Excel at Email

Useful Subject Lines: The most important part of an email is its subject line. Summarize the purpose of the message clearly in a very condensed form and make the receiver want to open the message. Each message is a fight to keep the readers finger from clicking Delete and his or her eye rom moving back to in-box scanning. Remember, they typical worker receives 11,680 emails per year. Some deal with many, many more. Make your email standout by using a useful subject line.

In general, subject lines should be limited to 5-8 words. Subject lines should appear as a combination of upper and lowercase. Capitalizing each work is usually most appropriate. In some instances, a good subject line could replace the need for the actual email message. Avoid meaningless statements such as Help, Important, or Meeting.

Write good subject lines for the following email. Please indicate if any of the following subject lines could replace the actual email message. They should be concise and to the point and clearly identify what the upcoming message is about.

1. Provide employees details about relocating their offices during the building renovation (important dates and office assignments, packing procedures, security issues)

Subject:

2. You are part of a committee planning a banquet for the companys annual alumni event. You want to give the committee a report on the location choices available at the rates agreed on at the planning meeting.

Subject:

3. Send a follow-up message to a recruiter you talked with at a career fair on your campus. Attach the requested copy of your resume.

Subject:

4. Inform the Advertising staff that the weekly staff meeting (Monday at 10:00 a.m. has been been moved to Tuesday, March 1 at 10:00 a.m.

Subject:

5. As a member of the Human Resource Team, you must send a message to all employees in the building asking that the come to the HR Office to pick up new parking permits by March 1.

Subject:

Email Messages: Analyze the following email message for content, formatting and email practices. A good way to do this is to read the email first as a proofread. Identify all the errors you can. Then, read the email and get the larger picture. Does the tone and framing of the message match the email?

6. List as many errors as you can find in the following email. Remember to proofread and look for errors with content and formatting. Please present your answers (at least 8) in a bulleted list.

TO: MS. JANETTE WELLS, MANAGER, CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER

SUBJECT: GOAL FINALLY ACHIEVED

HEY JANETE

AS YOU KNOW, WE HIRE AN INDEPENDENT CUSTOMER QUALITY ASSURANCE FORM TO LISTEN TO THE PNONE RECORDINGS OF YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES. OVER THE PAST YEAR THAT FIRM HAS REPORTED THAT THE QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY OF OUR REPRESENTATIVES HAS FAILED TO IMPROVE. HOWEVER, LAST MONTH THE FIRM FINALLY REPORTED THAT YOUR SALES REPRESENTATIVES ACHIEVED OUR ESTABLISHED GOALS. WE COMMEND YOU ON THIS ACHIEVEMENT. THANK YOU FOR ASSURING THAT THE CUSTOMER IS KING IS NOT JUST AN EMPTY ADVERTISING SLOGAN.

TY!

7. For this next email, as many problems as you can identify. These are less likely to be proofreading errors and more likely to be style, format or content errors. Please present your answers (at least 6) in a bulleted list.

To: john.vance@securityspecialists.com

From: dr.timothy.chen@valleyinternists.com

Subject: Inquiry

I am a physician in a small medical practice, and I am worried about protecting patients medical information. Your website looks quite promising but I found it overwhelming. I would not find answers to my specific questions, so I am writing this message to ask them. Could you call me within the next two days? I am in clinics most days until 4:00 p.m. and try to leave the office by 6:00 p.m.

First, as I mentioned heretofore, my practice is small. Do you have experience in working with small medical practices? We may already have experienced a security breach. When you investigate, if you find out that privacy laws have been broken, do you report them to government agencies immediately?

Were really extremely interested in how you investigate an incident that may have taken place. If you discover a privacy breach, do you help your client make notification to his patients who are affected? Additionally, are you discreet about it?

I look forward to hearing from you,

Timothy Chen, M.D.