0: SPEAKER: OK, real talk.
1: Making email etiquette mistakes in the workplace
3: it's not going to capsize your career,
6: but learning the unspoken rules of writing professional emails
9: will affect how competent you are perceived to be
13: in the eyes of your colleagues.
14: And since there are no standardized training courses
16: for this, in this video, I'm going
18: to first share the very real benefits of getting
20: good at emailing in the workplace, then dive
24: into my top eight tips for professional email
26: etiquette many of which I learned
28: the hard way during my first full time job
31: as a management consultant.
32: So let's get started.
33: Hi, everyone.
34: My name is Jeff, and I'm truly honored to be able to partner
37: with Harvard Business Review for this video
39: about a nerdy passion of mine.
41: Email etiquette in the workplace.
43: Think back to the last time you received a poorly written
46: email, you might have had to reread it
48: a few times to get the main point
50: and the action items might have been
52: scattered all over the place.
53: Worst case scenario, it led to an unnecessarily long back
57: and forth email thread that could have been avoided
60: had the initial email been properly planned out
63: and therein lies the beauty of well crafted emails.
66: Not only does it help you the sender
68: come across as more capable by showcasing strong communication
72: skills, but also saves the reader so much
75: of their time by only surfacing information relevant to them.
79: So without further ado, my first step
81: is to have a call to action when appropriate
83: in the email subject line.
85: Most of us are familiar with a generic action required
88: in subject lines all right?
89: My recommendation is just take it a step further
92: and include exactly what you need the recipient to do
95: and the estimated time it takes for them to do it.
98: For example, instead of writing action required,
101: feedback for project X, write five minutes survey feedback
105: for project X instead.
106: This very small trick probably gave you a lot more context.
109: It's a survey for project X I can
111: get it done very quickly in between the two
113: meetings I have.
114: Or if it's not appropriate to include the estimated time,
118: be specific about the call to action.
121: For example, instead of spending estimates for Q4,
124: write Elon to approve spending estimates for Q4.
128: So Elon knows what's expected of him
130: even before he opens the email.
132: Step number two, stick with one email thread
135: for the same topic.
136: I'm going to be honest I got called out
138: for this by colleague of mine, but I'm glad she told me.
141: Basically I used to send out separate emails
143: for the same project whenever I had a new idea
146: or follow up question.
147: But if you think about it from the recipient's point of view,
150: they're missing the context from the original email
153: thread and multiple new emails on the same topic
156: just clog up their inboxes unnecessarily.
159: So the general rule of thumb here
161: is to stick to the original email
162: chain for any given topic.
164: So everyone can refer to the same information.
167: Email etiquette tip number three,
169: explain why you added in or took out
171: recipients in email threads.
173: There are many situations you have to add someone
175: in to the email thread to get their input,
177: or take someone out to spare their inbox.
179: A professional and easy way to do this
182: is to add a sentence at the very top of the email
184: clearly showing who you added in or took out.
187: I'd like to add parentheses and italicize the font
190: to separate it from the actual email body this way
193: the readers know who the new recipients are immediately.
196: Tip number four, actually addresses a very big pet peeve
198: of mine, which is when senders include a lot information up
202: front, but what they're really trying to get at or ask for is
205: at the very end of the email.
207: To avoid that always include your main point first,
210: followed by the context.
212: Just compare these two emails.
214: Hi Jane, my name is Jeff and I'm in the product marketing team.
217: We're preparing a forecast deck for the big boss
220: and he's looking for the revenue projection numbers
222: for the secret electric car that's launching soon.
224: Can I trouble you to pull that data for me?
226: Compare that with, Hi Jane, may l
228: please trouble you for the electric car revenue
230: projection numbers?
232: Context, the product marketing team
233: is currently preparing a forecast deck for the big boss
236: and we're hoping to use the projections to fight
238: for more budget.
239: It would be amazing to get numbers for 2025 to 2030
243: in a Google Sheets format.
244: By pushing the context back, we're
246: giving the other person the option
248: to read the not so important part of the email.
251: Oftentimes when we're emailing someone more senior than us,
254: we feel obligated to explain why we're
257: emailing right at the beginning so it doesn't
258: seem like we're bothering them.
260: This is actually counterproductive
261: because if the person is very senior they probably just want
264: to know what you're emailing them
265: about how they can help deal with it then move on
268: with their own schedules.
269: Tip number five, if you receive an email
271: with a lot of disorganized content,
273: summarize the sender's main points for them in your reply.
277: So if you receive an email from someone who clearly has not
280: watched this video and sent you a long wordy convoluted message
284: you have to reread a few times you want to do two things.
287: Number one, send them this video, number two,
291: take a few minutes identify and bucket common themes
294: from their email and summarize their message
297: in a few sentences before responding to whatever
300: they're emailing you about.
301: Not only does this help you confirm your understanding is
304: correct, the other party will appreciate
306: the extra effort you took to help
308: them organize their thoughts.
310: Email etiquette tip number six, hyperlink whatever possible.
314: This is another pet peeve of mine.
315: If you're sharing a link with someone over email,
317: you really should take the extra few seconds
319: to hit Command K on Mac or Control K on Windows
323: and hyperlink the external website or wevedio.
326: Not only to this looks so much cleaner to the recipient
328: than just pasting the big clunky link,
331: but it also decreases the chances
332: of you making a mistake by adding an extra letter
335: or deleting one in the original URL.
338: Tip number seven, change default setting
340: to reply instead of reply all.
342: This is honestly the risk averse side of me talking.
345: The way I think about it, let's say your reply
347: to an email in a rush and you do make a mistake,
350: the damage is contained to that one recipient
352: because your default setting is a reply to one person instead
356: of reply to all.
357: This is a standard setting and most if not
359: all of the popular email clients and you can usually
362: find this in the general settings section.
364: And email etiquette tip number eight,
366: change undo send option to 30 seconds.
369: So you might not know this, but Murphy's law
371: when it comes to emailing the workplace,
373: is that you will always catch your mistakes
376: 10 seconds after the email is already sent.
379: All jokes aside I'm sure we've all been there.
381: We send an email we go into the sent email folder to read it
384: from the other person's perspective
386: and we realize something is wrong.
387: Again this is a standard setting you can play around
389: with in all of the email apps.
391: Instead of the default five seconds undo send, for example,
394: we continue to 30 seconds for good measure.
396: Please let me and the HPR team know down the comments below,
400: which one of these tips was your favorite.
402: Or perhaps which ones you've already
404: been using all this time.
405: If you'd like to subscribe to my YouTube channel
407: where I make content on how to increase productivity at work,
410: feel free to click right here or search for JEFF SU.
413: See you on the next video, and In the meantime,
415: [CLICKING]
416: have a great one.
Harvard gives us some good advice on email etiquette. Sometimes doing business with Americans can be quite difficult. They have many unwritten rules about what you should, and shouldn't, write in emails. If you are doing business with the United States and don't want to offend people, then spend a few minutes to listen to this video from Harvard University. After you've watched the video don't forget to check out the Business English 23 course on writing emails in English.
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The Harvard Business Review is a publication which looks at all issues related to good, effective management. The HBR is based at Harvard University, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. The videos tend to use very high level English. If you are studying for an economics degree or if you are studying an MBA these videos will be very useful for you.