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

liz@go2ecg.com

Skype: ecgllcWebsite:  http://www.go2ecg.com

LinkedIn:   http://www.linkedin.com/in/go2ecgTwitter:  http://twitter.com/go2ecg