Writing Effective Emails

Earlier this year, we launched a new website at Christ Fellowship. We knew that when we did so, our online correspondence would increase.

We decided to provide a quick guide for writing effective, efficient & clear emails. I spent a couple of days reviewing and scouring through The Blogging Church and E-Writing, and this is the a guideline that I distributed to help people write better emails. Feel free to add comments on anything I might have omitted or haven’t thought about.

With the launch of the new website, we are expecting an increase in the number of emails that each of us will be receiving. In fact, many of you will begin receiving emails instead of phone calls because we have littered the new site with Contact opportunities.

For that reason, we wanted to provide a quick guide for writing effective, efficient & clear emails. Please be good stewards of each opportunity you are presented to minister by responding within 8 business hours to any email request.

Please, over the next couple of days, take the time to read through the details of this email, so we can be consistent and strong with our email communication!

Write Your Emails in Descending Order
Use the MADE* format

1. Start with the Message. (the punch line, or the most important thing first)
2. State the Action. (what you want the reader to do)
3. Provide the Details. (who, what, where, when, why, and how much)
4. Add additional Evidence.

*Your job as a writer is to present your most important information up front, and allow the reader to determine how much or how little detail they want. We all know that on the web, people only read as much as they want… and we want our emails read and understood.

Tips for Netiquette

Here are some general things to remember when communicating in email:

Addressing

* Avoid Group Emails
* Any mass distributed emails (50+ recipients) need to be cleared with the communications department.
* The general rule is not to CC more than 10 people. If for broadcast communication that’s necessary, use BCC instead.
* Use CC and BCC appropriately
* Don’t use BCC to keep others from seeing who you copied; it shows confidence when you directly CC anyone receiving a copy. Do use BCC, however, when sending to a large distribution list, so recipients won’t have to see a huge list of names. Be cautious with your use of CC; overuse simply clutters inboxes.
* Use a proper Signature
* To ensure that people know who you are, include a signature that has your contact information, including your mailing address, Web site, and phone numbers.
* Generally, you want to respond to communication in the channel which the person requested. Unless otherwise noted, if they submit with email, they’re expecting an email response. (certain urgent care contacts may need telephone contact/follow up)
* Don’t send chain letters, virus warnings, or junk email

Writing

* WRITING IN ALL CAPS… is considered yelling on the internet
* Answer questions, and pre-empt impending ones, it honors the recipient
* Use as few pronouns as possible (he, she, they, them)
* Be specific and brief. State the who what where when and why for clarity and brevity.
* Remember that your tone of voice can’t be heard.

Formatting

* Use bulleted lists for brief concise communication and numbered lists for actions or steps
* Use bold and underline to emphasize headings, critical information or calls to action.
* Save your emails as templates so in the future, you can reuse them and be consistent with our responses on various topics
* Don’t use pictured backgrounds or include photos of your pets
* Keep your emails clear of things that might distract the reader from the communication itself, or things that take a long time to download.

Editing

* Read it before you send it
* Have others edit emails that are of a highly formal nature, and one’s that are written for mass distribution
* Don’t forget that when you write something down, you can’t take it back!

Tagged as: email, writing