Writing Impactful Emails Presentation
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Transcript of Writing Impactful Emails Presentation
Email Guidelines for BusinessCisco Financial – April 4, 2011
Presented by: UNR, Extended Studies & Empower Consulting Group
Course Objectives• Identify best practices
– How email works– Email etiquette
• Sending, Formatting, Attachments,• To, From, CC,BCC, Subject Line• Forwarding
• Implement best practices– Crafting your email message– Perception, Privacy, Copyright
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How Email Works
Courtesy of How Stuff Works
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Why Email Etiquette?• Professionalism
– Proper language conveys a professional image– A pleasure to do business with
• Efficiency– Well thought out, well written– State the purpose and need– Get to the point– Be clear
• Protection from liability– Legal record www.go2ecg.com
Basic Guidelines• To• CC
– Confusion– Think it through
• BCC– Mail merge vs. Spam
• No blank subject lines• “Reply to all”• Forwarding
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More Basics• Feedback
– Acknowledge receipt• Embarrassing emails• Attachment file sizes
– Some restrictions
– Keeping attachments outside of the
email – hard drive, network
– Video and photo files add up
– The receiver’s connection speed
• Shorthand, acronyms, emoticons
• Delivery and read receipts
• “High Priority”• Disclaimers• Know when to pick up
the phone
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Content Is King Building Relationships & The Brand
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How Would You Respond In Person?• Business letter courtesy
– Greeting, Closing– Name
• Be concise and to the point• Make it personal
– Put yourself in their shoes– What’s the intent of the message
• Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions– What’s the next question
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Content & Creation Tips• Use proper structure and layout
– Long, wordy sentences– Complete
• Use active vs. passive voice– Language– Choose your words wisely– Gender neutral
• Grammar and writing count– Use spell check– Punctuation
• If you think it offends it does• Read the email before you send it• The message thread
• Relevance and edits• Use a meaningful subject• Urgent and important
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Simple Rules• Answer swiftly
– What’s swiftly – 24 hours, same day• YELLING = Count to 10• Spam, attachments and unnecessary files
– Ask first• Substance over style
– Formatting– Take care with rich text and HTML messages
• Recalling a message• Templates www.go2ecg.com
Perception, Privacy, Copyright• Your email is not private
– Monitoring• A record = “owned”• Confidential information• Signature block (5-6)• Copying a message or attachment without
permission• Embarrassing emails• Misunderstandings
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PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER
“There are four ways, and only four ways in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by
these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say and how we say it.”-Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) American Educator
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Summary & Take Away
What I learned . . .
The action I will take is . . .
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Thank You.
Liz Christoffersen775.853.2530
Skype: ecgllcWebsite: http://www.go2ecg.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/go2ecgTwitter: http://twitter.com/go2ecg
