Email Writing Best Practices From Guest Contributor Ken O’Quinn

In the rush to keep up with emails, many of us hurriedly type a message, bang the send button, and then wonder why the reader ignored it.

You can’t just spray information on the screen and assume that because it’s all there somewhere that the reader will piece it together. Nor can you use the first two paragraphs as a warm-up exercise and eventually get around to why you are writing. Your intended audience owes you nothing. If you don’t give them a reason to read, they have plenty of other things to do. Therefore, consider these best practices before you hit “reply all” or draft a new email.

Make the subject line specific

A substantive subject line delivers real information indicating what is in the message that makes it worth the reader’s time. Most people are sloppy. They toss in two or three words – the first that come to mind – but the words give the reader little insight as to the nature of the message. Use six or seven words if you need them to be specific.

Use a summary paragraph

In most messages, the opening paragraph should contain two or three highlights that capture the essence of the entire memo. Busy readers wondering whether they need to deal with this issue now should be able to read the first paragraph and know anything of importance relating to why you wrote the message.

A good summary paragraph accomplishes two things:

As in the lead of a news story, it focuses the reader’s attention on the core news and provides context.
It reduces the time needed to comprehend the rest of the message. By giving the reader a preview of what is to come, you give the reader a path, a sense of where you are taking her, making it easier for her to absorb and process the rest of your message.

A summary paragraph is not laden with details; those are below, in the body of the text. If you have any concern that the reader will miss something important, point the reader to it by saying something such as “See the ‘next steps’ paragraph below for instructions.”

If you are conveying unpleasant information (the “bad news” message), you might not open with a summary paragraph, because the significant information is the bad news, and you probably will not want to begin with that.

Use graphic elements for easy reading

People use bullets and bold headings in a more traditional Word document memo, but they tend not to do it in email. Why not? If it’s a one- or two-sentence message, fine. But in a longer email, consider using them. They make the information more easily accessible.

What’s your biggest peeve about emails? How do you balance the need to communicate quickly with the need to communicate clearly? Share your ideas. 
Ken O’Quinn is a former Associated Press writer and now a corporate writing coach who conducts workshops for companies such as Chevron, Visa, Oracle, Raytheon, Sprint, and John Deere. Find more tips at www.WritingWithClarity.com and www.facebook.com/WritingWithClarity.

Regain Control Over Your Financial Content Approval Process

In the highly regulated world of financial services, communicating in an engaging, or (God forbid), entertaining manner is no easy task. After seeing good copy watered down by overzealous legal and compliance reviewers lo these many years, I have to remind myself that’s it okay (sometimes) to write that an event “will” occur, rather than “may potentially” occur.

The communications approval process gets even more challenging when legal and compliance reviewers insert their own editorial comments as well. For example, a recent draft I wrote for a client had, according to the legal/compliance reviewer, the following offending phrases:

• It’s no wonder
• Makes your head spin
• Catch wind
• Set aside

These phrases were deemed “too conversational” and thus were stricken in favor of blander, more legal sounding phraseology.

One way to avoid this kind of micro-management of your communications is to develop a firm-wide style guide that spells out what’s acceptable and what’s not.

Obviously, when it comes to compliance, there is no avoiding certain rules, and often for good reason. For example, making exaggerated claims or making unsuitable recommendations is not just bad communications, but bad business as well.

That said, a detailed style guide can help you gain more control over editorial issues, help resolve disputes, and streamline the review and approval process. In addition to detailing how your firm treats terms like “e-mail” or “euro zone,” your style guide should address your overall approach to communicating with your target audience. For instance:

• We speak directly to the reader, using the second person (you)
• We use an informal, one-to-one, conversational style
• We always focus on customer benefits rather than product features
• We avoid jargon and write short sentences

A written policy also gives you something to refer to when disputes arise. When someone tries to reword something to their own liking, your style guide allows you to push back ever so gently.

While you’re in the process of developing your style guide, take the time to document your approval process. Document who needs to see what, when they need to see it, how much time to allot for review, and the scope of the edits you’re looking for. Keep in mind that the more people you include in the process, the more comments you’re going to get. So, unless a person’s input is critical, leave them out.

Finally, make sure you document who is responsible for proofreading and who needs to give final approval. Keep in mind that, once you have documented your style guide and approval process, it doesn’t need to be set in stone. If problems arise, revise it and move forward.

How does your approval process work? What are your biggest frustrations? Vent here!

Neil Rhein runs Bull’s-eye Financial Communications, where he specializes in creating customized, authentic communications for financial services clients, including mutual fund companies and asset managers, investment advisers, wealth managers, broker-dealers, clearing firms, and retirement plan sponsors and administrators. For more information, visit www.bullseyecommunications.net.