Netiquette - your emails talk volumes about you.

Two years ago in my newsletter #16, I wrote an article called "It's time we learned how to write properly" I received many emails from people telling me how they found such value in the simple tips provided in the article that they had forwarded it throughout their organisations. If you missed it - click on the hyperlink above and read it again. I did, and was quite surprised, two years down the line, at how much sense it makes, even more so today with the plethora of emails and spam we all have to wade through daily. Sadly, many people are still sloppy about the way they communicate by email - and unfortunately, it tells a lot about the sender.

So here's part two on effective business writing by email - sometimes referred to these days as "netiquette"

1. In the previous article I wrote about using your subject line effectively. Let's take it one step further. People get on average between 15 and 150 emails a day. If they want to refer back to one you sent them a while back, and lets say they can't remember how your name appeared in the sender field, they may search for your email under "Subject." Ask yourself which key word they are most likely to choose to search for your email? Point is - if they find it, your proposal may be the one - six months down the line that they accept - simply because they could find your original proposal!! So use the subject line, and think carefully how to word it.

2. You see that red exclamation mark at the top of your browser? It's for urgent and important emails, not all emails. If you use this habitually, you'll get a "cry wolf" reputation among your associates and friends - and soon they will not take email communications from you seriously.

3. Think again about the cc (carbon copy) box. When you use it, you are telling the recipient that this information is relevant to the person you're cc'ing it to as well, and worth their while to peruse. Is it necessary for the third party to be receiving this? Maybe it is, but on reflection, you may find quite often that it isn't.

4. The Bcc (blind carbon copy) box is an interesting one. It means " I'm sending this to you, but I don't want the recipients to know you're getting it. Preferably only use this for people you know well and pass emails on to regularly. And then be sure that the person you're bcc'ing it to knows why they are being sent this communication. I use this option very selectively, because it can often result in miscommunication.

5. The spell-check (under "tools") is great. But it checks your spelling, not that you've used the correct word. If you put in the word "chick" when you meant to write "check", spellchecker won't pick it up. So, once you've spell-checked, read your email through to make sure that it makes sense. Then, get someone else to read it for you! You can read it ten times and go over the same mistake without seeing it, someone else may pick it up immediately. If it's a vey important email - get 2 other people to check it for you.

6. Chain letters such as appeals from cancer victims, promises of a case of champagne and incredible offers from Microsoft written in plain text are hoaxes. Best you don't forward them, and if you do, the line "I don't usually pass this kind of thing on, but this one..." makes you look like a real charley!

7. A swift response to an email is always appreciated, but don't be in too much of a hurry. Make sure you've got your response right in terms of content, details (too much or too little can be equally bad) and tone. If it's an angry response, a delay is often best. If it's a very angry/indignant response, not sending it at all may be even better. It is best in life to try and control oneself - this applies particularly to when you're putting things in writing.

8. Today we have several choices of communication mode:

8.1 Email (allows detail, recipient can read at their leisure)
8.2 Sms (good for brief communications that do not need to be referred to again for longer than a fortnight or so)
8.3 Telephone (landline, mobile or Skype)
8.4 Voicemail. (Why is this a separate option? I'll explain why in point 11. below)
8.5 Fax (time consuming and can be costly, but people still tend to give a fax priority)
8.6 MSN messenger/yahoo or an equivalent (can lock people in for a period of time and very susceptible to adware)

Carefully consider, before communicating, which would be most effective medium for that particular communication. We still tend to reach for the telephone first. Why? Habit, I guess. Do we really need to be interrupting this person right now? Only use the telephone if the communication requires an ongoing two-way dialogue and will save both parties time. Remember, a telephone call is always an interruption. Apart from sales calls, if you don't want to be branded as a nuisance, use the telephone where appropriate, otherwise consider your other choices. The advantage of sms is that folk can reply at their convenience. An sms saying "Will call you between 3 and 4 today to discuss proposal" allows the recipient to prepare themselves or sms you back to suggest an alternative time. A phone call takes people away from what they are doing and demands immediate attention. In the old days it was the only way. Today you have options.

9. Rules: It's nice to have your emails sorted for you as they come in. If you want incoming emails from certain senders to go into a particular folder, first set up the different folders you want, then use the "Rules" box to send email to where you want it to go. For instance you may want bank statements to go into one folder, emails from your office staff into another, and so on. Use the organise tab at the top - usually situated next to the "Find" tab, to set this up.

10. Try and deal with each email once. If you're wading through a lot and only want to deal with the high priority ones, clear out the spam as you're going, deal with the important ones and mark the balance as unread - then you can return to them later. You do this by right clicking on the email, the seventh option down in the dialogue box is "Mark as Unread". It makes re-boldens the email your cursor is currently highlighting.

11. When sending an email to more than one person, especially in a committee scenario, be careful of starting an email debate. These can become awfully messy as emails fly past one another like unguided missiles, creating confusion. A conference call is a far better medium for a debate.

Hope you find these tips useful.

Paul du Toit