1. Do you need to send this email?

So often people will send an email when a simple phone call or instant message (IM) will suffice. To be clear, IM doesn’t mean a phone message such as sms, WhatsApp, Messenger, etc, it means using the instant messaging software on your computer. For example, if your company uses Microsoft then Teams is the messaging platform. Other organisations might use Slack or Google Chat.

If you have an informal question, such as “when will the cost report be ready?” that can go on an IM. You don’t need to clog up someone’s inbox with that in an email. You waste your time and theirs.

2. Use the “To” and “CC” fields correctly.

Emails can be sent to recipients using the “To”, “CC” and “BCC” fields. The rule is really simple: if the person has an action in the email put them in the “To” field. If the person is being sent the email for information only, put them in the “CC” field. This helps when the person on the other end wants to prioritise their email, especially if they have set up rules in Outlook.

BCC is obviously for when you don’t want others to know that Person X has been copied in. If you’re sending a mass email and want to keep peoples’ email addresses private then the BCC field is the best way to do that. However, if you find you’re BCCing in other people so that they can spy on the conversation without the formal recipient knowing then this can be a risky move. If you find yourself using BCC for reasons other than email address privacy, it is worth taking pause and wondering if there is a better way to handle the situation.

3. Use the “Subject” field effectively

All emails should have a subject that clearly states the content of the email so that the recipient can quickly see if it’s an email they want to read and so that they can easily distinguish it from the scores of other emails.

Poor subject lines:

“Meeting Agenda”

“Joe’s Pizza Brief”

Good subject lines:

“Meeting Agenda – FY22 Operations Budget First Pass”

“Joe’s Pizza – 2022 Television Marketing Brief”

4. Make the intent of the email clear

Far too often people send emails and aren’t explicit about the intent of the email. If the purpose is to keep people up to date, then state this at the beginning.

“Hi David,

I just wanted to give you a quick update on X. No action is required at this time.”

5. Provide an email summary at the beginning or bold the important parts

Sometimes we do need to send long and detailed emails to people. (Hint: this probably isn’t as often as you think it is). If you find yourself writing an email that has to be more than a couple of paragraphs, either provide a two or three sentence summary at the beginning of the email, making sure that you’ve clearly identified this as a summary, or in each paragraph identify the important point in bold (no more than a sentence per paragraph).

Do not use highlight to identify the important parts because the default highlighter colours are intense and offensive to the eyes. Same goes for using bold red text or combining bold red text and highlight. No-one wants to read emails with this sort of formatting. It feels like you’re being yelled at and makes the author look like a tone-deaf drama queen.

6. Make it clear when people have actions

It is frustrating to receive an email and suspect that you’re being asked to do something but you’re not sure. Sending ambiguous emails wastes peoples’ time. If you don’t have the courtesy or the courage to give people an explicit call to action they are likely to ignore your email, which then impacts you if you need their input to complete what it is you’re doing.

If you expect people to take action after reading your email, do them the courtesy of stating what action you expect people to take. If your email is to one person with an action then just state the action.

“Hi Mary,

I just had a meeting with Shelley and she asked if you could include the sales data for August in the presentation, please. Thanks.”

If there are several people in the “To” line (i.e. you expect several people to take action) then call this out using the “@” operator. Software is increasingly adding productivity improvement AI and often writing @JamesSmith ion the body of the email will result in the software automatically pulling James Smith’s details out of the global directory and automatically add it to his To Do list (depending on how James has his productivity tools set up). At the very worst, writing @JamesSmith and making it bold will catch James’ attention.

“Hi Everyone,

Further to our meeting this afternoon, I have recorded the following actions:

@JamesSmith Update the risk register to include the supply chain delays for the gearboxes.

@MaryJones Advise the availability and lead time for the alternative gearbox supplier.

@ChrisWatson Confirm if the alternative gearbox meets the company technical specifications.

If you could confirm the outcomes by COB today that would be great. Thanks.”

7. Learn to use “Reply All” appropriately

If you want to waste peoples’ time, insist on acknowledging receipt of an email with “Reply All”. I have received hundreds, if not thousands, of emails that say “Thanks, John” because someone has hit “Reply All” instead of “Reply”. You don’t need to tell everyone else that you have received John’s email.

8. Sleep on your tantygram before you send it

Tantygrams are what I call emails where people let their emotions get in the way of the message. They throw their toys out of the pram like a baby having a tantrum. We have all been the recipient of an email that has really got our nose out of joint. Whether our indignation is justified or not, it is always tempting to send a reply that sets the record straight with a mic drop at the end.

I strongly advise that you never, ever send an email when in a heightened state of negative emotion, such as anger, indignation, sadness, disappointment, etc. This inevitably leads to regret and once the email is sent the damage is done. Recalling emails doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter what provoked your tantygram, it is only going to look bad for you. People aren’t stupid, they can see if someone else “started it”. But they’ll also be looking to see how you choose to engage.

If someone has pissed you off, writing the email can absolutely be cathartic. You can clarify your thoughts and sometimes the simple process of writing the email makes you realise that you are overreacting. If you insist on writing a draft tantygram then make sure you do it with the address fields EMPTY. You don’t want to accidently send a half-written tantygram. Ideally, you don’t want to send it at all. You lose control of an email the moment you click send, which means you have absolutely zero influence over or knowledge of whose inbox your email might find its way into.

If you are someone who can calm down quickly that’s terrific. Draft your tantygram, partake in a circuit breaker activity such as going for a walk, getting a drink or going to the bathroom, come back and click delete it. If you it takes you longer to calm down, save the tantygram in your Drafts folder, sleep on it and then when you get to work the next morning click Delete.

If you have slept on it and you are convinced that there are issues in the original email that definitely need to be addressed, start a new response email and take the tanty out of it. Stick to the facts and don’t give yourself a reason to become water cooler gossip fodder or find yourself in the crosshairs of HR. Better still, don’t send an email at all and go and speak to the other person first. If you can resolve the issues in person then your reply email will have such a different tone and show you to be the more mature party.

9. Tantygrams don’t need audiences

Hopefully, you’ve followed the advice in Tip #6 and have deleted your tantygram. If, for the love of God, you cannot bring yourself to build a bridge and move on, don’t copy every man and his dog into the tantygram, especially your boss and/or their boss. This NEVER plays out in reality the same way that it does in your head. Regardless of whether you are technically in the right, you will always look like a juvenile idiot and this will likely come back to bite you. Save yourself the trouble and delete the tantygram in the first place.

This a long list but it isn’t exhaustive. These are all really simple tips that you can use immediately and require almost zero effort to do. The payoff will be immediate as you will instantly improve the effectiveness of your communication. Once people realise that your emails make their life easier, not harder, they will read them and action them faster. You’ll get your work done more quickly and people will notice this as a point of differentiation from your peers. That’s the Career Advantage.

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