Avoid these career-killing email gaffes

(MoneyWatch) Email has become the primary way to communicate with people in the office -- in many companies, email is even more common than face-to-face conversations. It's important, then, to avoid behaviors that will get you in hot water with your boss and coworkers. You might not even realize you're guilty of some of these gaffes, but rest assured that other people notice. Here's how to avoid the worst email mistakes:

Put the point of the message at the top, not the bottom. I've written about this many times; it's sometimes referred to as BLUF -- "Bottom Line Up Front." Rather than writing your email like a story, with all the context in the beginning and the request or action item at the end, put the key information on the very first line. Then provide as much context as you like. This way, your recipients don't have to slog through a ton of backstory to reach your point.

Keep the subject line descriptive. Blank subject lines are quite annoying, and worse, make it difficult to for recipients to find your email by browsing their inbox. Sure, mistakes happen. You can use a tool to prevent accidental blank subjects. And don't forget to include a verb -- "How to fix the publishing problem with feedback page" is far better than just "Web problem."

Answer questions inline, not in a big blob at the top. If you only have one thing to say, of course, go ahead and put it atop the message. But if you're responding to a bunch of questions, insert your responses inline, and preface your answer with your name, like this: [dave]. It'll help everyone understand what's going on, especially in a lengthy thread.

Don't be afraid to change the subject line. You shouldn't have to open a message to find out what's really inside. In a long email thread, the actual subject might change. When that happens, rename the message accordingly. Everyone will silently thank you.

Don't move email groups to BCC. You might think you're helping the 50 people who no longer care about the direction an email has taken, but in reality, you're messing up everyone's inbox. Moving people to BCC breaks Outlook's rules, so messages end up in everyone's inbox instead of whatever folder those emails would ordinarily get funneled to.

Do you have pet email peeves? If so, sound off in the comments and help everyone become better email citizens.

[deserthackberry]

DON'T forward long email threads, or if you do, read them thoroughly first to make sure you don't get yourself or others in trouble.

[falcngnzx2]

With 15 million unemployed Americans that have already had their "careers" killed, is worrying about leaving a blank "Subject line" on your email your greatest concern?

You must all be GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES...

[TomMariner]

Good list. But the biggest of all -- Read your email quickly. It is not only insulting to have somebody say they "haven't had a chance" to read your golden words, but it slows business down.

And "use email to set up a meeting". I get frosted when the first half of the meeting is devoted to explaining why the meeting. It makes for an easy day, going over stuff twelve times, but we are not paid to have an easy, relaxing day.

[susanelyon]

Signatures with phone numbers. Eventually the email might prompt me to call you to discuss something offline, follow up, or talk about another project. A phone number in that email signature makes it so much easier. (Granted my voicemail tells you that email is typically the best way to reach me and gives you my email, but at least you've got options.

[PatriciaMuir]

I agree. Signatures with phone numbers and email addresses make a reply so much more convenient. A short signature on your smartphone email is so much appreciated.

[AlamoBill]

Why would anyone create a rule to sort email into folders when doing so cripples the search feature?

The search and grouping functions are entirely adequate to avoid those kinds of rules altogether.

billb
http://historeo.com

[phileaux]

My online essay pet peeve: People who don't match the title of their essay with their headers, relying on inline text that reverses their meaning.

If you read the title of this article, and then just read the bold-faced headers, you get a very different impression of what the author is trying to say.

[rdecastle]

1. Reply ALL.

2. Blind copies. If it's worth saying, it's worth sharing.

3. Management by email.

4. Anything better handled with a phone call, or face-to-face, like a conversation

[GOK8]

I feel that point #4 in the article slightly negates point #2; in order to organize and contain long email threads on one subject, I save just the last email in the string -- and can then reference that email at a later date pretty easily. When the subject is changed by one of the email participants mid-thread, this process gets screwed up.

[And yes, I realize this is a personal email pet peeve since this is just My way of organizing and not necessarily the majorities way.]

[pamg25]

You're not alone. I do the same.

[ferrelled]

Biggest annoyance: people who respond to my email with "thank you" or "thank you, I got your email." If I wanted a receipt and read notice, I would have marked the email with those options.

And worse yet, when the recipient sends back a "thank you" and uses the "reply all" function. What a great way to clog up everyone's inbox and pour more money into the ever-growing email server overload.

[phileaux]

Thoughts:

1) I almost always disable return receipts. I don't need you looking over my shoulder.

2) You apparently aren't aware of the number of Type A personalities who will freaking *call* you if you don't reply to their email within six hours.

3) Often email is part of a conversation. I like to let the other person know that I've read their email and we're done.

4) On occasion, an email requires work or research or simply time to compose a reply and I can't get to it right now. However, it's obviously something the sender cares about, so I'm going to let them know I've received it, and that I'm working on it.

Is it so hard to delete an email from someone who's taken the time to acknowledge you?

(Agreed on the "Reply All" thing, though)

Philo

[ideasharenw]

My email pet peeve is very simple: if you receive an email as a member of a group email, and you feel it NECESSARY to forward the email to people outside the group/company, have the courtesy (and smarts) to DELETE the group members email addresses (usually in the body text) BEFORE you forward (spam) someone else. Not doing so is definitely a career killer -- especially if the person who is getting the forwarded email decides to add all of those group emails to their future email campaigns...AKA SPAM.
When someone does this to me and I find out, I simply blacklist the sender (and the company in some cases) -- and then end up wasting a ton of time blacklisting all of the resulting SPAM senders.