Five Simple Tips to Improve Your Business Email | TheSpec.com

Here's a Netflix docu-series I'm watching over a weekend.

Ask ordinary people to stand in front of a crowded theater and read your craziest business emails.

There have been "My boss is a complete idiot" emails accidentally sent to bosses. Chilling private messages accidentally forwarded to all staff mailing lists. The 3,000-word calls and nightly manifestos to solve any problem at work. The self-important and ungrateful emails to bosses. The all-caps emails erupted in righteous anger at the minor perception. The sarcastic and ironic emails that were cruel, mean and broken friendships. And emails with jokes, memes, and videos that never worked.

Now you're smart enough never to send any of those emails, or at least not read them in front of a live studio audience. But we all probably send emails that overwhelm the cognitive load of our bosses and co-workers.

In her book "33 Ways to Not Mess Up Your Work Emails", Anne Janzer has practical tips for cleaning up our email hygiene.

"Email can feel ephemeral, fleeting, and private," says Janzer. "But it lingers long after you pay attention, and it might haunt you later. Check what you're saying before you send messages to other people's mailboxes and company mail servers. Once you've sent an email you lose control." do with your mail. Words.

Here are five simple tips to fix your emails:

• Do the coffee test. You wrote an email that you want everyone to read. Don't click Submit yet. Email yourself a draft instead. Then stand in line for a coffee or head to the kitchen and pop a pod into your Keurig. Pick up your phone and read your draft email. Can you read it to the end before they serve you or make your coffee? If not, re-enter your email address and try again.

• Now run the GPS test to make sure there is no confusion. "To test tone and clarity, read it monotonously out loud," says Janzer. "Think of automated voice navigation on a GPS system. Does your email make sense if it's stripped of all vocal accents? If you want to emphasize words to get your point across, you run the risk of misleading the reader.

• Stay in the Goldilocks area. We all know that you shouldn't send anyone a wall of words. But emails that are too short can also be problematic. Aim for emails that are accurate in length, context, and detail.

• Always start with a personal greeting. "We're programmed to pay attention to our names," says Janzer, who conducted a LinkedIn welcome poll. More than half of the respondents chose "Hello Name", 20% chose "Hello Name" and 12% preferred "Dear Name".

• And start writing the purpose of your email in the subject line. Emailing something for review, discussion, or approval? Do you share or request information? Ask your team to agree on abbreviations like FR, FA, FD, and FYI. What you put in the subject line determines the destination of your email. Will it be opened and read immediately, or left unread and quickly forgotten?

I could have used this book earlier in my career. Messaging rules in the workplace are typically unwritten and learned through trial and error. So why not ask your team to read Janzer's book as a team and relationship building exercise? And then bring everyone together to set some ground rules for email. If you need an icebreaker, invite a few brave souls to check out your worst work email. I could send you some that will make you cringe.

Jay Robb is a communications manager at McMaster University School of Science, lives in Hamilton and has been the editor of business books for the Hamilton Spectator since 1999.

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