Tips & Tricks
To help you get ahead in the wired world...

EMAIL TURNS THIRTY in the coming weeks, after entering the world shouting! According to a recent article in Wired News, Ray Tomlinson, the American engineer considered the "father of e-mail", can't quite recall when the first message was sent, what it said, or even who the recipient was. But he can remember one thing - it was all in upper case. And as even the newest of newbies knows this is seen as shouting at the reader and is generally considered poor "netiquette".

And it has to be said, writing emails is a tricky business. Whether it is a business or personal mail, you need to catch and retain the attention of the reader. In a world where most people's in-boxes are brimful, this is not as easy as it sounds. Apart from choice of words, you have to pay attention to the formatting, even if you normally send your emails in plain text.

Getting your most wanted response

Because email is used so extensively in business, the key requirement is to get your most wanted response. This might take many forms: you might want someone to buy something from you, hire you, or simply get a clear grasp of your message. Whatever the case, certain rules will help you achieve your aim.

Emoticons

"Because it is read from a monitor screen, email tends to be cold and emotionless..."

Because it is read from a monitor screen, e-mail tends to be a cold and emotionless medium. It's also very easy to offend people without even knowing you have. So if you have a dry sense of humor, people often don't get the joke. Sarcasm, even meant in good heart, is usually misinterpreted. That's why emoticons (smileys, etc) were developed. They allow you to make it clear when what you are saying is not meant to be taken seriously. Those with a dry sense of humor, for example, can use ;-) which is a wink and a grin.

Other emoticons include:

:-) Smiling

:-D laughing

:-O Shock

:-( Frowning

For an encyclopedic list of emoticons, go to:

http://www.cknow.com/ckinfo/emoticons.htm

Here's a list of tips that will not only make your email messages more effective, they'll keep you from landing in hot water...

• Sum it up in the subject line; it sets the tone and determines whether anyone will read your note.

• Keep anything important on the first screenful and preferably in the first paragraph - that's all people are likely to read!

• While they say it isn't right for regular letters, contractions are good to use in e-mails.

• Use short sentences and paragraphs.

• Wrap your text at between 55 and 65 characters. It is very tiring to read text that spans the whole width of the monitor screen. The reason that newspaper and magazine copy is laid out in columns is for that reason - it's easier to read.

• If you do have to write a long email, consider breaking it up with headings and sub-headings.

• When emailing someone new, introduce yourself in the first paragraph: e.g. "Dear whoever, My name is Jane Winters, director of Eastern Freight. I'm writing to ask... etc, etc." Although email has "from" and "subject" headers, most people go straight to the body text of the email. So it's very effective to state who you are and what you want in the opening sentence.

• If your email is intended to sell a product or service, include a PS that reiterates your offer. Offline sales letters with a PS have been shown to get a higher response rate than those without. Statistics show the same is true with email.

• E-mails are often international in scope. So bear in mind there are cultural differences in how people react to idioms, and that some idioms are meaningless outside their country of origin. For example, Americans refer to the "Big Apple" and say "American as apple pie." While the British will "send someone to Coventry," which means they will ostracize them. Don't take it for granted that these terms will be understood in other countries. 

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