The Who, What & Why of E-mail
Communication
Facilitated by:
Marcela Ciampa M.A, B.Ed
Manager, Employee Engagement & Development
2016
Employee Engagement & Development
Department of Human Resources
The Who, What and Why
of E-Mail Communication
March 9, 2016
Agenda
•
•
•
•
•
Welcome
E-mail at Work
Writing Effective E-mails
Misuse of reply to all, high priority, cc, bcc.
Wrap-up
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
1
E-mail in the Workplace
• E-mail is a business tool.
• Employees are expected to be respectful and
professional in all e-mail communication.
• There is no room in the workplace for e-mails
that offend others and/or that have defamatory,
offensive, racist or obscene remarks.
• All workplace laws/policies apply to e-mail
communication.
Writing Effective E-mails
Don’t over
communicate
by e-mail
Make good
use of subject
lines
Keep
messages
clear and brief
Be polite
Check your
tone
Proofread
before
sending
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
2
• Before writing an e-mail ask yourself – is this necessary?
Is e-mail the best way to convey the message?
• Don’t use e-mail if
– Back and forth discussion is needed
– It involves highly sensitive and confidential
information
– You are delivering bad news
– Your message is emotionally charged or the tone
could be easily misconstrued
• A subject line “grabs attention” and summarizes the email to the reader
• Blank subject lines are more likely to be overlooked or
rejected as “spam”
• If a message is time sensitive include a date in the
subject line – “Please reply by March 24”.
• A well written subject line delivers the most important
information without the recipient having to open it
• Subject lines such as “Question” or “FYI” are not effective
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
3
Subject line - Use “EOM” sparingly
• If you have a short message to convey
• EOM (End of Message) conveys to recipients
that there is no need to open the e-mail
• More appropriate within teams
Example
• Subject: Could you please send the February
donor report? Thank you. EOM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Know your purpose
Use the “one thing” rule
Use a standard structure
Use short words, sentences and paragraphs
Keep it professional
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
4
1 - Know Your Purpose
• Clear e-mails have a clear purpose
• Ask yourself:
– Why am I sending this e-mail?
– What do I need from the recipient?
– Is this e-mail really necessary?
2 - Use the “One thing rule”
• The less information you include in an e-mail the
better
• Make each e-mail you send about one thing only
• If you need to communicate on a variety of
items, send separate e-mails
• If this is not possible organize the information
into paragraphs (chunking) and use headings
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
5
3 - Use a standard structure
•
•
•
•
•
•
Greeting
A compliment or pleasantry
The reason for your e-mail
A call to action/outcome
A closing message
Signature
Standard Structure
Greeting
• Formal or informal
based on “who”
Example:
Hi (first name)
Everyone
Dear Dr. Blue
Compliment or pleasantry
• Compliment – when you are
e-mailing someone for the
first time
– “I enjoyed your presentation
about….”
– “It was good to meet you at…”
• Pleasantry – when e-mailing
someone you know
– “I hope you are well”
– “Thank you for sending me…..”
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
6
Standard Structure
Reason for Your E-mail
• “I am emailing to ask about…”
• “I wondered if you could help with….”
Call to Action/Outcome
• After you explain the reason for the e-mail,
context, don’t assume the recipient will know
what to do.
• Provide specific instructions:
– Could you send me those files by Thursday?”
– “Let me know if this is okay with you…”
Standard Structure
Closing
• Dual purpose:
– Reiterating the call to action
– Making the recipient feel good
• Examples:
– Thank you for your help with this”, “I am looking forward
to hearing what you think”, “Let me know if you have any
questions”
Sign-off
• Examples: Best wishes, Kind regards, All the best, Thank
you
• Follow the sign off with your name
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
7
4 - Use short words, sentences and
paragraphs
• Miscommunication can occur if the e-mail is
unclear, disorganized or too complex for the
readers to follow
• Format your message so that it is easy to read
– Use white space to visually separate paragraphs into
separate blocks of text
– Use headings, numbers and bullets to enhance
readability/highlight important information
– Use bold face type to highlight critical information
5 - Keep it professional
• Don’t use emoticons, chat abbreviations or
colourful fonts and backgrounds
• Careful with the use of pictures
• Have a professional signature
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
8
• The messages that you send are a reflection of
your professionalism, values, attention to detail
• Don’t write anything that you would not want to
see on a billboard with your name
• Practice empathy
• Be polite when making requests
• Remember to include a polite opening, pleasantry
& closing
• Beware of capitalization
Use positive language
Negative phrasing and language:
• Tells the recipient what cannot be done
• Has a subtle tone of blame
• Does not reinforce positive actions that would be
appropriate
Positive phrasing and language:
• Tells the recipient what can be done
• Suggests alternatives and choices available to the
recipient
• Sounds helpful and encouraging
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
9
Example
• You did not send us the financial report
therefore we can’t process any outstanding
invoices.
• If you can send us the financial report, we can
take care of any outstanding invoices.
Activity
Practice Empathy
• Empathy is the ability to see the world through
another person’s eyes
• When writing e-mails think about your words
from the readers’ perspective
• Ask yourself:
– How would I interpret this sentence as someone
reading it?
– How would this make me feel if I received it?
• Most people appreciate a compliment and like to
be thanked
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
10
Positive Language
Re-write the following statements using more positive language
1. You failed to include a detailed list of your proposed staffing costs in your funding proposal.
2. You claim that you sent us your outstanding assignment but to date we have not yet received it.
3. We cannot see how the activities that I highlighted in the attached document fit within the
project guidelines.
4. We must receive a copy of all your receipts with the travel reimbursement report in order for us
to process it.
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
11
Making requests
• It is good practice to use a modal or
conditional construction such as “Could you”
or “Would you”
– Could you please fill out this form as we require it
urgently
– It is urgent that you fill this form and return it
promptly
Capitalization
• Capitalize the first letter in the beginning word of
a sentence.
• Not appropriate to use all lowercase as a show
of informality
• Avoid shouting. Using all uppercase can appear
abrasive even if only intended to emphasize a
point. It is also hard to read
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
12
• When we meet people face to face we use the other
person’s body language, vocal tone and facial
expressions to assess how they feel.
• Tone comes from the words that you select, how you
structure your sentences, punctuation and capitalization.
– You could come across as condescending, arrogant,
threatening, rude, etc.
• Be aware of who the reader is, their position and their
relationship to you – it will impact how you address
them, tone.
Tone
• Sarcasm and jokes are “dangerous” – if
something “gets lost in the translation” you risk
offending the reader
• Think about how your email “feels” emotionally
• If your intentions or emotions could be
misunderstood find a different way to convey the
message
• If you would not say something to a person’s
face. Don’t say it in an email
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
13
Activity
• Be polite & check your tone
Remember….
• Use words carefully – avoid “flaming”
– If you can't be nice, wait.
– It's never appropriate to lose your cool in e-mail
• Select the appropriate greeting and closing
• Include a compliment, pleasantry
• Acknowledge the work of others
• Remember to be polite when making requests
• Thank the reader
• If you are pointing out mistakes explain why
actions/behaviours, etc. are problematic
• Don’t yell at people (caps., font, colour, etc.)
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
14
Be Polite, Check for Tone
Activity
For the e-mail assigned to your group:
•
•
•
Determine the tone of the e-mail. What words, phrases or components of the e-mail
suggest that tone?
If you were the recipient, how would you react
What changes could you make to the e-mail to get the message across and address the
tone issues?
E-mail A
Patrick:
Are you going to send me your portion of the report for the Sunshine Project? This is OVERDUE.
I must receive it by 1:00 pm TODAY so I can get my portion of the report done by the deadline
given by the Sunshine Manager.
If I don’t receive it I will let them know that I CANNOT get the report completed because of you.
Thank you
Pam
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
15
E-mail B
Everyone:
I am pleased to inform you that in order to address the security concerns the locks of the doors
to our offices have been changed and effective IMMEDIATELY the doors will be locked during
office hours.
You must do the following:
•
•
•
•
DO NOT leave the new keys unattended
DO NOT unlock the doors if you leave the office because you do not want to carry your
keys
DO NOT prop the doors open
DO NOT lend your keys to students or temporary staff
If you lose your keys it is mandatory that you report the incident within 5 hours to Campus
Police
If you have any questions, please come see me
Thank you for your cooperation
Ursula
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
16
E-Mail C
Mary
I reviewed your request and I will agree to providing the retirees that belong to your group with
a membership pass to the Athletic Facilities with no expiration date but this new pass will then
only allow the retirees to use the facilities from 7:00 am to 12:00 noon and they will not have
extended privileges to use the recreational programming.
In other words, members of your group will NO longer be allowed into the recreational classes.
Currently they are allowed because of the present membership arrangements.
So if you want the membership pass for your group members NOT to expire…… I will agree,
however let me be clear that the retirees will have to purchase an additional pass to access the
recreational activities which would have an expiry date of one year.
Let me know how you want to proceed.
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
17
• Review your e-mail for spelling, grammar and
punctuation mistakes
• Make sure your e-mails are as short as possible
• Ask yourself:
– Is my request clear?
– Could there be any misunderstandings?
– How would this sound if I was the recipient?
• Delete any unnecessary words, sentences and
paragraphs
• Use your spell checker – but don’t just rely on it
• Re-read your e-mail before you send it
– Sometimes our fingers can’t keep up with our brain
and we may miss words
– Ensure you are following e-mail etiquette
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
18
Misuse of….
Reply to
All
High
priority
CC
Bcc
Reply to all
• Don’t overuse “reply to all” – creates clutter
• Your default response should be to reply only to
the sender
• Before you reply to everyone make sure
everyone needs to know
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
19
“High Priority”
• Don’t overuse
• Reserved for “truly” urgent messages
• Remember if a message is very urgent – E-mail
might not be the best communication tool
Cc:
• Use sparingly
• For what purposes?
– It's mainly for people that do not need to act or
reply to the message, but to keep them informed.
– It allows you to make the receiver aware that other
people know what is going on
• Don’t “copy up” – copy someone’s supervisor as
a form of courtesy but not as a form of “coercion”
– if someone is not responding to your e-mail, try
another communication tool.
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
20
Bcc:
• Use sparingly
• Use it when:
– You don’t want everyone on the distribution list to
have other’s e-mail addresses
– Distributing something to a large group of people
• Good practice to add at the top of the email the
name of the group, position titles of recipients.
– “To Deans & Department Heads”
– “Members of the Steering Committee”
Bcc
• Avoid “devious” use of bcc.
– How would you feel when a message addressed to
you might also have reached a number of other
people, but you did not know who?
• Be aware that if the person Bcc'd clicks ‘reply
all’, then everyone else will know you’ve Bcc'd
them!
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
21
Examples of Phrases for Business e-mail
Source: www.citehr.com .Tips for Writing Effective Professional Mail PPT. With some
modifications/adaptations
Greeting

Dear Mr. Brown

Good morning Dr. White

Hello

Everyone
Compliment/Pleasantry
•
•
•
•
I enjoyed your presentation…..
It was good to see you at….
Thank you for sending me the….
I hope everything is well….
Starting

We are writing

to inform you that ...

to confirm ...

to request...

to enquire about ...

I am contacting you for the following reason.

I received your contact information from ... and would like to ...

I am writing to tell you about ...
Referring to previous contact:

Thank you for your e-mail dated March 15.

Thank you for contacting us.

In reply to your request, ...

Thank you for your e-mail regarding ...

Further to our meeting last week ...
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
22

I would just like to confirm the main points we discussed
on Tuesday.
Making a Request

We would appreciate it if you would ...

Could you please send me ...

Could you possibly tell us / let us have ...

It would be helpful if you could send us ...

I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.

Please let me know what action you propose to take.

Could you please get back to me once you have had an opportunity to look into this matter
Offering help

Would you like us to ...?

We would be happy to ...

We are quite willing to ...

Our department would be pleased to
Giving good news

We are pleased to announce that ...

I am delighted to inform you that ..

You will be pleased to learn that ...
Giving bad news

We regret to inform you that ...

I'm afraid it would not be possible to ...

Unfortunately we cannot / we are unable to ...

After careful consideration we have decided (not) to
Apologizing

We are sorry for the delay in replying to ...

I regret any inconvenience caused (by) ...

I would like to apologize for the (delay, inconvenience)...
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
23

Once again, please accept my apologies for ...
Attaching documents

I am attaching ...

Please find attached ...

You will find attached ...
Closing

If we can be of any further assistance, please let us know.

If I can help in any way, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

If you require more information ...

For further details ...

Thank you for taking this into consideration.

Thank you for your help.

We hope you are happy with this arrangement.
Referring to future contact

I look forward to seeing you next week.

Looking forward to hearing from you, ...

Looking forward to receiving your comments,

I look forward to meeting you on (date).

I would appreciate a reply at your earliest convenience.

An early reply would be appreciated.
Sign-off
•
•
•
•
•
Best wishes
Kind regards
All the best
Take care
Thank you
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
24
Resources Consulted to Develop this Session
The following articles were reviewed to develop this session:
Writing Effective E-mails – Getting People to Read and Act on Your Messages
https://www.mindtools.com
Business E-mail
http://writing.colostate.edu
Effective E-mail Communication
http://writingcenter.unc.edu
E-mail Etiquette 101
http://michaelhyatt.com
How to Write Clear and Professional Emails
http://business.tutsplus.com
Writing Effective E-mails
https://www.learning.ox.ac.uk
Don’t type at me like that
https://www.psychologytoday.com
Tone in Business Writing
https://owl.english.purdue.edu
E-mail read receipts
http://whatsthepont.com
Employee Engagement & Development - Department of Human Resources
25