02/ 16/ 2006
by Reid Goldsborough
E-mail is the most common form of business communication today, yet many people communicate poorly through it.
That’s the opinion of Janis Fisher Chan, co-founder of Write It Well (www.writeitwell.com), a publishing and training firm that has been operating out of Oakland, Calif., since 1980 and specializes in helping businesspeople write clear, concise e-mails. Chan also wrote the just published book, E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide, as well as eight other books on business writing and other topics.
She offers her advice on why we communicate poorly through e-mail, the consequences it can have and how to improve online communication.
One reason for ineffective e-mail messages, she says, is that many people who write e-mail have never written much before and have never learned writing fundamentals. Another reason is that people, even in a formal business setting, regard e-mail as conversation and don't pay attention to details that not only help you communicate, but also make you look good or bad.
You may not think that sending an e-mail message full of slang language, misspellings and no capitalization to your buddy four cubicles down could be a bad move. But if he forwards it to his boss, and his boss forwards it to his boss, you might look like a junior high-school dropout to someone determining your next raise.
Appearance counts. Don't cut corners when trying to be efficient or act too casual when trying to be cool. People who do “wind up conveying a sloppy image of themselves and their organization,” Chan says.
Your e-mail won't accomplish anything if it’s not seen and read. To ensure that your e-mail isn't filtered out by an overzealous anti-spam program used by your recipient or his Internet service provider, pay attention to your subject line.
Avoid trigger words such as “free,” “make money,” “buy,” “save” and “sex.” Don't try to disguise trigger words by replacing letters with punctuation marks. Be careful about exclamation points. Don't use all capital letters.
To ensure that your e-mail gets read, Chan recommends thinking like a journalist writing or editing a story. Make your subject line a headline. Instead of using a general, nondescript subject line such as “Important information,” use words that clearly indicate what your e-mail message is about, and why your reader should read it, such as “Accepting applications for flex-time program” or “Health benefits to change next year.”
In the body of the message, use the “journalistic triangle.” Place your most important information first and expand upon it with supporting detail. Use capital letters to make less important points further down stick out, supporting them with detail if necessary.
E-mail is similar to older forms of writing since it requires knowing what you want to accomplish and how to best accomplish it. It differs from traditional writing in that you need to accomplish your goal very quickly.
People reading e-mail are busy. They typically have lots of e-mails to go through and unable to spend the time with any given message that they would with a newspaper or magazine article. “Imagine that your reader is about to go through airport security on her way to an important meeting,” Chan said. “You have 15 seconds to shout out your message before she disappears into the crowd. What would you say?”
You also don't want to waste your time with e-mail. We often shoot back e-mail responses rather than consider whether a response is needed, which can keep online conversations going without serving a useful purpose, Chan says.
One of the most pressing concerns about e-mail has been potential legal liability. Regard any message you send through e-mail as being as private, just as you would a postcard sent through the mail.
Be especially careful about potentially offensive content and tone in your e-mail, Chan recommends. Many organizations have policies that spell out appropriate use of e-mail, but not all do.
E-mailing porn images or even off-color jokes could get you fired, or your organization sued. Avoid the temptation to forward jokes to everybody you know. Most have probably already seen it or don't care.
For more of the above, check out Write It Well’s Web site or Chan’s book, which is available in major bookstores and through online booksellers.
