Email Etiquette: A Bit of a Book Review

 

One of my daily struggles as a solo business-person has been email. Not how much of it I get (it’s not overwhelming) or how much of my day it takes up (probably more than it should, but that’s on me) but the actual technical business of writing a good one.

My email exchanges are mostly with clients. These emails can be heavy with info: project-related questions and answers, content requests, items to be clarified, etc. I struggle with editing emails that are too long, have a questionable tone, correspond in ways that are condescendingly clear or not clear enough. In all honesty it’s hard, sometimes, to not sound like an asshole.

I turned to a book called Send, Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better, by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe, in the hopes that it would lead me down a path of brevity and sleek professionalism in my emailing. The authors are both journalists, experienced in writing well and often, and the book is an easy read, witty and candid with simple tips and tricks (it’s also a bit dated, with numerous references to “faxes” and “handhelds”.)

While my goal in reading this book was that it would turn me into a truly thoughtful emailer, capable of sending effective missives which inspire detailed, prompt responses, it was was no panacea for my email struggles. But it did make me feel like overall I’m on the right track. I was hoping for more practical tips around precision writing and structuring an email effectively. Instead, the book focusses on more basic messages like: be polite, be considerate, and think for a minute before you hit send. A couple of bits of advice that I’d already been working on but am now implementing to step up my game include having a well-phrased subject line and being conscious of the hierarchy of To, Cc and Bcc (and navigating it wisely.)

I mentioned to some friends that I was reading this book, and the general response was that it sounded like a mind-numbing waste of time. Who in 2019 doesn’t know emailing? To be honest, friends: a fair number of people. I’ve been sent simple requests that come across as rudely demanding, been mired in email chains that are a hot mess of text colours and styles and almost impossible to follow. I’ve corresponded with people who consistently do not read past the second sentence of any message, and people who insist on emailing even though a phone call would be far quicker and more productive. Send offers this central message: be aware of the fact that your email is a conversation, albeit one that needs to be treated with a different level of care because the words you communicate don’t have the support of your actual voice.

We need to remember that it takes at least two to build an email relationship, and the quality of that relationship is built on the words we choose and the way we send them. Treat those you’re emailing with kindness and respect, assume they don’t want to be stuck in their inbox any more than you do, and take the time to read all emails you receive fully and carefully before crafting a response. Email is often seen as a quick, throwaway form of communication, a way to fire off missives to as many people as we need to, as quickly as we can. But the reality is that it’s become the main means of business communication for many of us, and it’s a powerful tool. Email affords us the opportunity to reflect, manage and communicate in ways that are adapted to our personalities and schedules. We can use it to clutter or connect and construct. Really, if we keep this in mind when exchanging our electronic mail, we’ll all be better off.