Keeping Your Emails to the Point
Email can be a great tool to energize staff, communicate with constituents, and cultivate donors – as long as it is used wisely. Here are some tips to assure that your emails are welcomed, opened, and read.
- Before creating an email, ask yourself, “Is the message really necessary? Who needs to read it? Do I need a response, and if so, when?”
- In responding to an email, select “sender only” instead of “all recipients” whenever possible.
- Use the subject line to convey what the message is about, in six words or less.
- If you have a deadline, say so in the subject line.
- Keep it short.
- To mark high priority, use URGENT in the subject line, but sparingly.
- If the sole purpose is to be funny, ask yourself if it is worth taking up people’s time. If so, put “Humor” in the subject line.
- Use only common abbreviations – very common when dealing with people outside the organization. Familiarity with email shorthand, such as LOL for “laugh out loud,” may be generational.
- Remember that spell check is your friend.
- Create a signature block to use with all our messages.
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