By Whitney Thweatt, Account Manager
With so many emails flooding our inboxes each day, it’s important to follow some email etiquette to keep our communications meaningful for the reader. Before you hit “send” next, check out this list of 5 Tips to Avoid Being an Email Offender.
1.) Acknowledge receipt. If you were having a conversation with someone and they handed you a report along with an assignment, would you say “I’ll take care of this” or “I’ll review and let you know if I have questions” or a similar response? Practice this same conversation with email. Acknowledge receipt so the sender knows the email has been received and read. If the email requires follow-up before you can provide an answer, indicate such. An exception to this is if the sender includes “No Reply Necessary.”
2.) Respond to the entire email. Have you ever sent an email that included multiple questions, only to receive a response stating “yes”? If an email asks several questions, be sure to respond to each one.
3. ) Monitor your use of reply all. Do not use reply all when only the sender needs your response, but only if all recipients would benefit from the response. Avoid generic responses such as “thanks” or “me too” via reply all.
4.) Get to the point. Keep emails brief and to the point. State the purpose of the email within the first two sentences. Consider using bulleted lists instead of lengthy text.
5.) Use a clear subject line. Make your email stand out in the clutter by including a subject line that gets to the point. Ensure that the subject line matches the subject.
For a fun look into the “culture” of email, click here to watch “Email in Real Life.”
What are the common email offenses you see? Share in the comments below!
Want to know more about association management? Contact us info@imiae.com to find out more about what IMI Association Executives can do for your organization.