E Mail Etiquette Business Writing Skills

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Contents Learning objectives

At the end of this session, you will be able to:

1. Understand the impact of poorly written emails 2. Understand what makes a personal email different from a business email 3. Write emails that people read and act upon

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Agenda

Why email etiquette? What is email etiquette? How to write effective emails Email best practices Practice

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Why email Etiquette?

?
1. Face to face 2. Voice 3. Written

Perception Reality
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Why email Etiquette?

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Why email Etiquette?

?
Casual Formal

To gossip To entertain To socialize

To inform To convince To enable action With respect & dignity

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Why email The Problem

Etiquette?

Lack of e-mail etiquette has resulted in its becoming one of the biggest timewasters
a source of stress & frustration in many organizations

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Why email Etiquette?

?
An Information Mapping (IMI) survey done with organizations having a workforce of 5000+ employees, shows that:

40% respondents "waste" 30 minutes 3 hours per day reading poorly written
emails!

80% of respondents deem email writing skills

as 'extremely' or 'very' important to their jobs.

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Why email Etiquette?

The study identified the biggest email problems as:

Disorganized content Missing critical information Unclear action or request Content is too wordy, long and difficult to read

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What is email etiquette?

There are no 'official' rules governing electronic communication

Though as a general rule, netiquette covers basics courtesy, respect and ethics.

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The 4 Cs of effective emails

C C C C

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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CONTENT

Can be divided into 2 parts:

Subject Line

Body of the mail

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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CONTENT : Subject Line

1. Should convey the essence of email 2. Must not be a complete sentence 3. Brief and to the point 4. Urgency of the message must be indicated in the subject line:
If it is not urgent, indicate FYI before the subject line If urgent, type URGENT before your subject line.

5. Be diplomatic, be assertive

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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CONTENT : Body of the mail

1. Relate content to the reader 2. Limit your message to one subject 3. Keep to a 15 line message (about half a computer screen) if you can 4. Good idea to use bullets

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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CONTENT : Call To Action

The call to action is the Instructions or information we want the reader to take away from the message. Or The Actions that need to be taken

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Exercise: Call to action

Example To: Team members Date: Today I received a phone call from Jimm Bobb Incorporated and spoke with Jimm Bobb. He said that we need to evaluate our current procedures when we are typing our e-mails. If we are not obeying the current policies, practices, and procedures which are already set in place, then he will need to conduct a full investigation. So when you are typing your e-mails, please be aware that what you are typing could be viewed as offensive by the reader. Also, when using our e-mail system, keep it limited to just work-related e-mails. Do not transmit chain letters, large documents etc. as it may bog down our mail servers. Jimm and I are going to lunch to discuss what we can do to try to combat the number of inappropriate e-mails being transmitted throughout our campus. See me if you have any questions! Have a nice day! Thanks, PM
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From: The PM

Exercise: Call to action

Example To: Team members From: The PM Date: Today

I received a phone call from Jimm Bobb Incorporated and spoke with Jimm Bobb. He said that we need to evaluate our current procedures when we are typing our e-mails. If we are not obeying the current policies, practices, and procedures which are already set in place, then he will need to conduct a full investigation. So when you are typing your e-mails, please be aware that what you are typing could be viewed as offensive by the reader. Also, when using our e-mail system, keep it limited to just work-related e-mails. Do not transmit chain letters, large documents etc. as it may bog down our mail servers. Jimm and I are going to lunch to discuss what we can do to try to combat the number of inappropriate e-mails being transmitted throughout our campus. See me if you have any questions! Have a nice day! Thanks, PM
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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CORRECT

1. Convey information appropriately 2. Check accuracy of figures facts & words 3. Accept and apologize: if data is not available 4. When in doubt- Ask.

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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CORRECT

Spelling & Grammar - proofread for errors carefully. Use precise words Program your e-mail to auto spell check all outgoing mails

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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CORRECT Who is it marked to? Wait to fill in the "TO" mail address! Proofread the mail beforehand to be sure that it is exactly the way you want it Put yourself in the receiver shoes and decide: Am I the relevant person to be getting this mail? Am I clearly able to make out why did I get this mail? Avoid sending a Reply all mail unless absolutely necessary. Send replies on a need to know/act basis.
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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CORRECT : Attachments 1. Make sure to create an attachment if you are mentioning the same in your mail 2. Check with the receiver
1. if he/she would like to receive the attachment 2. whether they have software to open attachment

3. Do not attach very heavy attachments

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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CONCISE : Language 1. Use simple language

avoid jargon excessive phrases or repetition

2. Be brief. Get to your point as quickly without leaving out any necessary details 3. Avoid using SMS lingo: U instead of you, 2 instead of to or too, plz instead of please, and thanx instead of thanks. It's fine for personal email 4. Frequently used abbreviations such as Mr. & Mrs., FYI (for your information) and etc. are fine
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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CONCISE : Exercise
This is to thank you for the quick response  Thank you for the quick response

This report is in connection with the internal job postings  This is a report on internal job postings

In majority of cases it is found that the trains are on time  The trains are usually on time
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The 4 Cs of effective emails

CONCISE : Exercise
Rahul will arrive at about nine oclock  Rahul will arrive at or about nine oclock I need the following information in order to complete the report  I need the following information to complete the report The meeting will be held for the purpose of discussing the visit of Simon Webster  The meeting will be held to discuss the visit of Simon Webster
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The 4 Cs of effective emails

COURTEOUS
Use Please and Thank You where appropriate

Avoid writing your message using all uppercase letters. IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE SHOUTING. Make sure that you have spelled out the name of the recipient correctly. If not sure, confirm before sending the mail.

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The 4 Cs of effective emails

C ontent C orrect C oncise C ourteous

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Exercise

We would like to start a green belt project which will be a Quality project and therefore we would like to invite everyone to join us in to be a part of the team. The name of the project would be Need Based Nominations. It is essentially to design and implement a process of Nominations for various non-process related training programs offered across Intellevate. Bhaskar, who is very keen on the project kicking off on time would be sponsor proposed for the project and Ebby is the black belt attached with a very vast experience on the subject. Inder would champion the green belt project which is a Quality project and Himanshu who is the green belt on the project has nominated Satya and JP. Please confirm participation as then we would like to schedule our first meeting.
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Exercise

Subject: Green Belt project We are planning to kick off a Quality Project Need Based Nominations . Goal : To design an implement a process of Nominations for various non-process related training programs offered across Intellevate Proposed Sponsor Champion Black Belt Green Belt Team Members value to this project. Please confirm your participation. I would then schedule our first meeting.
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: Bhaskar : Inder : Ebby : Himanshu : Satya & JP

We invite you to participate as a core team member and add

E-mail Best Practices

Use these helpful practices to ensure proper etiquette when composing e-mail:
Use black or blue font only. Do not use red font. DO NOT USE ALL CAPS. Arial / Verdana fonts Use a 10 or 12 point font. Do not go too small or too big! Use bullet points whenever possible. Do not use excessive punctuation (!!!!!!) Be sure recipient has proper software to open attachments. Never respond to an email when you are angry/upset.
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E-mail Best Practices

Use these helpful practices to ensure proper etiquette when composing e-mail:
1. FYI and FYA 2. Avoid using humor unless understood clearly by the recipient 3. Use an auto-signature. 4. Proofread all messages and use spell check before sending. 5. Insert attachment file before sending. 6. Distribution lists / filtering lists 7. BCC

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Before you hit send

Before you hit the send button, ask yourself these questions:

Are the name and email address in the "TO:" field correct? Have I properly addressed the recipient? Have I used the appropriate tone? Is my email too wordy (or is it not wordy enough)? Have I attached unsolicited attachments? Have I proof-read my message?

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