Successful people wear the same things every day because decision fatigue is real. How you communicate is no different. The following is my “dress routine” when writing emails (Credit to Content Analytics Inc for this information)
Know when to use this tool
Emails are one of the main ways any company communicates internally or externally, but it’s important to know when to use the tool.
Use emails for:
General communication
Communicating with images
Having a paper trail
Following up and reminding
Messages with attachments with 5mb or less of data
Avoid using emails for:
Stressful / sensitive topics
Topics that have confidential data
The foundation of project management
Subjects Lines: Dress them the same
All of your emails should have protocols in their subject lines so the reader can immediately understand how they should read it and prioritize.
URGENT: (subject)
FYI: (subject)
ACTION NEEDED: (Subject)
REMINDER: (Subject)
Once your protocol is in place, give two to four words on the topic to complete the subject line.
The Body: Less is more
People will stop reading and start scanning if it’s more than two sentences. It’s not always feasible to shorten the information but make it easy for people to find the TL;DR version.
Isolate any action, specify an individual and make it bold and colored: – CLIENT ACTION (Steven R): Please send me the username you want to be set up in our system.
When communicating a reminder, highlight the date in bold: – The project will need to be delivered Jan 21, 2019, by 8 am PT
If it’s a long article, provide the bullet points at the top of the page then give the context needed in later paragraphs: – I am updating you that the ETA of the project is Jan 21, 2019, by 8 am PT. Please see the context below for a more detailed overview of the roll-out.
Always include a timezone in dates. Saying by what time will avoid frustration by a client. If you only communicate Jan 21, 2019, EOD and mean by end of the day, the client is going to guess what EOD means and if their expectation of what EOD means isn’t met then they will be upset. Giving a definite time will avoid scenarios of miscommunication and unmet expectations.
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