Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 0:28
#AskSwell | What are some professional email tips that you can share?
Hey, swell people, it's Angela, and I want to start a conversation about some of our best practices for professional email. What are some do's and don'ts that you follow? Because clearly there's no standard system. We all kind of handle email in our own way. But let's start a thread about some of our best practices and tips that we can probably share and help someone else with. I'll share a couple of mine in the comments
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 1:34
His name is Michael, but since we first started working together, he's always been Mike. He's always put in his email closing Mike, have a good day, comma, Mike. And so that gave me the permission to address him as Mike. And that's what I usually look for before I get to calling someone, whether it's by their first name or whether it's by any sort of shortened name or nickname
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 0:55
Another practice that I like to use is if I need to, I'll say thank you versus thanks again. Unless this is someone that we've had conversations via email before over the telephone in person, and we can get to the level where I can say thanks, it is always thank you or some other closing, and I cannot think of the proper word for this. So if closing is not the right I'm lost for words today, guys
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 2:17
It's. One last tip that I got from someone who was the head of some sort of training at our state Department of labor is to keep your emails to five sentences or less. I love this. When I first heard it and I put it into practice, couple of reasons. You ever heard the phrase explain it to me as if I was a five year old? There's a school of thought that if you really you know something, then you're able to simplify it
Andrea Piggue
@Andrea_SpeaksĀ Ā·Ā 0:38
So I'm not sure what it's called either. I know it's not a benediction, but I'm not sure what it's called either. But so for my closing, I always have respectfully. So respectfully is in my signature on my email, and so I always use respectfully. If I want to say thank you or anything else, I'll type that in. But on my signature it says respectfully
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 0:34
You. Thanks, Andrea. Of course, I was cracking up at the Benediction as we leave this place, but never your presence. Yeah, that's funny. But, yes, I like respectfully. I'm going to be honest. I usually use that one if it's a reprimand or I said what I said type of thing, I'll say respectfully, like I ain't going to address this again
Andrea Piggue
@Andrea_SpeaksĀ Ā·Ā 2:32
So typically I'll say like exciting or I'll say awesome technician positions or something like that to catch their attention, to make them actually want to open up my email and read it. And so that's something that I use. Also, I don't use emojis in my emails even if it's in their office. I don't use emojis. We have Microsoft teams for that. I don't do it even with my managers
Nidhin George š·
@geo_rhymesĀ Ā·Ā 3:04
And I think culture and geography have a lot to play when it comes to email salutations and particularly subject lines. Because I think with a lot of the American firms, the norm is that you address someone by their last name. But within the Indian ecosystem and Nidhin Indian startups, it's more of an acknowledged manner or a respectful way to address someone by their first name, because the last name almost in most cases ends up being the father's name or perhaps a family name
Evelyn Phipps
@LadyFiĀ Ā·Ā 1:30
And some of these jobs, they hang up the phone, they're on the phone with somebody else, and they just want you to know that they're busy and that you see them, that they're doing their best and that they'll get back to you. They just want the respect. I feel like that is a better email professional tip from me that I had. I don't know if that would work for you, but I always like to be respected
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 2:07
Some people send me emails with emojis or even with the gifs in it. I haven't studied it that much to even put a gist in it because honestly it's work. I'm not trying to do all that, but humor really doesn't go very far in emails. I remember in my former job, we were waiting for an order sorry, I have to pause
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 2:25
It seems like we don't care, but we need to bring that back because that's a missing piece. So I thank you so much for what you offered. That actually brought a lot of value to me. Thank you so much
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 2:25
You. Thank you, Ms. Evelyn. That was definitely a helpful tip. Humor doesn't translate well in emails, but however kindness does, and even anger. So I've learned too, like, to type with a smile and your words will literally come out better. I've also learned that if you're angry, don't type or you're angry, you could type it all out
Leanne Pritchett
@TheMs.LeanneĀ Ā·Ā 1:03
I'm not quite sure if that's where you're going with this, S, but always try to keep I've tried to keep emotion out of it. And don't use emojis, just keep it like, all right, so let's say something happened and you're upset with someone. So instead of doing that, just say, okay, God forbid someone's parents passed or whatever. You can say, I'm sorry to hear that, and then move on from there
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 2:07
And I started with teenagers, and so that's definitely one of the first things I tell them. I tell them to use an email that has some sort of form of first name, last name. If you have a really common name, that might be hard to do, but something like that, you don't want a name. Like I can't think. Big booty burst. I don't know where I came up with that
Moe Johnson
@NeophyteSavantĀ Ā·Ā 1:56
And that's about it. Probably kind of corny, but that's basically what it what it is. Anyway, I'm gonna cut it short ontie Ange, because right now I am at the Poconos in Pennsylvania. So I'm in an indoor water park right now. I can't say, have a wonderful weekend. It feels like a weekend for me, but it's actually a weekday
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77Ā Ā·Ā 4:49
My doctors are guilty of this because they get hundreds of emails per day. So sometimes my emails just get lost in the sauce. But returning emails in a timely fashion is extremely helpful to let people know that you saw the email. Anything else I can think of? Avoid using emojis in professional emails because we have emoji functions in our outlook. Avoid using emojis in your emails. If you want to put a little smiley face at the end of a sentence, that's fine
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 0:38
Because that's what we all need in life, and you certainly deserve it. So thanks so much for chiming in. Always a pleasure to hear you and your responses. And thank you for this so much. Enjoy
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 4:41
And so, like I said, I kind of told my son not to get into that practice, but I think that's what some adults probably need to do too, right? I have another question for you, and I don't know if I just put it in a thread or ask you, what are your thoughts? So I believe in being polite and kind in emails, but also short and to the point
Tanya Coles
@MsColes77Ā Ā·Ā 1:41
And nobody, I don't think, should be offended because someone didn't send them a thank you email or whatever. I don't think that anyone should be offended by that, because at the end of the day, it's a business, and professional courtesy is great, but it's a business, and so we have things to do. No, I don't do all of that. Thank you. You're welcome them. No, I don't do that
Angela Kaye
@AnngieKayeĀ Ā·Ā 3:58
I might want to start a whole nother thread because I really want to know about using the carbon copy and the blind copy on the email. Like, when do you use it? Do we overuse it? I feel like I'm copied on a lot of stuff that I don't need to be copied, done. And then because everyone feels solely has to reply to all, I get a lot of responses that have nothing to do with me, but yet there's a responsibility