E-mail has changed the way that we communicate in business. It has helped us connect on the fly, produce faster results, and make us want to pull our hair out at times. It’s easy to send a quick e-mail, but if you’re not organized it can become the one thing you dread seeing when you come to work in the morning.

Our last blog touched on time management and e-mail can be, if not is, the most time consuming task a person deals with on a daily basis. Take a couple words of advice on e-mail etiquette from our e-mail master and President, Cindy Koebele, and you’ll be e-mailing like a champ while saving time in your day:

  • Respond.
    • Clients, friends, and family want quick and to-the-point responses. If you find yourself writing a trilogy in your e-mail it may just be best to pick up the phone and have a quick phone conversation.
  • Organize.
    • Creating folders for your e-mails will save you from headaches in the future! You’ll be able to quickly reference an old e-mail because it’s not buried in a mile long list of old e-mails.
  • Touch it once.
    • Do not read the email until it can be dealt with. When you read the email, you must to be able to immediately do one of these 3 things: answer it, forward it or delete it.  Otherwise leave it for later and do not spend time reading and re-reading it again and again.  This consumes too much time.
  • Be careful of your tone.
    • E-mails can be easily misconstrued, so adding in simple things such as an exclamation point or a smiley face can eliminate doubt as to how you’re meaning to say the words in your e-mail.
  • Keep subject lines simple.
    • Your subject line should reflect what you are talking about and should include action words if needed. Ex. Action Needed, FYI, Quick Question, etc.
  • Using CC or BCC and reply to all only when necessary.
    • Make sure you are copying in those that need your information or those that need to give approval on a request.
  • Contact information.
    • Make sure your contact information is on every e-mail and reply as to make it easier for your recipient to contact you if need be.

E-mailing should be easy and not cause more stress in your day.