Best Practices For Email In The Workplace Part I
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When it comes to email in the workplace, you should pay attention to two things. That is, what does it look like and what does it say. The ‘what does it look like’ is formatting, design, etc. While the ‘what does it say’ is concerned with the content of the message.
You may not think that the appearance of an email has any impact, when in fact it can affect the efficacy of your message. With this in mind, here are some simple best practices to follow to ensure the look of your emails do not negatively influence their effectiveness:
- Keep emails short and to the point. When a recipient opens your email and at first glance sees a long-winded message, it may actually prevent them from reading it.
- Avoid typing in all uppercase letters. Typing in all UPPERCASE is the equivalent of yelling. Instead, stick with the basic rule of basic sentence casing.
- Do not leave the subject field blank. Include a subject line that gives the recipient some idea about the content. Otherwise, it may be ignored or end up in a spam folder. Also, since many people use the subject line as a means of organizing in coming messages, it ensures your message gets placed in the correct folder.
- Avoid fancy backgrounds. Not only do they increase the size of messages, but they can also take a lot of time to download.
- Avoid using text that is colored, bolded, etc. Save the fancy colors and fonts for friends and family. These types of formatting are considered inappropriate in formal messages. For workplace emails, stick with plain text.
By following these simple practices, your message will be properly formatted for the workplace and you can turn your attention to the actual content of the message.
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One Comment
Frank Schnyder
March 6th, 2009
at 3:21pm
Actually, colored text can be highly benficial in communication. My boss forwards emails all the time with parts bolded and colored red when he wants a policy or procedure clear. I find it very helpful.
I think plain text emails (which usually default to Courier New font) look archaic. Nothing’s wrong with Arial or Times New Roman if used conservatively and one doesn’t go crazy with the colors/sizes.
I do agree about the background. When somone has one of those themed stationaries, Outlook 2002 lists the background .gif as an attachment. In my Inbox, it looks like people sent one when they didn’t.