How To Impress With Your Emails – Part 3 Of The People Skills Primer

Have you ever sent out a formal email to someone, and wanted to take it back immediately? Only you can’t. What if you’ve received an offer you want to refuse? How do you say no on that email while maintaining a good relationship? In fact, how do you communicate using emails? And how do you not make mistakes, especially at work? What if you misspell a client’s name? How do you apologise?

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In this section, find out how you can make sure your emails are done right.

How To Communicate Effectively Via Emails

Situation 1: Writing an appropriate subject line.

Problem	Bad Example	Good Example
Length of the subject line	Details about the meeting between Tata and Reliance regarding hoarding spaces taking place on 24th August, Sunday, 2017 at Imperial Palace.	Details - Tata-Reliance meeting on 24-8-2017.
Ambiguity	Meeting minutes taken by Judy.	FYI: Meeting minutes from 3/14 discussion
Sounding sales-y	I have an offer for you!	Possible collaboration with...
Using ALL CAPS	THIS EMAIL IS VERY IMPORTANT TO PLEASE RESPOND TO IT ASAP	Jay, I need you to assist the sales meeting this Thursday.

Situation 2: You draft an email which has 400 words.
Bad Idea - Click the send button on it, already!
Good Idea - Use italics and bold fonts and different font sizes. Use bullets wherever you can. Go through the email again for copy checks before sending.

Situation 3: You come to work and fire up your computer. You have 50 unread emails, but you know that only the first few of them are new.
Bad Idea - You have mastered the art of maneuvering with your cluttered email box by now, so go ahead and continue with your day.
Good Idea - Take out some time and organise your email in different folders based on category or name of the sender. Make sure you keep it organised, always. Because when that 50 unread emails becomes a 1000, you’ll genuinely get confused.

Situation 4: You have to send an email to the supplies department for some materials.
Bad Idea - Fire off an email to the concerned person.
Good Idea - When you are communicating with someone within your company via email, mark your boss and the concerned person’s boss.

Situation 5: You have to send an important email which you can’t afford to screw up.
Bad Idea - Write the email, do a copy check, and send it away!
Good Idea - Write the email, do a copy check and go grab a cup of coffee. Come back after some time with a fresh mind and see if you have missed out on something in the email or made a mistake. If unsure, send it to a colleague to get it checked too.

Situation 6: Writing the email signature
Bad Idea - Using signatures like, “With love”, “Yours truly”, “Lots of love.”
Good Idea - Write your name, Designation, Team name, company name, contact number (mobile and office landline) Regards, yours faithfully.

In the next section, learn about communicating with clients & vendors.