Best Email Advices

Read your email over and take out any superfluous information before you hit send. People who feel a need to tell their life story probably believe their request is on shaky ground in the first place, says Kawasaki. But more information won't get the recipient to take action. "Long emails are either unread or, if they are read, they are unanswered,"

Limiting yourself to five sentences forces you to think in a concise manner, helping you stay focused and save time. Shorter emails also allow the recipient to make a quick decision on what action to take, increasing the likelihood that you'll receive a reply.

If you want to encourage the recipient to reply in a similar fashion, web designer Mike Davidson created five.sentences, a website that explains the philosophy and includes text you can copy and paste into your email

The tone of an email is difficult to assess, but more often than not, the reader will assign a tone, even when one was not intended, so be careful not to craft the email with tone by watching the use of exclamation marks, using inflammatory words, etc.

More and more you see quotes at the bottom of emails. Some are benign inspirational quotes, such as “Be the best you can be every day,” these are fine" however, avoid quotes with religious meaning, quotes that could be viewed as excluding others, etc. could offend a co-worker, a client, or a vendor, which could result in the loss of productivity and business.