Email-o-nomics

Emails are powerful. More powerful than we realize, perhaps. Here are some easy to follow tips that will help you avoid being seen as a spammer, or having your emails trashed or ignored.

1. Avoid sending the same email to large numbers of people. Avoid it — whenever possible. Email was a replacement to letter, not to a loudspeaker.

2. If Microsoft invented Mail Merge, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to use it. If it’s important enough for someone to read, it’s important enough for you to rewrite.

3. Don’t talk like a press release or a media person. Talk like a person. That’s who you are. And that’s who will be reading it… most probably!

4. Be short. It’s an email. Not a speech.

5. Do you have a signature with cell number*? If you don’t trust me enough to give me your cell number, I don’t trust you enough to read your mail. *Cultural and social sensitivities must be a priority.

6. For God sake… don’t mark your email urgent. It’s urgent for you, but not sure if it’s for me.

7. Be honest with your subject line. Don’t lie. Don’t try to be smart. Don’t even try to be cute. Just be honest.

8. Anticipated, personal and relevant email will always outperform greedy short-term, irrelevant, spam.

9. When you go on vacation, set up an auto-reply that says, “I’m on vacation until xx/xx/xxxx. When I get back, I’m sure my mailbox will be loaded with some wanted and many unwanted emails. So, if this note is important, please send it to me again after I resume.”

10.Don’t hit reply all. Just don’t. Don’t.

11.Don’t trust the email recall function. Rather trust your brain. Take 3 deep breath before hitting send button.

12.Email never dies. Enough said. Be cautious.

13.Please don’t ask to save a tree by not printing your email. It doesn’t work. You really think that someone who hardly reads your email will give damn about tree and paper story? I’ve seen with my eyes — extra pages in use to simply print your save the tree message. Just don’t. Leave it to reader’s consciousness.

14.Send yourself some email. Read it. Are the fonts ok? Does it look professional? Give yourself some feedback and apply it.

15.Finally… be generous and kind.