I love e-mail. I’m pretty sure my productivity would tank if e-mail wasn’t available to help me streamline the way I work. In fact, almost everyone I know uses e-mail – clients, colleagues, family, friends – so it’s easy for me to make it my primary mode of communication.
我喜欢电子邮件。 我很确定,如果没有电子邮件可以帮助我简化工作方式,我的工作效率将会下降。 实际上,我认识的几乎每个人都使用电子邮件-客户,同事,家人,朋友-因此对我来说,使其成为我的主要沟通方式非常容易。
However, just because e-mail is quick, easy and more informal than a phone call or face-to-face meeting does not mean your e-mail communication should be completely relaxed. If you want to support your reputation as a professional, you should follow general business writing guidelines with all of your written communication, e-mail included.
但是,仅仅因为电子邮件比电话或面对面的会议更加快速,简便和非正式,并不意味着您的电子邮件通信应该完全放松。 如果您想证明自己的专业声誉,则应遵循一般的商业写作指南,并在其中包含所有书面交流信息,包括电子邮件。
Here are some of the biggest mistakes I’ve come across in e-mails…how many do you make?
这是我在电子邮件中遇到的一些最大的错误……您犯了多少错误?
Your e-mail goes on and on…and on.
您的电子邮件持续不断……等等。
If your message is more than a screen length and takes more than a couple of minutes to read and digest, it’s probably too long. Try sticking with only one subject per e-mail, and when you do need to include more information, use bolded subheads so the most important details are clear.
如果您的消息超出屏幕长度,并且需要花费几分钟以上的时间来阅读和摘要,则可能太长了。 尝试每封电子邮件仅保留一个主题,当您确实需要包含更多信息时,请使用粗体显示的副标题,以便使最重要的细节清晰可见。
Your subject line isn’t descriptive of the message content.
您的主题行不能描述邮件的内容。
I feel tricked when I open a message from a client that says URGENT in the subject and is marked high priority only to find a minimal non-urgent issue. Write your subject so it explains what the message is about. The recipient should be able to just read the subject and have an idea what’s in the body, how important it is and when they will need to act on it.
当我打开一个来自客户的消息,说主题很紧急,被标记为高优先级,只是为了找到最小的非紧急问题时,我感到很困惑。 写您的主题,以便它解释该消息的含义。 接收者应该能够阅读主题并了解体内的内容,重要性以及何时需要采取行动。
You don’t provide any contact information.
您不提供任何联系信息。
I can’t tell you how many e-mails I receive that are signed by a Jim, Sue or Bob with no other identifying information. And on top of that, many times the e-mail addresses used are through free accounts, so there’s no way to track down who exactly sent the message (see the next point for more on this). All initial communication should include your e-mail signature, which typically provides your full name, company, and URL at a minimum. A phone number, title and restating your e-mail address doesn’t hurt either.
我无法告诉您我收到了多少封由Jim,Sue或Bob签名的电子邮件,没有其他识别信息。 最重要的是,很多时候所使用的电子邮件地址都是通过免费帐户发送的,因此无法跟踪确切发送邮件的人(有关更多信息,请参阅下一点)。 所有初始通信应包括您的电子邮件签名,该签名通常至少提供您的全名,公司和URL。 电话号码,标题和重申您的电子邮件地址也不会受到损害。
You use a non-professional address for business communication.
您使用非专业地址进行业务交流。
Gmail is popular. It’s free, it provides easy mobile access, you get lots of storage, and everyone uses it. I understand that. But for me, getting a business related e-mail from a sexybabe756 address is a big business faux pas. Ideally, you should be using a business address (i.e., yourname@yourbusinessdomain.com) for business e-mail. If that’s not a possibility, create a free address that won’t hurt your professionalism and still makes a good first impression.
Gmail很受欢迎。 它是免费的,它提供了便捷的移动访问,您拥有大量存储空间,每个人都可以使用它。 我明白那个。 但是对我而言,从sexybabe756地址获取与业务相关的电子邮件是一件大事。 理想情况下,您应该使用公司地址(即yourname@yourbusinessdomain.com)接收公司电子邮件。 如果没有这种可能,请创建一个免费的地址,该地址不会损害您的专业素养,并且仍会给您留下良好的第一印象。
There are numerous spelling errors.
有许多拼写错误。
Spell checking is easy. Make it a default setting in your e-mail client to check all messages before you send them. Yes, e-mail is more informal and there is a little more leniency with spelling and grammatical errors, but it looks awful to send a message riddled with errors. And please, save the trendy abbreviations (thx, plz, u) for Twitter or text messages.
拼写检查很容易。 将其设置为电子邮件客户端的默认设置,以便在发送之前检查所有消息。 是的,电子邮件更加非正式,并且对拼写和语法错误的处理更加宽容,但是发送充满错误的消息看起来很糟糕。 并且,请保存用于Twitter或短信的时尚缩写(thx,plz,u)。
The tone of your message is questionable.
您的信息语气令人怀疑。
Some conversations are not meant to be conducted via e-mail because it’s not always easy to convey a certain tone in e-mail like it is in verbal communication. Being terse, criticizing, or even a failed attempt at a joke can make the recipient feel attacked and disrespected. If your message tone is a little rough (re-read it to make sure), or even just comes off that way to the recipient, you’re probably better of picking up the phone. And it’s never a good idea to send a message written in the heat of the moment when your anger may be at full boil. Take some time to cool off before hitting send.
某些对话并不是要通过电子邮件进行的,因为在语音中传达某种语气并不总是那么容易,就像通过口头交流一样。 简洁,批评甚至开玩笑的尝试失败都会使接受者感到被攻击和不尊重。 如果您的留言音有些粗糙(请重新阅读以确保内容),或者只是以这种方式发送给收件人,则最好拿起电话。 当愤怒情绪高涨之时,发送热烈的信息永远不是一个好主意。 在发送之前,请花一些时间冷静一下。
I admit, I tend to be a little too verbose in some of my messages. I’ve found that going away from the e-mail for a little while and then coming back, re-reading and editing is extremely helpful. Now it’s your turn…how many of these mistakes are you guilty of?
我承认,我在某些信息中倾向于太冗长。 我发现离开电子邮件一小会儿再返回,重新阅读和编辑非常有帮助。 现在轮到您了……您犯了多少这些错误?
Image credit: Salman Rana
图片来源: Salman Rana