Purpose
To make the participants’ business emails purposeful, clear, persuasive and successful.
Objective
By the end of this course, participants will have learned how to use the email-writing techniques practised by accomplished Business Writers.
Overview
Easy to use, faster than a speeding bullet, accessible everywhere, email began revolutionising Business Writing in the 1990s, and now dominates.
Well-written emails get their message across quickly and clearly in i) logical order ii) plain, easy-to-understand language iii) as friendly a tone as the writing task allows. And their subject lines are clear and informative so that they’re easy to file and retrieve. In other words, well-written emails are easy to scan, easy to grasp, easy to action, easy to archive. This course shows delegates how to achieve these effects. It does something else too. It points out the pitfalls and shows how to deal with them. We put it all under the umbrella title of Email Etiquette:
Choosing the Medium
- Knowing when to email, to phone or to meet.
Understanding Tone
- You can’t give your reader visual or vocal clues in an email so tone is crucial.
Writing for the Reader
- Thinking of the reader; using a thoughtful, plain-language style – a style that’s designed to be read from the screen. This section covers:
Triple-A: Thinking First, Writing Later
- Knowing your Aim, Audience and Approach.
Screen-style and How to Write It
- Strong Subject Lines; Effective Paragraphs; Effective Sentences; Active Writing; Concise Writing; Clear Writing; Parallel Writing; Positive Writing; Human Tone.
Proofreading Matters
- Correct Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling and Word Use.
Responding Calmly
- Avoiding snap judgments and not writing in anger.
Sounding Businesslike
- Going easy on informality; steering clear of over-familiarity.
Behaving Decently
- Initiating or tolerating anything discriminatory, harassing or potentially offensive. NEVER do either.
Using Common Sense
- Being alive to the potential penalities of ill-judged email (and messaging) content (beyond the sort discussed under “Behaving Decently”).
Curbing the Comedy
- Remembering that humour rarely travels well, especially between cultures.
Showing Consideration
- Blitzing, Stringing, Ignoring, Presuming – all bad habits and all explained.
Managing your Inbox
- Using the 4-Ds: Delete It, Do It, Delegate It, Defer It.
