Tips on writing effective e-mails

Here are some general tips for the students as a reminder for writing good emails.

1) Use a "subject line" that summarizes briefly and clearly the content of the message." Your email may be one of hundreds on the recipient's computer, and you want them to read it when it arrives and then find it again easily in their files. That's why they should contain clues to the content of the message. Because in today's world of information the flood of unwanted e-mail petitions, jokes and spam which comes to the mail box means that your message could get deleted before it's opened if you don't get the correct subject line. May be, it's better to write the word «Urgent» in the subject line if the time is limited and if you know that a person receives a lot of e-mails.

2) Use short, simple sentences. Long sentences are often difficult to read and understand. The most common mistake for learners of English is to translate directly from their own language. Usually the result is a complicated, confusing sentence.

3) One subject per email is best. The other person can reply to an email about one thing, delete it, and leave another email in their 'Inbox' that needs more time.

4) Be very careful with jokes, irony, personal comments etc. Humour is rarely translated well from one culture to another. And if you are angry, wait for 24 hours before you write. Once you press 'Send' you cannot get your email back. It can be seen by anyone and copied and sent round the world. The intimate, informal nature of email makes people write things that they shouldn't. Only write what you would be comfortable saying to the person's face.

5) Take a moment to review and edit what you have written. Check you've given the relevant information. Is the main point clear? Would some pieces of continuous text be better as bullet points or numbered points? Is it clear what action you want the recipient to take? Would you be happy to receive this email? If in doubt, ask a colleague to quickly look through and make comments.

6) Don't ignore capital letters, punctuation, spelling, paragraphs, and basic grammar. Casual writing might be good when you are writing to a very close friend, but to everyone else it's an important part of the image that you create. A careless, disorganized email shows the outside world a careless, disorganized mind.

7) Use the replies you receive to modify your writing to the same person. If the recipient writes back in a more informal or more formal style, then match that in your future emails to them. If they use particular words or phrases that seem to come from their company culture, or professional area, then consider using those words yourself where they are appropriate.

8) Be positive! The words: "activity, agreed, evolving, fast, good question, helpful, join us, mutual, productive, solve, team, together, tools, useful" And the words: "busy, crisis, failure, forget it, hard, I cant, I won't, impossible, never, stupid, unavailable, waste" when you use them show your attitude to life.

9) Don't be too informal when writing to superiors or people outside the company (e.g. got your order; will give it to the guys at dispatches)

10) When answering e-mail use the reply button, this helps the receiver put your mail into context as the subject line will be repeated with the words «RE» in front of it and the original message may be included. «RE» is short for 'Regarding...'.

11) Never reply simply «yes» or «по» without repeating the context.

12) Don't use pronouns out of context (e.g. I asked them and they agreed).

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16