{"id":2342,"date":"2011-09-26T08:35:06","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T07:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2342"},"modified":"2011-09-26T08:35:06","modified_gmt":"2011-09-26T07:35:06","slug":"email-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.integrationtraining.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/09\/email-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Email Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest blogger Rob Williams delivers training on how to work smarter with technology to save time and get more in control of your life. Here\u2019s his simple tips and etiquette on how to get back in control with email.<\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start at the beginning and limit the emails coming in, before talking about how to get better at writing email and managing it in your\"\"<\/a> daily work\/personal life.<\/p>\n

Get a spam filter<\/strong><\/p>\n

The steps to take here depend on what kind of email service you have. Yahoo, Hotmail and especially Gmail have excellent Spam filtering built into their services, both if using webmail or via an email client.<\/p>\n

Using common email programs like Windows Mail, Outlook, Thunderbird and Apple Mail?<\/p>\n

Junk\/spam tools are built in and on by default in many cases.\u00a0 These catch the bulk of issues as they come in. If not turned on, internet search \u201cjunk email name of your email software<\/em>\u201d and you will return a hit on how to do it.<\/p>\n

If using a server based email platform (i.e. businesses), most IT companies install with extensive spam filtering tools so don\u2019t worry bar checking junk mail folder every now and then.<\/p>\n

Check your social media settings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn send huge amounts of emails out if you don\u2019t control the settings on their websites. Facebook alone has 58 tick boxes for email. \u00a0You can easily cut down a huge volume of email by switching off certain levels of notification. Look under \u201caccount\u201d or \u201csettings\u201d in any social media site to control the ever increasing tide of email in your inbox<\/p>\n

Unsubscribe<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many retailers (Amazon, Play, HMV, etc) send lots of marketing messages once you are on their database. They know who you are when you log into the site (via cookies) and they know what you have been looking at! Suddenly, there\u2019s an email reminding you about something you looked at last week but didn\u2019t buy.\u00a0 It\u2019s rare that you genuinely forgot to buy it so do you need to be reminded again?<\/p>\n

You can easily stop these distractions coming into your inbox and let\u2019s be honest; do you really want to spend money on something \u201ccheap\u201d that you didn\u2019t really want before the email landed?<\/p>\n

Clever marketing but bad on the wallet\/purse or on your focus whilst working. Write an incoming mail rule to shift everything from these retailers into a folder to read later: you won\u2019t even see it hit your inbox!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

CC=FYI<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Carbon copy is for information only. If you require a response from a recipient, \u201cTo\u201d them, do not CC them. CC keeps people in the loop but does not require their response. As a result of this, you shouldn\u2019t drop someone out of a CC\u2019ed email until you have fully closed the open email chain. It could be seen as a slight or rudeness<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t just CC everyone in your organisation. We are all busy, don\u2019t clutter up people with stuff they don\u2019t need to know.<\/p>\n

Reply to All = DANGER<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check very carefully who is in the \u201cSend to\u201d fields when using \u201cReply To All\u201d. There have been numerous incidents about where this has created huge issues. Just this past month or so, the Manchester City chief exec Garry Cook had trouble with a \u201cReply All\u201d, whether he actually sent it or not.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Respect boundaries<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just because it\u2019s email and seems less formal, don\u2019t let common niceties slip.\u00a0 You wouldn\u2019t call Lord Sugar \u201cAlan\u201d to his face so you shouldn\u2019t on email. \u201cMr\u201d, \u201cMiss\u201d and \u201cMrs\u201d remain as such until the other party drops the formality, as do full and shortened\/nick names.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mirror your correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is nothing worse than writing a long, meaningful email and getting a two word answer back; so much can be read into a short reply\u2019s lack of length.\u00a0 As a general rule, keep email brief and expand slowly to protect yourself from this potential threat to your confidence.<\/p>\n

Get to the point<\/strong><\/p>\n

As with all writing, it\u2019s best to front load an email with the key points. It guarantees you attention and may be the difference between being read or deleted.<\/p>\n

Blaise Pascal once wrote \u201cI would have written a shorter letter but I did not have the time\u201d It\u2019s easy to \u201cstream of consciousness\u201d an email but it won\u2019t have the clarity of something that takes just a little more time.<\/p>\n

Write carefully<\/strong><\/p>\n

Emails have no context and huge amounts of meaning can be read innocently into a basic email.\u00a0 Think to yourself before sending \u201cis this really the best method of communicating with this person?\u201d Would it be better for me to call them? Send them a hand written letter? Email can get you into trouble but it rarely gets you out!<\/p>\n

Additionally, take extra care with punctuation.<\/p>\n

The meaning of<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Thanks to you\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

is very different to<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Thanks to you<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The full stop completely changes the meaning of this sentence. This was from a real email and caused a huge email \u201cflame\u201d war unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you think when writing an email \u201cI\u2019m not sure if I should send it?\u201d, DON\u2019T!<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Step away from the keyboard! Take five minutes to think about it. You can\u2019t unsend it and it may be better to just delete it and pick up the phone\/see the person<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Never send an email that just \u201cpasses the buck\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is fine to delegate but don\u2019t use email as a tool to avoid proper communication with someone or artificially buy yourself time by dumping it on someone else!<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The DELETE key is your friend<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be afraid to delete emails. A client once told me of a colleague he worked with in the \u201canalogue\u201d days before computers. Anything that landed in his in-tray that was new, he instantly threw in the bin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it was important, they\u2019ll write again and I\u2019ll deal with it then!\u201d<\/p>\n

The lesson is that you will generally get reminded of anything that\u2019s vital. However, don\u2019t delete things like orders, invoices or personal documents that are key to your life.<\/p>\n

If it takes less than two minutes to do it, DO IT NOW<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pretty self explanatory: it takes about two minutes to get back into whatever you were doing if you have been interrupted. If it\u2019s a quick email back, get it out of the way.<\/p>\n

Remove distractions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allow yourself to turn off email if you really have to focus on a task.<\/p>\n

Turn off the pop up email alerts and sounds unless you have a strategy, such as our efficientOutlook methodology, or work in time critical environments.<\/p>\n

Hopefully this will give you all some benefits to your email lifestyle. Contact us if you want to learn more about how we can take you forward with our range of digital efficiency training.<\/p>\n

Rob Williams
\nwww.carphonecompany.com
\n<\/a>www.efficientthinking.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

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