Improve Your Communication Skills, 2nd Edition

each other; we send e-mails instead. As a result, e-mail 
is becoming infected with substitutes for social contact. 
Lonely cubicle workers spread gossip in
private jargon, spiced with ‘emoticons’ and cryptic 
symbols. 
• More haste, less understanding
. The style of writing in 
e-mail is becoming relaxed to the point of garbled. 
• Overflowing inboxes
. When was the last time you weeded 
your inbox? 
E-mail is writing. Treat it as you would any other kind of writing. 
Plan, write, edit. Here are 10 more tips to help e-mail work better 
for you: 
1. 
Make your message clear. 
2. 
Minimise information.
Don’t make the reader scroll 
down. 
3. 
Put the message in the subject line.
It’s much more 
useful to have a headline-style message in this line than a 
heading. 
4. 
Don’t shout.
Avoid capital letters, underlining and bold. 
Above all, avoid facetious or all-purpose headings such as 
‘Urgent’ or ‘Read this now!’ 
5. 
Don’t fan ‘flames’.
Don’t write anything in an e-mail that 
you wouldn’t say face to face. 
6. 
Avoid emoticons.
Don’t use symbols or silly 
abbreviations. Use English. 
7. 
Edit before sending. 
E-mail is so fast that you can easily 
spend a few moments checking sense, spelling and 
punctuation. 
8. 
Remember that e-mail is public.
Most e-mail can be 
accessed on central servers. Never write anything that a 
lawyer might use against you. 
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

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148 Improve your Communication Skills
9. 
Don’t spam.
Send only messages that you must send, to 
the individuals who need to read them. Avoid blanket 
copies. 
10.