Make your e-mails work for you

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Here’s the foremost rule of e-mailing: grab attention with the subject line. Subjects such as ‘Urgent”, ‘Follow-up’ or ‘Looking for a response’ become hazy, generic and ambiguous markers. In order for e-mails to command attention, its subject line should contain the key message (eg.: “Sales meeting re-scheduled to 2 p.m. Thursday”), which will also allow your reader to retrieve your message effortlessly.


Brevity is not just the soul of wit—it’s also the essence of an e-mail. Communications expert Deborah Dumaine suggests taking up one topic per e-mail. “Treat each e-mail as a coherent information packet—to ask a question, communicate your opinion, report news and so on,” she says. With this approach, readers can respond to your message more easily and your message can be forwarded without any drag-alongs.


Also, focus on who your audience is. A survey of 2,300 Intel employees revealed that people judge nearly one-third of the messages they receive to be unnecessary. Employees surveyed received an average of 350 messages a week and executives up to 300 a day. Besides, when writing to your peers and friends, you can be as informal as you want. When writing for business, adapt your tone and language to the reader. Morgan Stanley’s Asia economist Andy Xie’s e-mail harangue cost him his job a couple of years ago when an e-mail that he wrote containing disparaging comments about Singapore was leaked to the press.


This brings us to another peril of new age communication: Nothing in your official e-mail is confidential. Former Australian Test batsman Justin Langer learnt a harsh lesson in how quickly an e-mail aimed for a private audience can become public. During The Ashes in August this year, in a private e-mail meant only for coach Tim Nielsen, Langer called English cricketers ‘lazy’ and ‘shallow’. While this leaked e-mail didn’t have a major fallout, you are unlikely to be as fortunate at your workplace.

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Steps to a Smart E-Mail:

• Put precise words in the subject line.
• Put all the important information on the first screen.
• Use bullet points, short sentences and paragraphs.
• When forwarding a message, revise the original subject line, if needed.
• Avoid ‘Reply All’. Send e-mails only to people who need to receive them.
• Avoid sending private messages via official e-mail.
• Delete mass mailings; don’t forward them.
• If you keep sending messages back and forth without reaching a resolution, plan a meeting.