3 email tricks and tips ?

Gimme more!!!

Well, as far as emails are concerned, more is less and less is more!!

So here are only three tips I recently rediscovered.

Hey, read this carefully : I REDISCOVERED…this means they are not MY tricks.

Rather I found those in the excellent book by Mike Song, Vicki Hasley and Tim Burerss, The hamster Revolution.

But they really deserve to be mentioned again.

Email Tip #1 : The RAT trick

The rat trick is, you guessed it, NOT for rats. RATS!

This is another case of acronymy, my compulsion to create acronyms.

R…for REQUIRED

Do you really need to write and batch-send another email? Think twice. Remember those days when writing a memo and sending it my snail-mail would give time to react? Well, it is up to you to start doing it again.

The authors mention 3 criteria to help you decide if this email is REQUIRED :

  1. Is it timely?
  2. Is is relevant?
  3. and did you include enough information for the receiver to act on it?

A…for APPROPRIATE

  1. Is your email compliant with your organization rules and procedures?
  2. Is it professional looking?
  3. And most of all, is it inoffensive ? Trying to hurt people with an email is a really bad thing. And I mean pretty, pretty, bad.

T…for TARGET

Do you know the difference between a reply and reply to all. I hope you do because it makes all the difference in the world.

Do you use extensive distribution list? Maybe those lists need to be cleaned up once in a while!

And did you think about the email as being just another communication channel? Maybe it is not the right one…walking to your colleague’s cubicle will do wonders!

Oh, and my favorite one : the cc! Why do you really need to cc anyone… some people have created rules to trash all email where they are cc’ed on…..

Do your part : reduce emails from the source, i.e YOU!

Le papier dans un monde sans papier

Email Tip #2 : 3 letters to change the game.

Reducing emails can be simply to stop replying when it is not required.

Somebody writes a nice comment about you. You reply “thanks”, they send back “De Nada”, you reply…whatever!

Why don’t you add NRR at the end of your Thank you …No Reply REQUIRED.

OR if you are the one writing the good comment/delivering a service/providing the requested information….NTR, No Thanks Required.

These are by no mean offensive and will make a huge difference eventually.

Email Tip #3 : title to kill them all!

I used to be irritated by people writing the whole message in the title. Why? It was, after all, a brief, clear and very fast way to treat an email.

Problem is, I had to open the email, look for the information I though it contained, got flustered, replied that the email was empty and …well you know the drill and the endless cascade of email it creates.

The solution : add EOM to your great title.

End

Of

Message

Know you’re talking…or rather…writing!

Think of a great title for your email, concise and precise and add EOM. Send.

E.g. You will receive the info tomorrow.NTR.NRR. EOM

Bonus trick !

Email Tip #4 : Educate your colleagues

Just don’t do it alone.

Educate your colleagues.

Teach them to use the tricks.

Spread the good word!

Start now!

NRT.

3EOM.

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