E-Mail or E-Mule

You decide!

M S Rajagopalan
“If you're making a bunch of little decisions - like, do I
read this Email now or later? Do I file it? Do I forward
it? Do I have to get more information? Do I put it in the
spam folder? - that's a handful of decisions right there,
and you haven't done anything meaningful. It puts us
into a brain state of decision fatigue.”
- Daniel Levitin
American-Canadian Psychologist & Neuroscientist

M S Rajagopalan
“Email is the lowest common denominator. It's the way
you get communications from one person to another.
There isn't really an alternative. People have
messengers turned on, but 99 percent of the time if
you're sending a message to a human you don't know
well, you're using Email.”
- Stewart Butterfield
Founder of Flickr and Slack

M S Rajagopalan
“I do love Email. Wherever possible I try to
communicate asynchronously. I'm really good at Email.”

- Elon Musk

M S Rajagopalan
 Ten things you and I can do
to make Email work much better for us

M S Rajagopalan
1. Pay attention to the Subject Line
• This field determines whether your Email will be
opened
• Make sure it clearly and crisply refers to the topic of
discussion
• For example, if you are sending a proposal, be specific
and write
– “The Cadbury Proposal is attached”
• Keep short and professional
– Avoid typos, all caps, smileys, etc.
• If there is a previous discussion on the same topic, it
helps to keep the Subject Line consistent

M S Rajagopalan
2. Use Address fields appropriately

• ‘To’ field is for people directly relevant and

expected to respond
• ‘CC’ field are for people who need not
respond or act
• Good practice to open your mail by addressing
all the people in the ‘To’ field
• Save and use your contacts list wisely!

M S Rajagopalan
3. Use right Salutations and Signoffs

• Use proper salutation at the beginning

– When in doubt, stay formal
• Signoff properly
– Safe to stay formal
– ‘Regards’, Best Wishes’ are fine
– ‘Cheers’, ‘Have fun’ are not fine!
• Keep signature files short and pertinent
– Avoid ‘pearls of wisdom’

M S Rajagopalan
4. Use Previous Email with care

• Never use ‘Reply’ or ‘Reply All’ buttons just to

capture a group of IDs
• Use ‘Reply All’ only when required to involve all
the members
• Edit/delete the trailing mails if they are not
required for reference
• When possible, it’s good to respond point by
point with color/font coding
• Remember to review the Subject field!

M S Rajagopalan
5. Craft your Content - Language

• Brevity is the key to good Email writing!

– Reach the subject matter directly, avoid
circumlocution!
• Formal or semi-formal language preferable
– Reduce jargon
– Avoid slang
• Write in active voice
• Keep language as gender-neutral as possible
• Humor often does not translate well on Email!

M S Rajagopalan
5. Craft your Content - Syntax

• Use proper spelling, punctuations and grammar

• Do not WRITE IN CAPS!
• Avoid emoticons and exclamation marks
• Minimize use of acronyms
– FYI, NRN, PFA, LOL,…
• Do not brutalize English!
– ‘c u ltr’ and so on

M S Rajagopalan
5. Craft your Content - Look & Feel

• Pay attention to consistency of font, color,

indents, etc.
– Black or Blue standard fonts preferable
• Give paragraph breaks
• Use bullet points wherever you can
• Use templates for frequent standard
responses

M S Rajagopalan
6. Check, Edit and Proof read

• You are judged as competent or sloppy by

your Emails!
• Firing off mails without reviewing results in
mistakes and loss of credibility and image
• Check, and re-check!
• Auto spell checks don’t filter many errors
– Example “Had I tea”

M S Rajagopalan
7. Attachments - To be or Not to be!

• Do not send huge attachments that clog the

mailboxes of recipients!
• Documents and files under 1 MB are
considered permissible
• For large files, pictures, videos, etc. there are
many other options to upload the files and
mail only the links

M S Rajagopalan
“When someone sends you an Email, they are knocking
on your door. And when you open the attachment,
without looking through the peephole to see who it is,
you just opened the door and let a stranger into your
life, where everything you care about is.”
- James Comey
US Attorney and ex-Director of FBI

M S Rajagopalan
8. Put Send/Receive under your control

• Have you at some time sent out an incomplete

mail?!
• Disable ‘Automatic Send and Receive’ when
you set up your mail
– Realize the power of the ‘Outbox’
• Very important Emails certainly deserve a rest
in the Drafts folder before travelling!

M S Rajagopalan
9. Get the Sequence right!
• Type in the content of the Email
• Do a spell/grammar check on outlook
• Do a reading to see if what you wanted to
convey is actually being conveyed or not
• Make changes if necessary
• Type the subject line
• Put Email ids in “To” and “CC” bar, as required
• Hit send
• Go to the outbox and send the Email after
checking everything is perfect

M S Rajagopalan
10. Respect People

• Respond to Email as soon as possible

– If you are busy, drop a line saying you will get back
• Schedule multiple-participant meetings
through a calendar-based scheduler, not
Emails
• Avoid sending important mails during the fag
end of business hours

M S Rajagopalan
To sum up
1. Pay attention to the Subject Line
2. Use the Address fields appropriately
3. Use proper Salutations and Signoffs
4. Use Previous mail with care
5. Craft your Content
6. Check, Edit and Proof read
7. Attachments - To be or Not to be
8. Put Send/Receive under your control
9. Get the Sequence right!
10. Respect People

M S Rajagopalan
The Most Important Email Tip

• Whenever an Email chain has gotten too long,

or the discussion too heated, Pick up the
phone or walk down the hall for a
conversation!

• No matter how good you are at Email, nothing

works like a face-to-face conversation!

M S Rajagopalan
“A five minute call replaces the time it takes to read and
reply to the original email and read and reply to their
reply... or replies. And I no longer spend 20+ minutes
crafting the perfect email - no need to.”
- Simon Sinek
Author and Motivational Speaker

M S Rajagopalan
 Thank You !

M S Rajagopalan