3 Steps To Reader Friendly Email

We're all so busy at work these days that all that email seems more like a burden than a blessing. That could explain why so much of it goes right into the trash or the junk file without even being opened and read. One answer to this is to make your email more reader friendly.

How many workplace email messages do you receive that are visually pleasing? Probably not many. Too many email messages are one long paragraph, sometimes not even broken into sentences!

When your eyes hurt just trying to read a big unbroken block of text, you are less likely to read and respond to it. Here are three simple ways to get more response to your email by making it reader friendly.

1. Follow the same rules of capitalization as you would on a printed message. In English, the first letter of the first word in a sentence should be a capital. Proper nouns such as the names of people, countries, events, etc. begin with a capital.

Studies have shown that when we write in all block capitals, the reader feels as if we are shouting. That's not the way to get a good response!

2. Punctuate your message correctly, and write complete sentences instead of fragments and phrases. "Those figures ready yet" is ungrammatical, curt and unfriendly. Why not try instead, "Do you have those figures yet, Dave? I need them for the meeting tomorrow morning."

It takes only a few seconds to write it well, and the difference in tone is obvious. Wouldn't you respond better to the second one? And wouldn't you be inclined to answer more politely, just because the question was framed in a more civilized way?

3. Break a longer message up into paragraphs, and make them shorter than you would in a message destined for the printed page. Short series of sentences can often be more effective when written as a bullet list.

Leave an extra line space between paragraphs, which not only gives the reader's eyes a break but also announces that you are moving on to another subject or another aspect of the subject.

Email is just a medium, and when it's used in the workplace it should conform to the same rules of grammar, writing and etiquette as more traditional media.

If you're not receiving responses to your email, maybe you should take a look at how you are writing it.

About the Author:
Helen Wilkie speaks at conferences and training programs on workplace communication. Her audio CD, "Email Etiquette: How to Quickly & Easily Write Business Email that Communicates and Gets a Response" can be purchased from Amazon.com and you can find more about her speaking services at http://www.mhwcom.com

Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com

Tags: email etiquette

, e-mail etiquette

, e mail etiquette

, reader friendly email

, communication at work

, workplace communication

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