Seven Tips for More Effective Email Communication

By David Friedman



As more support functions move online, and the quality of online support improves, customers become more confident in online options. To ensure you help develop that confidence, you must be able to communicate effectively and professionally via email with those customers or they’ll start calling you by phone – defeating the purpose of your online initiatives.

Here are seven tips that could improve your email communications.
1. Practice being clear and concise with your message.
In tech support, being clear and concise is imperative to resolving customer issues. It’ll save you time and your customers will appreciate it. A couple of things to keep in mind:

• Consider using bulleted points to clearly express your thoughts.
• Everyone has a different way of consuming information, don’t just repeat the message if it isn’t well-received. Try to find another way.
• Email communication works best if you clearly outline the points you’re trying to get across in an easy to understand format.

Investing extra time while authoring an email pays big dividends by giving your reader a clear understanding of your message. Remember, if your email is written with the purpose to educate, inform or persuade, then making sure to get your point across is even more critical.

With the sheer volume of email messages most business people receive, there’s an inverse relationship between the volume of text and successfully making the point. Most people will immediately read and understand a 10-sentence email. Send them a 10,000-word document and they’ll likely scan the highlights, save it for later, and you risk it not being read fully. People appreciate brevity. Remember, if your objective is to tell the reader what time it is, you don’t need to explain how to build a clock!

2. Before sending, always reread your message and double check for grammar and misused words.
Today, most people use spell check to go over our messages. It won’t catch every mistake but it makes the job simpler. You should also make it standard procedure to reread your entire message before sending. Often times, you’ll notice words which have been left out, grammar that’s incorrect, and worst of all – words witch our spilled write butt knot used inn the write weigh. (Note: this last sentence runs through a spell checker without any errors.)

3. Copy back salient points when replying to an earlier message.
Most people receive hundreds of emails every week. When you combine that with face-to-face meetings and phone calls, it’s dangerous to assume your recipient will remember your earlier exchange. Which of these messages has the greater chance for reader confusion?
"Sure, sounds fine... Please proceed."
Or
You wrote: Hi Jody, Are you okay with the proposed color scheme on the new brochure? I'd like to print it next week.
"Sure, sounds fine... Please proceed."
It’s frustrating to receive an email, with a specific answer, and not be able to recall the original issue or exchange leading up to the decision. This problem is largely avoidable by copying a portion of the original message to provide some context.

4. Use specific subject line descriptions.
Since many email messages go back and forth several times over the course of time, it’s important to accurately describe what the receiver will find inside.

Considering the level of spam and anti-spam software in place today, you can’t afford to risk your message not being delivered because of a generic or poorly worded subject line. A subject line such as, “What do you think” doesn’t tell the recipient much. “Need your suggestions for options re: acct#45619 – Robinson Inc.” is more specific. Remember, a legitimate message coming from your plant in Hong Kong advising you that “they’ve still had no luck increasing the prototype by 3 inches” is unlikely to ever make it past today’s spam filters!

5. Realize that once your message is sent, there’s no getting it back!
Email communication in the workplace has evolved over time. Before the ‘90s, if you composed a letter later deemed too harsh or in poor taste, there were more steps involved in sending the message. Today, email is much more efficient, but with fewer steps, people have literally ruined their careers with quick 60-second lapses in judgment, by sending the wrong message to someone.
Email is also ridiculously easy to edit and forward. Keep in mind that sending a message to one person can eventually be viewed by many other unintended parties. Always double-check the recipient line before sending an email. Auto fill features make it easy to send to the wrong person.

As a rule, it’s a good idea to never put anything in writing that a reasonable person would consider to be confidential or dangerous. If your situation dictates you email such information, try to word your message in as factual and balanced a way as possible. As you write, imagine that the person you’re writing about eventually sees your message. Stick to facts, not opinions.

6. Practice the 24-hour rule when you’re upset.
It’s never a good idea to send an email when you’re angry. We’ve all been guilty of this. In the heat of the moment, we type up a literary bombast. A message that will reduce the recipient to mush. We even reread it, and we’re actually proud at how powerful the wording is. We imagine the recipient opening and cringing as he/she reads it. Then we send it.

Later, when we’ve calmed down, we revisit the message and realize that we dramatically overreacted. At that point, it’s too late to do anything except apologize and try to mend fences.

If you compose an email in anger, wait a predetermined period of time before sending it – say 24 hours. If your emotions are legit, your issue will still be there tomorrow. In most cases, you’ll be glad you waited and toned things down after you’ve gain the perspective that comes with time.

7. Avoid sh-cuts and abbr. in biz email msgs.
Anyone with a teenager knows you practically need a CIA decoder chart to understand the abbreviations and shortcuts that are popular in email, pagers, text messages, and instant messages. These cutesy short cuts and misspellings are ill advised in a corporate context, no matter if your customer is external or internal. Even common shortcuts like LOL (laughing out loud), BRB (be right back), 2 (to) and u r (you are) are too casual for most business communication. What’s hip to one sender can be read as flip and disrespectful by another. Since a casual message to a co-worker could easily be forwarded, it’s best to practice a high level of professionalism regardless to whom you're writing.

As you automate and move support operations online, you have to instill customers with confidence that their issues will continue to be resolved quickly, accurately, and professionally. Using these tips will help you communicate effectively.

About the author
David Friedman is the vice president and general manager of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training headquartered in St. Louis, MO. He can be reached at (314) 291-1012 or www.telephonedoctor.com.