Email Obedience Training
Eve Abbott
October 04, 2007
The boundaries between work and non-work are now constructed by people turning technology on and off,” says Debra Meyerson, a Professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, “being accessible at all times is a source of stress”. The stressed IQ drops more in men than women, but constant calls and email reduce everyone’s mental sharpness.
The Hewlett Packard study reports that 62 percent of adults are addicted to checking email and text messages. 89 percent of those surveyed think colleagues who respond to emails or text messages in meeting are “extremely rude”. Use these tips for your own email tune-up and make it easier to work better!
The only part of an email anyone sees first is the subject header: the most valuable 36-50 characters in business today! Use Subject headers the way good journalist uses titles, describe with detail. Vague headings like “Question” or “FYI,” waste everyone’s attention and time. Be specific, i.e. “Project Name proposal done?” or “Thurs Project name mtg resched: Mon 3pm Conf Rm B”
Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How are the basics everyone needs to know. Get Who, What, When and Where into your subject header to help people respond quickly. How and Why are more complex and belong in your message text. To identify important messages create labels with Outlook ‘rules’ or Eudora ‘filters’ which display message headers in colors. For example, blue messages from clients and purple messages from vendors.
Signatures: Set up your own signature, which automatically appears at the bottom of all new and reply messages. If you work in a company with “quick codes” create two signatures: one for internal messages and one for external customers. Put all the contact information your respondent might need. Make your email and website live links to make it easy for your recipient.
This makes it easy to add your contact information into their database, or to look it up later when they are out of the office and they need to contact you about your services or products!
Email into text messaging: When someone sends you a message requiring a brief answer, send your whole reply in the subject header. This is the email version of text messaging. For example, Subject: “Project Name contract done?—YES!” Or Subject: “Confirm: Fri 9 AM Project Name mtg. Eve”
SPAM makes up 80 percent of all email in the U.S! Outlook rules and Eudora filters can help you keep spam out of your inbox. Internet Service Providers tag suspected spam by inserting an identifying code. Contact your internet service provider and find out their codes. Easily set up filters based on ISP spam codes so junk is automatically sorted into a spam folder, which you can quickly review and dump. Check out and register with a SPAM/Virus protection service like MacAfee ($$) or SpamBayes (free).
Printing out all the messages you need to keep wastes paper and printer time, as well as adding to your paper blizzard. Instead, create folders to store and organize messages. Small business folders: Clients, Prospects, Projects, Programs, Events, Templates, Internet, Organizations, Personal, and Family. Company categories include: Division, Department, Teams, Projects, Customers, Staff, Products, Vendors, Reports. Set up separate email folders to easily document your Personal and Business e-receipts.
“Out of the Office” or in meetings all day again? Set up an auto-respond message that includes alternate contacts, if appropriate. Include name, phone, intranet, website and email. Make all your links live so it easy for your respondent. Even if you’re only out for one day, this creates more realistic expectations.
I guarantee that your team can save an hour a day by fully employing these email tips. The only question is, “How much is 10 IQ points plus an hour a day worth to you and your business?”
Copyright 2007, Eve Abbott. All rights in any media reserved.