Be it business or social, electronic mail now tends to get tossed off so frequently, so thoughtlessly that comprehension is being sacrificed for speed. Vital business messages get garbled forth, only to land unread or misunderstood.
In many ways, it’s understandable. E-mail is a youngster. It’s barely been in popular use for 15 years, yet it has revolutionized our communication. Thanks to e-mail, children are actually writing their grandparents, sharing photos and music. An architect in Uzbekistan is hammering out problems with his Morristown partner, shaving double-digit points off the project’s cost. The only grumble may be heard from the post office which blames e-mail for its 4.8 percent drop in first class missives this past year.
Like any other adolescent giant, e-mail has grown so fast in size, that it’s mushrooming expansion threatens to overwhelm its own effectiveness. Spam no longer means only the campy canned meat product born of WW II necessity. Eventually, e-mail will mature and develop protocols which cut through the chaff messages, and provide priority and intelligibility. Until then the business person must create his own e-mail style sheet aimed at getting important information transmitted.
* Formatting. Back in the ancient old days of the typed business letter, the formal format, for its fussiness, offered a no-surprise intelligilability of content. Much of that is worth keeping, particularly since e-mail text often requires separating from thedistracting jumble of directional encryptions. Most all desk tops, laptops, and hand-helds allow the automatic insertion of a signature with each new e-mail. Don’t stint. Include your full name, position, company, address, phones, and e-mail, even website. This not only provides valuable contact information, it establishes that here is a letter - from you. It gives it weight.
Some insist that as a courtesy to those using tiny-screened hand-held devices, the signature should go at the bottom, because it takes an extra two or three seconds to scroll past it. Keep it at the top. Better any reader know right at the outset who is sending him this message, rather than forcing him to read it all while guessing its author.
Text width is important for longer messages. Many readers find eight - 10 words a comfortable line length. Just remember, if the message is very complex, or more than two pages, it will probably be printed out, so save paper and give it the full page width.
One British friend of mine always ends his e-mails “Cheers” and then adds his name. Whatever your signoff, give it space, and make it standard. One glance at the e-mail should focus the eyes between the signature and the signoff, to the meat of the message you want read. And once you have worked out a format, keep it for every e-mail. Be it a one liner response or an entire proposal, make each message distinctively yours.
* When and How to Send. Ever meet a person at a party who just won’t leave you alone? His 73rd comment may be startlingly earthshaking, but by then you’re too glazed over to care. Likewise, don’t water down your own e-mail effectiveness by badgering recipients all day.
Is it absolutely necessary to share each new idea in its own separate letter the instant it pops into your head? Instead, try writing all that day’s, or that morning’s ideas into one file and label it “Thoughts for Jim,” or “Thoughts on the Johnson Merger.” Then once or twice a day, review them and send the viable ones off in a bundle. You have now given the recipient some solid ideas to mull over, rather than create your own distracting spam. He may not love every idea, but he will pay attention to your letters.
Many groups in constant contact have developed the “Three on a Match” rule for relpies. Only three replies on an original e-mail are allowed. After that, begin a new one. This saves boatloads of confusion.
“NOT FOR BLACKBERRY E-MAIL.” is a subject lead line I personally use when the missive is long and involved. We all know recipients who view all electronic messages on their hand-held devices. A screen displaying 5 words maximum cannot give full value to a lengthy report or memo you have slaved over. So give your reader due warning and let him download it to his laptop screen for the careful scrutiny it deserves. (By the way, don’t forget to include the full subject right after the No-BlackBerry warning.)
Also, be careful of graphics. Sending forth the full photographic display of your new plant to all your clients may seem like a wonderful piece of marketing. But the sheer megapixel tonnage may just drag down the recipient’s computer speed like an anvil in the ocean. Keep the pictures’ highest resolution, but make them small. You might even include an additional site where he may safely view the full array.
* Which Tool When? The sharp business person views e-mail not as a substitute, but as another dimension in communication. Each has its place. Nothing beats e-mail for the quick arrangement of meetings, logistical problems, or brief commentaries. It is, however, undoubtedly the least effective tool for settling disputes or conducting negotiations. E-mail’s inability to convey tone, body language, and all other aspects of human behavior almost invariably let the words fly solo right into confrontation.
Of course, face to face is best for deep negotiations. The video screen for many works nearly as well. But sometimes, just sometimes, you want to make that one comment and let it land without any answer. Then, the impersonality of e-mail may prove just the right medium.
Finally, consider the occasional piece of variety. Nothing so ruins your messages’ effectiveness as predictability. (You know every letter from PSE&G is a bill - Right?) So once in a while - e.g. every month - send along to that constant-contact group something different. It can be a funny piece, or it can be an FYI which relates to the project. Just select anything to make your every e-mail from looking like an PSE&G bill.
If it becomes apparent that you are putting more thought into the messages you send, count on it, readers will respond and read them all more thoroughly. Biz4
