Emails: Six Unforgivable Mistakes
10 January 2014
Read by 2206 persons
Emails: Six Unforgivable Mistakes. Familiarity, inappropriate words, mistakes... Poorly worded, your hastily written email risks, at best, annoying, at worst, being thrown in the trash. Respect the basic rules of courtesy, reminds Aline Nishimata, e-communication expert. Text explanation.
Email is treacherous. Under its false airs of conviviality, it offers an illusory freedom. With a simple click, one responds instantly, but by freeing oneself from the very codified uses of paper correspondence. A well-written email to your superior, your partners or your colleagues will highlight your image: it is a reflection of your competence. Here are 6 frequent mistakes to eliminate from your practices.
1. Subject: (...) or Memo, RE: Memo, RE: Re Memo
Leaving this field blank is the best way not to be read or very late. Indicating a subject is mandatory even in a response. The more explicit and concise it is, the more it will capture attention. By browsing it, your interlocutor must immediately be able to grasp five key points: who, what, when, how, where. In addition, if you make several email returns on a subject but with different versions, be sure to number the subject so that no one loses track. If it is just to remind a meeting add "Reminder".
>> Write: "Service meeting of October 14, 9:30 am on project Z"; "Reminder meeting, etc.". Or "Memo: version 1", "Memo: version 2"... "Memo: final version".
2. Recipients: to Sylvie, cc: Christophe, Martine, Luc, Bastien, Paul...
Sending messages in copy to a plethora of individuals will disserve you. Especially if it concerns your superiors. 1/ People will think that you open the umbrella at the slightest decision, which weakens you. 2/ You upset the main recipient who feels spied on and controlled by others; especially if you have addressed reproaches to him. 3/ You waste a lot of time for your bosses or your peers, who are overwhelmed with emails. In the long run, you will be despised, even perceived as cowardly.
>> Write: to Sylvie.
3. Grammatical Tense: "I would like that", "Could you come to my office?"
Be careful not to mix the future and the conditional. A mistake, sometimes inadvertently, but which makes you judged. Because the use of this first "tense" implies an order like the imperative. It is often badly experienced by the teams who, when reading, risk bristling by calling you a "little boss". The conditional, on the other hand, remains a proposition, leaving its freedom to the other.
>> Write: "I would like (with an "s") that", "I would ask you to", "Could you come to my office?"
4. Politeness formulas: "See you later", "See you soon", "See you soon".
It's not easy to find the right closing formula. "I beg you to accept, Sir...", "Please receive..." are outdated epistolary expressions. Even "distinguished greetings" is dated. The best is simplicity. "Sincerely" is as pleasing to one's manager as it is to one's colleagues or clients. Eliminate familiar and abbreviated locutions, including the awful "See you later". Too casual. And if you exchange different emails during the day, there is no need to say goodbye with each message. Once is enough.
Above all, do not forget to sign: with your full first name and your last name. It's a mark of politeness. You can add a business card. 1/ This enhances the company externally. 2/ You will make life easier for your correspondent who will not have to look for postal or telephone coordinates.
Write: "(Best) Regards", "Best regards", "Sincerely yours", Jeanne Dupont (and not J. Dupont)
5. Language mistakes: "I apologize", "our deepest apologies", "I'm sorry"
Beware of French mistakes or exaggerations. One does not apologize, any more than one flattens oneself by pushing one's interlocutor to take out his handkerchief. Recognizing one's wrongs is a delicate art. Avoid being too direct with an "Excuse me". Keep a certain deference with more rounded phrases.
>> Write: "Please excuse me", "We are sorry for", "We regret our clumsiness..."
6. Inappropriate terms: "Incident" instead of "error", "misunderstanding" instead of "complaint"
When writing too quickly, words get confused under the pen. "Misunderstanding", "compromise", "complaint", "claim", "error", "setback", "incident", "accident", which are part of a negative vocabulary, are thus often taken for each other. "The complaint (instead of "claim") that you sent me". "We hope that this incident (instead of "error") will not affect our relationship". The recipient will deduce that you do not master the language of Molière. Consult the dictionary to check the meaning of the terms used. And reread yourself.
>> Write: Carefully study the context before choosing the appropriate noun.
Lentreprise.lexpress.fr
Posted online January 10, 2014.
Email is treacherous. Under its false airs of conviviality, it offers an illusory freedom. With a simple click, one responds instantly, but by freeing oneself from the very codified uses of paper correspondence. A well-written email to your superior, your partners or your colleagues will highlight your image: it is a reflection of your competence. Here are 6 frequent mistakes to eliminate from your practices.
1. Subject: (...) or Memo, RE: Memo, RE: Re Memo
Leaving this field blank is the best way not to be read or very late. Indicating a subject is mandatory even in a response. The more explicit and concise it is, the more it will capture attention. By browsing it, your interlocutor must immediately be able to grasp five key points: who, what, when, how, where. In addition, if you make several email returns on a subject but with different versions, be sure to number the subject so that no one loses track. If it is just to remind a meeting add "Reminder".
>> Write: "Service meeting of October 14, 9:30 am on project Z"; "Reminder meeting, etc.". Or "Memo: version 1", "Memo: version 2"... "Memo: final version".
2. Recipients: to Sylvie, cc: Christophe, Martine, Luc, Bastien, Paul...
Sending messages in copy to a plethora of individuals will disserve you. Especially if it concerns your superiors. 1/ People will think that you open the umbrella at the slightest decision, which weakens you. 2/ You upset the main recipient who feels spied on and controlled by others; especially if you have addressed reproaches to him. 3/ You waste a lot of time for your bosses or your peers, who are overwhelmed with emails. In the long run, you will be despised, even perceived as cowardly.
>> Write: to Sylvie.
3. Grammatical Tense: "I would like that", "Could you come to my office?"
Be careful not to mix the future and the conditional. A mistake, sometimes inadvertently, but which makes you judged. Because the use of this first "tense" implies an order like the imperative. It is often badly experienced by the teams who, when reading, risk bristling by calling you a "little boss". The conditional, on the other hand, remains a proposition, leaving its freedom to the other.
>> Write: "I would like (with an "s") that", "I would ask you to", "Could you come to my office?"
4. Politeness formulas: "See you later", "See you soon", "See you soon".
It's not easy to find the right closing formula. "I beg you to accept, Sir...", "Please receive..." are outdated epistolary expressions. Even "distinguished greetings" is dated. The best is simplicity. "Sincerely" is as pleasing to one's manager as it is to one's colleagues or clients. Eliminate familiar and abbreviated locutions, including the awful "See you later". Too casual. And if you exchange different emails during the day, there is no need to say goodbye with each message. Once is enough.
Above all, do not forget to sign: with your full first name and your last name. It's a mark of politeness. You can add a business card. 1/ This enhances the company externally. 2/ You will make life easier for your correspondent who will not have to look for postal or telephone coordinates.
Write: "(Best) Regards", "Best regards", "Sincerely yours", Jeanne Dupont (and not J. Dupont)
5. Language mistakes: "I apologize", "our deepest apologies", "I'm sorry"
Beware of French mistakes or exaggerations. One does not apologize, any more than one flattens oneself by pushing one's interlocutor to take out his handkerchief. Recognizing one's wrongs is a delicate art. Avoid being too direct with an "Excuse me". Keep a certain deference with more rounded phrases.
>> Write: "Please excuse me", "We are sorry for", "We regret our clumsiness..."
6. Inappropriate terms: "Incident" instead of "error", "misunderstanding" instead of "complaint"
When writing too quickly, words get confused under the pen. "Misunderstanding", "compromise", "complaint", "claim", "error", "setback", "incident", "accident", which are part of a negative vocabulary, are thus often taken for each other. "The complaint (instead of "claim") that you sent me". "We hope that this incident (instead of "error") will not affect our relationship". The recipient will deduce that you do not master the language of Molière. Consult the dictionary to check the meaning of the terms used. And reread yourself.
>> Write: Carefully study the context before choosing the appropriate noun.
Lentreprise.lexpress.fr
Posted online January 10, 2014.
