8 Email Etiquette Tips - How to Write Better Emails at Work

Learning the unspoken rules for writing professional emails can improve how competent you appear in the eyes of colleagues.

00:00 Why bother with email etiquette?
01:19 Include CTA in subject line
02:13 One email thread per topic
02:48 Manage recipients
03:27 Start with the main point
04:30 Summarize in your reply
05:10 Hyperlink whenever possible
05:38 Change default setting to "Reply" (not "Reply all")
06:06 Change undo send options

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#HarvardBusinessReview #Email #Etiquette

[trinitygao]

That 30-second undo Gmail rule simply saved my life!

[NRsDodu]

Beginning with the action required, then adding context at the end of an email is a new one for me, and makes so much sense.

[jihancessar]

"Summarize in your reply" is my favorite one. It makes you a bit organized and professional.

[samantharouth]

I am a wordy writer in emails, but the call to action first and then context, along with the main info on the email header is my big take aways! Thank you so much for the great tips and tricks. Great learning expereince!!

[ninjamiann]

I usually just schedule send of +3mins so I can have a longer "undo send" because murphy's law in the workplace is very real

[achieving.excellence]

Considering the volume of emails we read on a daily basis - this type of email etiquette would save so much time and effort if emails are structured in this way. Thank you!

[noumaan]

As a remote team, we mostly use Slack. Some of the email etiquettes apply to Slack too. Would be nice to have a separate video on Slack etiquettes.

[setionos]

1. Include CTA in subject line
2. One email thread per topic
3. Recipient management
4. Start with main point first, then context
5. Summarise in your reply
6. Hyperlink whenever possible
7. Change default setting to reply (not reply all)
8. Change undo send option to 30 seconds

[pavithren]

The most useful takeaways for me. The tip about prioritizing the action items and moving context to later part of the email + CTA In subject. Thanks Jeff and HBR!

[alexk]

What I really appreciate is when coworkers have an appropriate signature block with all contact information and titles. Especially in lengthy chain emails.

[Wyfind]

My biggest tip: Add line breaks and consider bolding. It takes a lot of time to treasure hunt through one large block of text

[runwaychick]

I really like the addressing the main concern and THEN adding context!

[natalieyuen]

Love the partnership with HBR!! And I will vote for "Summarize in the reply" with your video link shared 🤣🤣🤣

[GB-TX]

I almost rolled my eyes at this email, thinking I didn't need to listen because I'm a solid email-writer.... but this man just blew my mind! I'm humbled! Great advice across the board. They seem so simple and obvious and yet, rarely do people use these tips. But boy would I appreciate/and be more responsive if they did!

[geasaw]

Very helpful tips. Changing default reply to SENDER instead of REPLY TO ALL was useful for me. Also changing the UNDO SEND OPTION to 30 s was great help, avoiding lot of embarrassment and improving clarity. Thanks a ton .. 🙂

[geoffscott]

I thought I knew how to write businesss email until now. I will apply most of these tips from now on. Thank you!

[saronighosh]

Love the 30sec undo rule, calling out the action required upfront followed by the context and the idea of adding a specific CTA (beyond just action required) in the subject title. Thanks Jeff for these actionable tips.

[JeanJohn]

Tip 2 is my favourite, been using it since I started my first job. It keeps everything organised in my mail box and I can easily find previous mails. I recently talked to my team about it because they preferred sending multiple mails on a single topic.
I also like tip 6 - hyperlinks, ever since I discovered CTRL+K, I bade goodbye to long links in my mails.
Thank you for sharing Jeff, I didn’t know about tip 8 on Gmail.

[Jeff-yqqr]

I definitely like #4 the most and I've actually be thinking about doing this in my sales emails for quite some time. I haven't been sure if it's too uncomfortably straight forward or not, but It makes sense, though.. get to the "ask" first and then color it with context later. Even when I read emails, I automatically go to the bottom to see what the "ask" is, and then go back up to read the context.

[caedengoering]

This is LEGIT. Thanks for the info. I’ve done the generic action required, but I love the specified tip. I also love the explanation of new member/removal of members, as well as giving the request up front, and context second.