Are you one of these repeat offenders?
THE AGGRESSIVE EMAILER
From: The boss
To: The employee
Subject: Project X Needs to be finished by 10am. MUST NOT BE LATE.
“It’s easier to look bad on email than it is to look good,” says business coach Geoff Hetherington. “While brevity is key, emails should be written in a personal voice. A better approach would be, ‘Hi employee, is Project X on track to be finished at the due time of 10am? It’s vital we make our deadline. Thanks, the boss.'”
The takeaway: check tone and think, “Would you like to receive this email from your boss?”
THE REPLY-ALL CHAIN EMAILER
From: A work colleague
To: The team
Subject: RE: RE: RE: FW: Proposal
Hi all,
Can you read and come back to me with ideas re: attached document?
“Hitting reply all is dangerous,” says Hetherington. “Business information can leak out very quickly that way.” And the same goes for CC’ing every man and their dog. “If you have to email a lot of people, put them in the BCC area so others don’t have to scroll halfway down their screen to read your message.
THE NEW BFF EMAILER
From: Business contact
To: Client
Subject: Happy Friday, hun!
Hey babe, hope all is good – I’m gagging for Friday night drinks! LOL! Just checking in on the pitch I sent over the other day – what’d u think? xx
Terms of endearments are a big no-no in work emails according to career and business coach Annemarie Cross. “You run the risk of offending your contact,” she warns. “There’s a level of professionalism needed, and don’t assume people know what abbreviations and emoticons mean.”
THE TOO-MANY-QUESTIONS EMAILER
From: Employee
To: The Boss
Subject: Sorry to bother you
I have several questions about the project I’m working on. First, I’m unclear on what column A should contain. And when should I brief in my fellow employee on the next stage? Also are there any recommendations for formatting and style?
“This is a lot of broad questions for one email,” says Cross. “When emailing the boss it’s important to be concise and refer to the content of the email in the subject. Ask yourself, can I pick up the phone or organise a meeting?”
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