The subject line
In today’s age of technology people can get thousands of emails a day. Most people decide to open, forward, or delete a message just from the subject line. Never leave the subject line blank. When I am checking clients emails (which I do numerous times a day) I find it interesting when people put “Quick Question” in the subject line. My suggestion would be to put the question in the subject line. You are more likely to get a very fast response to your email if indeed the question is quick to answer.
Don’t flame
Always read an email twice before you send it. I spend a lot of time sending emails to calm a situation that could have been resolved by a more personable email in the email. Always keep you emails polite and use a positive tone. If you receive an email that has fired you up my biggest tip is to write a draft (let it out, get it off your chest type of email) and save it in drafts. Go for a walk or a coffee and clear your mind and then come back to your draft. If you still feel the same way and find no other way of solving the problem get a second opinion. It really is amazing how someone can calm you down or provide positive feedback.
Privacy
As the old saying goes once it is on paper there is no turning back. You never know who can intercept an email via a server or even worse that someone forwards an email to someone you didn’t want to see the email in the first place. Never put credit card details in an email or personal details you don’t want other people to know. Pick up the phone, you never know you just might get to have a chat to a lovely person on the other end.
Efficiency
Not sure how many times a client has sent me an email asking me to do a task and I start on it straight away and then I check my emails and I notice that I get a “Don’t worry email I worked it out myself”. Always remember receiving an email is almost instant especially now with the use of iPhones people can be out and check their emails. I highly recommend my clients call me and let me know to stop what I am doing. They can then resend and allocate new tasks without wasting time, money and resources.
Recipients
When sending a email to a group of people always use the BCC section. There is nothing worse then receiving an email where you can see all the recipients or worse one of the recipients sends a response to everyone on the list by hitting reply to all. Very unprofessional!
Please feel free to ask any questions or if you need someone to help you control your inbox just ask me. I have packages available for all size accounts.