVE:
• Your claims can be processed
as soon as you fill-up the
necessary forms.
• You may reach us by phone till
5:30 PM.
• Your file will be reactivated as
soon as you provide the
information requested in our
letter dated October 10, 2016

7. ATTACHMENTS
• Reference attachment in the body of e-mail.
• MS Office 2007 o 2013
• PDF format (preferable)
• JPG or PNG format for pictures
• Name the file clearly

E-MAIL:
TIPS
PARTS OF E-MAIL:
• From : Automatic
• To : Required
• CC : Optional
• BCC : Optional
• Date : Automatic
• Subject : Required
• Opening : Required
• Closing : Required
• Signature Block : Required
• Attachments : Optional
PARTS OF BUSINESS LETTER:
• Date
• Sender’s address
• Insider address
• Salutation
• Body
• Closing
• Enclosures
• Signature

MANAGING OWN INBOX
Before expecting GOOD from others, Be good at your own arena!

E-MAIL:
MANAGING INBOX
• Schedule a regular time to read, organize, and respond to
your emails.
• Use the “Four D’s for Decision Making” Model
– Delete it (29%)
– Do it (2 minutes or less)
– Delegate it
– Defer it
• Distinguish between reference and action information
– Reference: Not required to complete an action but
should be filed for later use
– Action: Required to complete an action

E-MAIL:
MANAGING INBOX
• Find a system for organization and stick with it:
– Filters
– Folders
– Search Functions
• Keep it Simple
– Today/This Week
– Reference/Action
– Payroll
– Personal
– Pending or Follow-up
– Projects
– Classes

E-MAIL:
MANAGING INBOX
• Pick up the phone or meet face-to-face. If your situation is
going to take multiple e-mails to resolve, call or meet instead
of e-mail.
• Separate personal from work.
– Give friends and family a separate e-mail address and
keep your work e-mail strictly for business.
– Don’t send subscription e-mails to your work address.

E-MAIL:
ATTITUDE TOWARDS THIS SESSION
• Did you discover something about your communication style?
• Did you discover something about how you write emails?
• Will you change anything?
• What will you keep the same?
• What three (03) things will you do to keep yourself organized?

E-mail communication

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