Email Apps and Features

Quick reference

• 00:05 Some of the most popular email applications out there
• 00:09 are Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, Gmail, and Yahoo Mail.
• 00:16 There are countless others.
• 00:18 But let's look at some of the ways that these applications can help us to improve
• 00:21 our business writing.
• 00:23 Here are some features that are common to most email applications,
• 00:28 customizable email templates, signature blocks,
• 00:32 out-of-office responses, and spell checks.
• 00:37 Let's start with email templates.
• 00:39 Many jobs require sending dozens of very similar emails every day.
• 00:44 Sometimes there are only a few unique words per email.
• 00:48 Most email applications have a feature that allows you to create templates which
• 00:53 you can retrieve and then tweak individual emails as you send them out.
• 00:57 These are obvious time savers.
• 00:59 But remember to double check before clicking send.
• 01:03 Sending a canned response that sounds personalized requires real skill.
• 01:08 You don't want to send an email that doesn't address your recipient's
• 01:12 individual needs or worse,
• 01:14 you forgot to take out a placeholder like Dear INSERT NAME.
• 01:18 If your email app doesn't offer an option for templates, like for instance,
• 01:22 Yahoo mail, or if you don't know where to find it, you can do this.
• 01:26 Create a new inbox folder called Templates.
• 01:30 Then you can compose a new email message with placeholders for things like name,
• 01:35 date, and other specific information.
• 01:38 Send the email to yourself, then move it to your Templates folder.
• 01:43 When you're ready to use that template, just open the message,
• 01:47 highlight and copy the text, and paste it into a new message.
• 01:51 Now you can edit and send.
• 01:53 The second feature that's common to most email apps is a signature block.
• 01:59 An email signature adds a bit of professionalism and
• 02:02 consistency to your emails.
• 02:04 It's also a great way to let people know how to get in touch with you and
• 02:08 to learn more about you and your business.
• 02:10 Your email signature should be made up
• 02:13 of about 3 to 4 lines including your preferred title, first name, and
• 02:18 last name, job title, company name, contact number, and
• 02:22 links to your professional social media handles if that's allowed by your company.
• 02:29 Many people also include some kind of image in their signature block, and
• 02:33 that could be your company logo or even your headshot.
• 02:36 This works well too because people remember pictures more than they
• 02:41 remember text.
• 02:44 Some people have a special signature for emails sent from their phones.
• 02:49 It's an indirect way of letting people know why your email may be
• 02:52 shorter than usual because you're on the go.
• 02:55 And it even makes some typos a bit more forgivable.
• 03:00 Some cell phones have a mobile signature set up by default.
• 03:03 But you can go in and change it if you like.
• 03:08 The third feature common to most email apps is spell checking.
• 03:12 As with word processors, these are built in but they're not as robust as
• 03:16 dedicated spell-checking apps like Grammarly, WhiteSmoke, and Ginger.
• 03:23 These third party apps not only check your spelling and grammar, but
• 03:27 also your punctuation and even your writing style.
• 03:31 We recommend integrating one of these apps into your email application.
• 03:35 And the last feature we'll talk about that's common to most email apps is
• 03:40 the out-of-office or vacation responder.
• 03:44 This helps you to manage the expectations of people sending you emails.
• 03:49 So you should consider activating your out-of-office email responder if
• 03:53 it comes built in to your email application.
• 03:56 If it doesn't come built in,
• 03:58 then you could consider creating a rule with a start and end date to let people
• 04:03 know you won't be responding to emails before a certain date.

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