A key characteristic of a successful remote worker is being an effective communicator. And sometimes, the only method of communication among remote teams and their clients is through email. Therefore, it’s crucial to have excellent email communication skills and get your points clearly through writing since you can’t have in-person conversations to explain your message. It’s helpful that Google has added a “Smart Reply” feature to Inbox by Gmail, which allows senders to choose quick, auto-generated responses. However, quick and casual responses aren’t always appropriate and can be detrimental to professional emails.
Heed these 10 tips to up your email game and get your message across, especially in the virtual workspace where one wrong reply could lead to miscommunication.
1. Keep subject titles specific and in title case form.
Make sure that your subject line gets to the point instead of just writing “Hello” since inboxes get clogged by hundreds of e-mails a day. You want them to notice your email and read it so your title has to be reasonably simple and descriptive. Also, don’t forget to proofread it as you would for the rest of the e-mail.
2. Use proper greeting and salutation.
Always begin your email with a proper and respectful salutation, such as “Good morning,” “Hello,” or “Greetings” to make it more professional. Avoid starting your message with a casual “Hi” or “Hey” unless it’s only for the perusal of colleagues whom you’re friendly with.
3. Get to the point.
The golden tip: keep it short and simple. Brevity is the key to making your emails easier to read and understand. This is especially important since clients often read and reply to emails via mobile phones, and a longer email means it will take them longer to scroll down. Feel free to follow these simple tips as well to avoid your email getting moved into the Trash folder:
Always use bullet points to organize information or present different points.
Use lots of white space so as to not overwhelm the recipient.
State your purpose within the first two sentences so the person reading it will quickly figure out the gist of the email.
4. Watch your words and style.
When you’re writing a professional email, you need to be mindful of how you present every word on the message. Remember these key points:
Don’t use ALL CAPS as they may indicate yelling.
Be careful when using exclamation marks (!!!) Keep them to a minimum and only use them on positive statements.
Also, be mindful of using colors or highlights, as well as Italic and underline.
Blinking icons and emoticons are also inappropriate and unprofessional.
5. Proofread.
You might have kept your email short and sweet, but if it has bad grammar and lots of spelling mistakes, no one would really bother reading it. Likewise, it’s also annoying to read and your reputation could be at stake. Your recipient may not take the message seriously or even mistake it as spam. Always read your email at least twice before sending it to check for any misspelled words, punctuation errors, and other careless email mistakes that you could’ve avoided if you’ve reviewed your message first before sending it.
6. Ditch the jargon.
Using acronyms, jargon, slang, or shortcuts can confuse your recipients and is not acceptable in business-related emails. Write in simple language and use layman’s terms to get your point across. Those acronyms and jargon might be allowed on the occasional internal email, but any emails for clients should be written in a language that’s easy to understand. That way, there won’t be a need for any follow-up emails to explain what you really meant to say.
7. Use one thread for each subject.
Subject titles should not only be specific but should also match the discussion in the thread. When a thread topic changes, don’t hesitate to change the subject to make it appropriate with the content. This will help make your emails highly searchable among hundreds of emails your co-workers are receiving every day. Never ever open an old email and hit Reply to discuss a different topic just because it has the same recipients, or you just feel like it.
8. Summarize threads.
When forwarding a long thread or a message with attachments, don’t just send it out as is. Always include a summary to save the recipient some time so they can respond to you faster.
9. Learn how to CC and BCC properly.
The carbon copy (CC) and blind carbon copy (BCC) features in the email aren’t just there as ornaments. These tools might be tricky to use, but they are helpful if used properly and appropriately. Make sure to take the time to send your messages to the right people and truly think about how it will be important to others.
Remember:
Using Cc - This line is for recipients who need to be in the loop on a particular communication. You can include here someone that might need the information you sent in your email, or you think they can add something valuable to the conversation. If you are Cc’d in an email, you can read and archive, but often there’s no action necessary.
Using Bcc - This tool allows you to quietly keep someone in an email conversation, or protect their email from a large group of recipients.
10. Know when you should hit the ‘Reply All’ button.
Before hitting the “Reply All” button after receiving an email with many recipients, simply ask yourself: “Does everyone need to see my reply or just the sender?” Unless you’re positive that the entire team needs to have the information you’ll be adding to the thread, don’t hit “reply all” and waste everyone’s time. Also, if the thread has gone long enough, it might be easier to create a new thread with a different subject and a different set of recipients.