Know Your Email Audience

I love email. I was made for email. I am not good on the phone. In person, I get nervous and tend to speak too much or clam up entirely. Email was a godsend to me. 

Early on, I learned the most valuable lesson of email - know your audience.

When I owned Pretty Good Toys, crafting a strong email became extremely necessary to make a sale. Many of my return customers told me they returned because my emails made ordering easy (back then online shopping carts had not been invented yet and they all ordered through email). 

It was and still is an ongoing struggle to ensure I write informative and strong emails.  Work emails are totally different than personal emails. Emails to co-workers are different than emails to supervisors and executives. Personal emails to your parents are different from emails to your best friend. 

In an ever growing world of virtual communications, you cannot rely on your charming personality to win people over. People will judge you based on your written words. Trust me, people will avoid working with you if your emails are cumbersome, confusing or unhelpful. They will appreciate you more if you answer their emails quickly and tailor your response to fit their need and their email style. People will read your new emails to them, if they have enjoyed your emails in the past. 

Here are the email lessons I have learned (in no particular order):

• Use a descriptive subject/title on your email.
• If your email is important and/or going to executives, project leaders or large groups:
• Reread your email before you send it.
• Be concise; executives and groups don't need fluff, they only want the information they need to know.
• Use good grammar and good spelling; no inappropriate words (remember, emails last forever and can be forwarded and copied to others).
• Clearly mark any task(s) your readers are supposed to complete and provide them the due date for their task(s).
• Avoid acronyms or slang, unless you know your audience understands the meaning.
• Write as though you were explaining yourself to a child. Emails are harder to fully understand, since there are no visual or verbal clues. Ensure you are clear in the who, what, where and when parts of your email.
• Use bullet points when listing multiple items, ideas or suggestions.
• Use short sentences and small paragraphs.
• Use bold and colored text sparingly, as needed, to emphasis a point.
• Try to avoid all caps, unless you really do need to stress a word or idea. 
• Unless you know your audience well, use one email for one thought/discussion. If you have another conversation you need to have with the person, open a new email with a new topic/subject line for the new question or comment.
• If your email recipient uses niceties (thanks, good day, cheers, etc.), you should use them also.  If they get straight to the point, then remove the "extras" from your emails.
• Use emojis and graphics carefully. Sometimes a good picture or emoji is the perfect thing to make your email stand out or be better understood.  Sometimes, emojis are just too much and should be avoided. 
• If you are replying to an email, ensure you read the original email carefully and make sure your reply is appropriate to the original topic(s).  Answers all questions and provides all information requested. 
• Provide any extra information that you know should be shared, based on the original email.

This all sounds easy and intuitive, but trust me, I am still working to improve my skills in this area. I still see some horrible emails. I still occasionally send emails that are confusing or don't really answer the question(s) asked. I think improving my email skills will be a lifelong pursuit.