Email Etiquette Part 2

By Elyssa Dolinger on March 10, 2010 at 4:23 pm in Email

Continuing on with our Email Etiquette series, I have 3 quick tips. The sandwich method, active voice and the use of sentence case.

First, the sandwich method. It goes a little something like this:

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When you sandwich your critique or bad news in good news, it makes people a lot more receptive to what you have to say. It looks less like an attack and more like the helpful-yet-unsavory idea it is meant to be. This isn’t a way to disarm people so that you can sucker punch them; this just a little something you can try to build respect and trust with a person you may not speak to a lot outside of email. Grease the wheels with politeness and things will go a lot smoother.

Another subtle change that can make you more personable is the use of active voice. Oh no. Grammar. Active voice just means that you try to use use the active role of a verb whenever possible.
Example:

Your updates will be processed by the end of the week.

My Response?

WebMeh. A robot sent me a response. I wonder if my updates will ever go through?

We will process your updates by the end of this week.

My Response?

Web I look at the calendar. Oh? Really? The end of this week? That’s fast.


An easy way to tell the difference between active and passive voice? Look at who the subject is. In the first example, it’s the ‘updates.’ The updates are processed. In the active example ‘we’ process updates. It’s a lot more personable when there is a person involved.

My last tip should be pretty self explanatory. PLEASE DON’T USE ALL CAPS FOR YOUR ENTIRE EMAIL. EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT SHOUTING, IT SOMETIMES APPEARS THAT YOU ARE.

Email Etiquette Part 1: Keepin’ It Real

By Emily Spirek on December 11, 2009 at 8:04 pm in Email,General

istock_000003853460xsmallIn the midst of hundreds of emails each week (thousands for some), I think it’s fairly common to disregard the need for personable communication and correct email behavior. There is a laundry list of things to remember, so I thought I would break it up into a series of blog entries. Hopefully working on it one step at a time will improve your email etiquette.

Without the help of facial expressions, body language or tone of voice, emails can easily be misinterpreted and possibly cost you some business in the end. Remember, people you are communicating with are real humans too. I know, crazy. But our emails don’t always reflect this. Here a few things to remember:

  1. Ask about their life: A simple, “How was your weekend?” will do.
  2. Personally address your emails: We like to see our names and talk about ourselves.
  3. Always say please and thank you: This one seems easy, but the email takes on a whole new meaning with polite words. I’ll get into the sandwich method later.
  4. Don’t always use email: Yes I know this post is about email, but if we’re talking about the more personable approach, it would be the phone. It’s not always necessary, but make sure to use both.

From personal experience, I remember an email from one of our clients, Deidra McCall with Paint-A-Smile. I had briefly mentioned to her that my birthday was coming up in a few weeks and not only did she remember, but she sent me a happy birthday email.

I thought she was wishing me a happy birthday and would immediately follow with business talk, but the email was completely non-work related. I really appreciated her effort and she definitely moved up on my list of favorite clients.

Anyway, this just scratches the surface of email do’s and don’ts. See part two for more tips.