Subject: Effective Email Communication

Prepared by: Huang Kaiyang

Date: 6 Aug 2021

Overview:

Email is one of the most common forms of communication at work. However, we have all received emails
that were not relevant or unclear. These can be confusing and cause misunderstandings. Effective emails
should help recipients:
● understand information quickly
● make better and faster decisions
● be clear on what to do next

Here are 5 guidelines to make emails more effective:

Do Do Not
Guideline 1: Select the right recipients for your email

✔ Decide who should receive this email
Double-check the recipients’ address
✔
🗶 Select ‘Reply All’ when your message is not
relevant for everyone
🗶 Send confidential information to people

that should not have access

Guideline 2: Share ‘why’ you are sending the message

✔ Share the context of your message 🗶 Use an unclear subject line

Specify what you need from the recipient

🗶 Assume recipients remember all past details
✔

Guideline 3: Structure your message using Situation-Complication-Resolution (SCR)

✔ Use Situation-Complication-Resolution 🗶 Write in long paragraphs with no structure

(SCR) structure consistently

Guideline 4: Highlight important points clearly

✔ Use bullet points and formatting to make 🗶 Use difficult words or complex, long
key points easier to read sentences without structure or bullet points

✔ Provide a summary of key points for 🗶 Send documents without any background
attached documents or summaries (unless discussed before)

Guideline 5: Respond within 48 hours (ideally 24 hours) unless deadline otherwise stated or over
weekend/holiday

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 ✔ Respond to emails as early as possible to 🗶 Sit on emails without informing the sender
reduce waiting time across the organisation (even if waiting for inputs from others for
a full reply)

Before drafting your email, decide if it is suitable for your objective:

● For an urgent or a simple request, use Seatalk.

● To discuss multiple ideas with many people, arrange a meeting.
● To present points for more complex topics, use a memo or PowerPoint presentation slides.
● For more difficult conversations (e.g., sharing negative feedback), arrange a face-to-face meeting or
over a video call.

Guidelines for effective email communication:

1. Select the right recipients for your email

o Do: Decide who should receive the email
▪ Remove recipients who do not need to be included.
▪ Consider if anyone needs to be put in CC list so that they are kept informed.
o Do: Double-check the recipients addresses
▪ There may be employees with similar names.
▪ If we send emails to the wrong recipients, this can be confusing or problematic
when there is sensitive information (e.g., information on customers).
o Do not: Select ‘Reply All’ when your response is not relevant for everyone.
▪ Think carefully about who should receive your email. Do they need to know? Do
they need to act? If not, don’t include them.
▪ In emails with large groups of people, reply to relevant recipients, not the whole
group. This helps to reduce ‘spam’ and keep the conversation focused.
o Do not: Send confidential information to people that should not have access
▪ Some email threads may have sensitive information. We must be careful to limit
such information to selected recipients.

2. Share ‘why’ you are sending the message

o Do: Share the context of your message
▪ In most situations, your recipient may not have the full picture.
▪ Summarise the background to help your recipients understand quickly. 2-3 bullet
points make this easy to read.
o Do: Specify what you need from the recipient
▪ Ensure your message is clear on ‘who’ needs to do ‘what’.
▪ If there are deadlines, make the ‘when’ clear.
▪ Make your objective clear (e.g., to get approval, update progress, request support,
check deadlines).
o Do not: Use an unclear subject line

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 ▪ A good subject line helps your recipient quickly understand your email objective.
▪ Indicate the action needed in your subject title - e.g. ‘[For approval] Initiative ABC
voucher release’. Other examples include: For Feedback/ For your Information/
For Alignment.
▪ You may want to include the date if your message is part of a regular series of emails
– e.g. ‘[For review] Monthly People Initiatives Update – 26 August’
o Do not: Assume recipients remember past details
▪ Most of us will not remember every past detail or decision.
▪ Recap and summarise important past details. Include important information related
to your objectives. This is especially if you are following up on something that was
mentioned a while ago.

3. Use Situation-Complication-Resolution (SCR) Approach to Convey Information

o Do: Use Situation-Complication-Resolution (SCR) structure consistently
▪ Use a clear structure to make information easier to process and understand.
▪ Situation: Summarise the relevant context
Complication: Explain the problem and how it affects other things
Resolution: Propose a solution with reasons
o Do not: Write in long paragraphs with no structure
▪ Key points can be easily missed when your email is disorganised. Follow these steps:
Organise your thoughts with the SCR approach.
Write the email.
Read through it to check the flow is clear.
4. Highlight important points clearly
o Do: Use bullet points, bolding and underlining to make points easier to read.
▪ Use bullet points to make your key points easier to read, and to keep them concise
(instead of a long wall of text).
▪ Use Bold and Underline for the critical parts of your email (e.g., deadline)
▪ However, don’t overdo text formatting. For example, combining Underline, Bold,
Italics, and different colors in one email. This makes it hard to see what’s important.
o Do: Provide a summary of key points for attached documents
▪ Write a short summary of the key points for the attached documents in your email.
▪ This will enable your team and managers to quickly understand the main points and
know what to focus on.
o Use difficult words or complex, long sentences without structure or bullet points
▪ Use simple, everyday language. Remove all complex language and jargon from your
emails. For example, write ‘get’ instead of ‘acquire’. ‘Use’ instead of ‘Utilise”.
▪ Be as concise as possible. Keep sentences as short as you can. Where possible, each
sentence should have only one thought.
o Do not: Send documents without any background or summaries (unless discussed
before)
▪ When we include documents without providing background information or key
points for recipients, it is hard for them to figure out your intention.
▪ Always think from the perspective of your recipient. What would help them

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 understand the document better?

5. Respond within 48 hours (ideally 24 hours) unless deadline otherwise stated or over
weekend/holiday
o Do: Respond as early as possible to reduce waiting time across the organisation
▪ It is a negative experience for senders when they have to wait for a long period of
time or send multiple reminders.
▪ If you need more time to respond or to act on a request, let the sender know when
you will be able to get back to them.
▪ When we receive emails right before the weekend or holiday period for example, we
could respond as early as possible on the next working day. This would depend on
the urgency of the request.
o Do not: Sit on emails without informing the sender
▪ When we sit on emails without any response, it is unclear to the sender if there is
any follow-up on your end.
▪ Even if you need to wait for inputs from others before you can send a full reply,
send an acknowledgement to the sender. Let the person know the actions you are
taking, and when they might expect a response from you.

We strongly recommend that you follow these guidelines for effective email communication, and to continue
sharing other best practices with one another. As our organisation grows, it is even more important to write
clear and concise emails, to ensure we are all on the same page and moving forward together.

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 Applying our guidelines: Putting it all together

Email subject: [For your feedback] Recommendations to change Specify what you need
participant list and program flow for Event X from the recipient

Hi A,

For Event X taking place next week (1 st Sept at 3pm), there are Share the context and
critical changes that we will need your feedback and approval on. objective of your message.

Situation The current situation is that we have secured all speakers and
logistics. 112 attendees (of 140 invited) have confirmed their
attendance. Bold important text

Complication However, yesterday there were updates to safe distancing measures.

● Up to 100 attendees with Pre-event testing (PET)
● Up to 50 persons without Pre-event testing (PET)
● Unmasking will not be allowed Use bulleted points and
underlining
Assuming we proceed with the event, 3 key things are impacted:
1. Who will be part of the event Use concise language
2. How do we include people who can no join physically
3. How do we ensure we follow strict guidelines at event

Please see attached document for details on our proposed ideas to Provide a short summary
address the change. Key points below: for attached documents

Resolution [For your feedback] We have 3 main recommendations:

1. …
2. …
3. …

Following your feedback on our recommendations, our next steps

will be: Use numbered points
1. …
2. …
3. …

Regards,
Sam