Category: Social and Team Building

Be Careful With Sarcasm, Humor and emoji’s

Because you don’t get the context of facial expressions and tone of voice in email, it’s not a good medium for expressing sarcasm or humor, especially with recipients you don’t know well. Express your message simply and straightforwardly, at least until you get to know a recipient better.

Use emojis sparingly ✔

It’s far easier to say, “Don’t use emojis — ever!” It saves you any trouble, even if it’s okay to use emojis in certain circumstances. But realistically, this won’t happen — and chances are you’ve probably already used them.

So here’s our take: You can use emojis in formal business emails, but use the right ones, use them sparingly, and use them with people you know well. For example, if you’re interacting with a new customer, you’re probably better off not using them unless they use them first.

Use Acronyms Sparingly

Not everybody knows every acronym, so use as few as possible, and only when you’re sure the recipient knows what they mean.

There are several acronyms that are commonly used in business email correspondence. Here are a few:

• ASAP: As Soon as Possible
• BTW: By the Way
• EOD: End of Day
• EOM: End of Message (typically used in the subject line to indicate there is no email body to follow)
• EOW: End of Week
• FYI: For Your Information
• IMO: In My Opinion
• OOO: Out of Office
• Y/N: Yes or No

Respond to emails promptly

In a perfect world, we’d respond to emails immediately. But busy schedules and cluttered inboxes means this isn’t always possible.

You’ll need to make a judgment call based on who’s sending the email and its importance. For instance:

• Emails from your clients. Respond within 4 hours.
• Emails from colleagues should be responded to within 12 hours.
• Emails related to urgent projects should take priority.

If you’re having trouble getting to longer emails, send a quick reply acknowledging receipt of the email and inform the recipient you’ll respond. Eg if a client sends a request for a quote or order you can reply with “request received with thanks, quotation to follow”.

Ensure subject lines are short and specific

Subject lines should preferably be ten words or fewer and, if you can, aim for seven.

According to Marketo Data, subject lines with seven or fewer words get opened more.

They should also be specific. For example, if you’re emailing a colleague for a project update, don’t title it “Checking in.” Rather say, “Checking in about [insert project name].”

To make sure your subject lines are hitting the mark, think about your:

• Recipient: Knowing who you’re emailing (e.g., CEO vs. sales rep) will help with messaging.
• Connection: Think of how to grab the receiver’s attention. For example, if you’re cold-emailing, mention a problem your product solves.
• Credibility: Spamming your prospect’s inbox with deceptive subject lines that encourage opens only causes distrust. Be honest — if it’s not a follow-up email, don’t act like it is.

Review Your Message Before You Send

After you enter your recipients’ addresses, create an appropriate subject line, write your message, and attach a couple of supporting documents, go back and make sure you did everything right:

• Review the message. Is anything unclear? Are there any grammatical errors or typos? Did you say everything you wanted to say?
• Check your sources. Would a link to an outside source clarify your meaning? Would a link help your recipient find a website quickly?
• Look at the recipient names. Did you forget an important person who needs to see the message? Did you add someone that shouldn’t see the message?
• Look at your address. If you have more than one, be sure to send the message from the most appropriate one for the purpose of the message.
• Determine the message priority. Does the message need to be tagged as important?
• Add supporting documents. Did you forget the attachments?