Writing Effective E-mail

 Write a meaningful subject line.

Recipients scan the subject line in order to decide whether to open, forward, file, or trash a message. Remember -- your message is not the only one in your recipient's mailbox.

	Subject: "Important! Read Immediately!!"
	What is important to you may not be important to your reader. Rather than brashly announcing that the secret contents of your message are important, write an informative headline that actually communicates at least the core of what you feel is so important: "Emergency: All Cars in the Lower Lot Will Be Towed in 1 Hour." [I have my e-mail filter set to trash e-mail messages with more than one exclamation mark in the subject line. Anyone who shouts at me is being abusive, trying to sell me something, or both. --DGJ]
	Subject: "Meeting"
	The purpose of this e-mail might be a routine request for a meeting, an announcement of a last-minute rescheduling, or a summary of something that has already happened. There's no way to know without opening the message, so this subject line is hardly useful.
	Subject: "Follow-up about Meeting"
	Fractionally better -- provided that the recipient recognizes your name and remembers why a follow-up was necessary.
	Subject: "Do we need a larger room for meeting next Fri?"
	Upon reading this revised, informative subject line, the recipient immediately starts thinking about the size of the room, not about whether it will be worth it to open the e-mail.

My e-mail accounts get dozens of virus-bearing junk mails each day, often bearing a vague title such as "That file you requested," or no title at all. You'll get a faster response if your recipient can tell from the subject line that it's a real message from a real person.

2. Keep the message focused and readable. 

Often recipients only read partway through a long message, hit "reply" as soon as they have something to contribute, and forget to keep reading. This is part of human nature.

If your e-mail contains multiple messages that are only loosely related, in order to avoid the risk that your reader will reply only to the first item that grabs his or her fancy, you could number your points to ensure they are all read (adding an introductory line that states how many parts there are to the message). If the points are substantial enough, split them up into separate messages so your recipient can delete, respond, file, or forward each item individually.

Keep your message readable.

• Use standard capitalization and spelling, especially when your message asks your recipient to do work for you. If you are a teenager, writing a quick gushing "thx 4 ur help 2day ur gr8" may make a busy professional smile at your gratitude... but there comes a time when the sweetness of the gesture isn't enough. i dont think u want ur prof r ur boss 2 think u cant typ LOL ;-)
• Skip lines between paragraphs.
• Avoid fancy typefaces. Don't depend upon bold font or large size to add nuances -- many people's e-mail readers only display plain text. In a pinch, use asterisks to show *emphasis*.
• Don't type in all-caps. Online, all-caps means shouting. Regardless of your intention, people will react as if you meant to be aggressive.

3. Avoid attachments. 

Put your information the the body of your e-mail whenever possible. Attachments

• are increasingly dangerous carriers of viruses
• take time to download
• take up needless space on your recipient's computer, and 
• don't always translate correctly (especially for people who might read their e-mail on portable devices).

Instead of sending a whole word processor file, just copy and paste the relevant text into the e-mail (unless of course your recipient actually needs to view file in order to edit or archive it).

[I'm annoyed when people send bulk e-mails with attached pdf or Word documents that contain nothing more than a few paragraphs of ordinary text. I'd much rather get a plain text message, with a link to where I can download the full version if I want to enjoy all the colors and typefaces. Sending a 1MB attachment to hundreds or thousands of employees is a huge waste of digital resources. -- DGJ]