Where were we before emails and how did businesses cope? Email is an integral part of the business world now and is usually the first thing people do when starting the working day and the last thing they do before going home. And most people have their email open all day dipping in and out sending and receiving mails. However, there are some useful guidelines to follow so you don’t annoy your colleagues with masses of email. Use email appropriately and it is very effective but use it incorrectly and you can waste a lot of time and drive your colleagues mad!

Top 10 email tips

1. Be clear why you are sending the email. It should be clear what is expected if the recipient(s). An email can be for information which requires no response. If an email doesn’t have a question in it then most wold assume it was for information only even if that wasn’t stipulated. Many people will cover this by forwarding on an email with FYI – the American acronym meaning ‘for your information.’ However, an email could require a response so be clear of when returns are expected.

2. If an email is lengthy it should have a beginning, middle and an end. It should be structured to tell the recipient the topic of the email, background and detail and then closing it down with next steps, call to action.

3. Don’t be one of those people who copies in dozens of people to emails when they are replying without having a good reason for this. People don’t like receiving masses of email so think about who needs to see that mail.

4. If you receive an email with a attachment and need to send it on to others, don’t use the ‘reply’ function as this will lose the attachment. It is very frustrating when people send emails referencing an attached document which has been lost in the process. You need to ‘forward’ the email which will retain the document attachment.

5. Remember when using the ‘cc’ function of email, which means carbon copy that people on that section of the recipient list might not expect they have to do anything with the mail as they were not in the ‘to’ list. Some people in business are so busy that they will have their cc mail set up to delete straight away so save them time.

6. Use the rules functions in your mail settings to help you organise your emails.

7. You can send documents as attachments in emails from Microsoft Word applications, which saves time.

8. Be organised and set up folders to store your mails so you know where they are when required.

9. Avoid using urgent and important in the email title unless it really is. Don’t mark an email high important and ‘URGENT’ in the title just because you have sent it out late and have been disorganised. Recipients won’t appreciate this unless it really is business critical.

10. Don’t use text speech like ‘c u l8r’ and remember that you are writing business emails and not business. You will be surprised what some people use but be professional and formal when needed. You don’t need to use elaborate language though and just get your message across precisely and clearly.

GC Tip: Email is a great productivity tool in business for sharing information, asking questions etc but use it sparingly and for the right purposes. Sometimes it is better to pick up the phone and speak to someone than to resort to using emails!