Email Do's and Don’ts

Quick reference

• 00:04 Okay, before we dive into all the email tips and tricks in Microsoft Outlook,
• 00:09 how about we review some etiquette?
• 00:11 So, this is a list of email do's and dont's,
• 00:14 I'm going to close my ribbons just for a moment so you can see more of the script.
• 00:18 Okay, email do's and dont's.
• 00:19 Do use proper punctuation and
• 00:21 grammar when corresponding in a professional environment.
• 00:24 It will be appreciated.
• 00:26 Do use spell check.
• 00:27 That's on the Review ribbon, and over on the left Spelling & Grammar.
• 00:31 Please spell check your emails before you send them.
• 00:34 And the Thesaurus if you need a different word.
• 00:37 Maybe you're using one word too many times you would go to Thesaurus and
• 00:40 use a different one.
• 00:41 All right, don't abbreviate your words like you are texting,
• 00:45 before you go there, okay?
• 00:46 Please don't do that in any email.
• 00:48 There's your cross sectioning all types of age groups here and there,
• 00:52 and some age groups don't read those texting,
• 00:55 so please, use proper spelling and grammar when you're writing emails.
• 01:00 All right, do consider the tone of your words, humor, sarcasm,
• 01:04 anger can be misconstrued.
• 01:05 And some people just don't have a sense of humor so your sarcasm might go over badly.
• 01:11 Okay, and remember that your emails are affected by the recipient's impression of
• 01:15 words, and maybe they're having a bad day, all right?
• 01:18 So don't type in all caps.
• 01:21 For 20 years, I've been telling people, it's like you're yelling.
• 01:24 And still I get emails in all caps.
• 01:25 I'm like, what are you doing?
• 01:26 You're yelling at me.
• 01:27 So I very gently reply back to them, please avoid all caps.
• 01:32 Okay, all right, and don't use foul language ever.
• 01:36 It will haunt you and make a terrible impression of your professionalism.
• 01:41 Do use proper letter format.
• 01:43 Did you know there was proper letter format?
• 01:45 Well, there is, and more and more people are bending the Microsoft Word and
• 01:49 just go into Outlook in writing their business correspondents.
• 01:53 So there's a review course you should check out,
• 01:55 it's in GoSkills, called Writing Effective Business Communication,
• 01:59 an amazing program, and doesn't take long to go through.
• 02:02 And if you just pick up a couple tips about effective communication,
• 02:06 it is worth your time.
• 02:07 So I highly recommend you go there.
• 02:09 All right, do remember your audience.
• 02:10 Keep your correspondence short and to the point.
• 02:13 Emails are not for writing essays.
• 02:15 They're for writing messages, maybe a business correspondence, but
• 02:18 not a multi-page essay.
• 02:20 Long letters gives you more time to say something wrong or
• 02:22 give the wrong impression, and honestly, who wants to sit there and read an essay?
• 02:26 No one does, so your email might just get breezed over.
• 02:30 All right don't, and I mean never send personal or
• 02:33 private correspondence within a corporate environment.
• 02:37 Everything you put in writing is kept in their archives forever whether you like
• 02:41 it or not.
• 02:42 If you've got personal email to send do it in your personal email account,
• 02:45 not on your corporate email account.
• 02:47 Now, we have words of advice.
• 02:50 If you want to write a powerful email,
• 02:52 send a message that's difficult where sometimes there's no way around it.
• 02:56 Well, protect yourself from an accidental send and don't fill in the To: line,
• 03:01 until you've had plenty of time to think and re-think the message.
• 03:05 Sometimes, just pick up the phone and talk to the other person.
• 03:08 But sometimes I have to write a rough email, and
• 03:11 the last thing I'm going to do is hit that To line and fill that thing in, okay?
• 03:15 I wait till I'm all done, I've taken a walk, come back, read my message again,
• 03:20 make sure.
• 03:21 All right, and lastly, don't overuse the High Importance or
• 03:24 the Read Receipt button.
• 03:26 No, that's on our, let's see, I think the Read Receipt is on my Options, and
• 03:30 the Option's right over here.
• 03:32 The Request a Read Receipt, I know people that, every email they send,
• 03:36 they want a read receipt.
• 03:37 Well, it just clutters up their inbox with all these read receipts, and plus,
• 03:41 sometimes I don't want them to know I read it, so I'll say no anyway.
• 03:45 Anyway, that's just a nice review of the etiquette.
• 03:47 Take care of that, review that, and
• 03:49 now we're going to move on to the email tips and tricks.

Lesson notes are only available for subscribers.