How to write an email (no, really) | Victoria Turk | TEDxAthens

You might think you’re an expert at email, but you’re probably doing it wrong. Which greeting should you use? How can you make sure you’re not misunderstood? Do you know the golden rule of CC? From subject line to sign-off, Victoria Turk guides through some of the oft-neglected fundamentals of email etiquette.

Victoria Turk is a senior editor at WIRED UK, where she edits the magazine's culture section, leads video strategy, and writes regularly for print and web. She specialises in stories at the intersection of technology and culture, which explore the impact of technology on our everyday lives. Before working at WIRED, she was technology editor at New Scientist and UK editor at Motherboard, VICE’s tech and science channel. Victoria’s first book, Digital Etiquette, was published by Ebury Press in March 2019 and explores the way we use digital communication tools across different spheres of our lives – from work to romance, friendship to social media – to set out the new rules of online etiquette.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

I'm going to teach you
how to write an email.

No, seriously.

You probably think
that you're an expert emailer.

You‘ve been writing emails
for years, decades.

You spend most of your workday

composing, sending, receiving
and replying to emails.

You live in your inbox.

But I'm here to tell you
you're probably doing it wrong.

Don't worry

because in the next 15 or so minutes,

I'm going to guide you
through a whistle-stop tour

of the latest in email etiquette.

First, let's rewind a little bit.

Why do I care so much
about what happens in your Inbox?

For many of us, email
has become the default way

that we communicate
with each other at work.

And for good reason:

It's quick. It's easy. It's convenient.

But here's the thing.

Although email is ostensibly
the easiest way

to communicate in a work context,

it's also intensely stressful.

It may well be the fastest way
to get things done,

and yet it just feels as if
it takes up so much time.

You rarely hear of anyone complaining
that they have too few unread emails.

As a result, my email-etiquette philosophy

is guided by one fundamental principle:

reducing the burden of email
as much as possible.

At its simplest,

this can mean cutting down
on the number of emails you send

and sending them to fewer people -

"Reply All" at your peril.

And when you do send an email,

you should make it as quick
and easy as possible

for your recipient to deal with.

So with that golden rule in mind,

let's write an email together,
starting with "The Greeting."

Hi and a first name is probably fine.

It's 2019. We're all friends here.

Email behavior has evolved.

Once upon a time,
it may have been customary

to treat email like a digital version
of a snail-mail letter

and to address your recipient with "Dear."

But nowadays, most emails,
especially in a work context,

are more like post-it notes
than a lengthy missive.

In fact, email started out that way.

The very first messages,

sent from computer to computer
on the ARPANET network in the 1970s,

before the Internet as we know it today,

were more practical updates
from colleague to colleague

than perfectly worded letters.

So save "Dear" and using someone's title

for more formal situations,

such as an official briefing
or an invitation.

You also don't need to keep saying hi

every time you email someone
on an ongoing thread,

particularly if it's very active.

If you're having a back and forth
conversation, treat it as such.

You don't need to keep
interrupting with hi, hi, hi, hi -

My rule of thumb is to follow the sun:

if your conversation spans several days,

then say hi again after each new sunrise.

So that was the easy bit.

Let's get down to business
and into "The Body" of our email.

Now obviously, you could be emailing
about all sorts of different topics,

and trying to communicate
all sorts of different sentiment.

So there's a lot of leeway here,
but there are still some rules.

First, let's revisit our number one goal:

reducing the burden of email,
reducing the stress of email.

That means "Keep it to the point" -

concise and precise is your mantra.

When it comes to email,

good etiquette is not
about the fancy flourishes,

it's about respecting other people's time.

When I was researching
my recent book on digital etiquette,

one of the people I spoke to

was an American writer
and podcaster Merlin Mann.

He's the person who coined
the term Inbox Zero.

If you haven't heard of it,

it's basically a method for staying
on top of your unread emails.

I won't get into it here,

but if you have an overfull inbox,
it will change your life.

Anyway, when I asked him

what he thought constituted
good email etiquette,

he said, "Assume that everyone
you're communicating with

is smarter than you
and cares more than you

and is busier than you."

I think that's excellent advice.

So no waffling. No jargon. No small talk.

You do not have to ask
after your recipients health

every time you email them.

That said, it is possible
to be too concise.

There's a line where brevity
crosses over into rudeness.

Have you ever received an email like this,

perhaps from your boss
or a superior at work?

[OK.]

Or maybe one like this?

[Received.]

Or like this?

[Agree.]

The classic one-word email.

And if you think that's bad,

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is apparently known

for forwarding messages
from customers to his employees

with not just one word,
but one character:

[?]

the question mark.

Can you imagine receiving that email?

In these cases,

brevity has almost certainly
crossed the line into rudeness.

No one is too busy
to say please and thank you.

Instead, these emails seem
more like a power play.

Someone who emails like this

is trying to show you how busy
and important they are.

And that's not very polite.

Another problem with this
is the lack of useful information.

The email is short, but it's not
necessarily easy to deal with.

What are you supposed to do with that?

As a recipient,

are you expected to respond,
to take some sort of action?

It's really not clear.

When you email,
to reduce the burden of email,

you should be putting
all the relevant information

and make sure
it's included the first time.

Double emailing is a big faux pas.

As well as a lack
of practical information,

the problem with the super succinct email
is the lack of emotional information.

This is a major problem with email

as with many forms
of digital communication.

Because it's conducted by text,
it's very difficult to convey sentiment.

You don't have any
of the nonverbal cues that we use

when we're speaking
to each other in real life

to communicate your intent,

like facial expressions,
tone of voice or body language.

And that makes it easy
for email to be misconstrued.

Is that "Okay," happy, sad,
begrudging, angry?

It can be hard to tell.

So when you write an email,

read it back and check
that it can't be misinterpreted,

and make use of all of
the language tools that we do have

to try to communicate
our emotional intent.

Even a simple punctuation mark
can make a big difference.

Take a look at these.

Which of these would you
most like to receive

and which would you least like to receive?

I'd most like to receive the second one.
That's a very enthusiastic thanks.

I'd least like to receive the third one.

There's something so final seeming
about that full stop, isn't there?

And by the way, this is why
I'm very pro-emoji in email,

provided it's not a very formal context.

Emoji are great
at communicating sentiment;

they're basically a digital stand-in
for facial expression, after all,

and all the tools that we do have
to make sure that we're not misunderstood,

we should be making use of.

Next, let's get on to one part
that so many people get wrong:

The Sign-Off.

I'll keep this one simple.

There is a correct way
to sign off an email.

It is "Best wishes."

"Best" and "All the best"
are also acceptable.

Anything else?

Sorry, no.

"Yours sincerely"?

Too formal.

"Yours"?

Too intimate.

"Cheers"?

Okay for friends, but too casual
for a professional context.

"BW"?

Tacky.

"Kind regards"?

Just a bit pompous.

Those are all terrible,

but my absolute least
favorite email sign-off is

"Thanks in advance."

What's wrong with "Thanks in advance"?

It's incredibly presumptive -

you can't thank someone
for doing something

before they've agreed to do it.

That's not how gratitude works.

When you say "Thanks in advance"
in an email, you're basically saying,

"Hey, by the way, you have no choice
whether to do this or not."

(Laughter)

So stick to "Best" or "Best wishes,"
and you can't go wrong.

And you do need
to write it out every time.

Relying on your automated
signature to do it for you

is the height of laziness.

Plus, it won't show up
in some email clients.

While we're on email signatures, actually,

if you do decide to use one,
keep it classy -

no colorful word art,

no JPEG logos that are going to confuse
everyone's antivirus,

and no deep and meaningful quotes.

Just your name and,
if necessary, your contact details.

So we've got our email,
a few finishing touches:

the subject line.

Keep it simple.

It should do what it says on the tin,
or in this case, in the email.

Summarize your email in a few key words.

Don't write a full sentence
because it will get chopped off.

Don't try to be funny

and do not overplay the urgent card.

"CC."

There may come a time

when you want to send an email
to multiple people at once,

at which point you may wish
to make use of the "CC" feature.

Now, if you take one thing
away from this talk,

let it be the "CC" rule.

I didn't come up with the "CC" rule.

In fact, it's so important

it's even included in the go-to
etiquette bible, Debrett's.

The "CC" rule states

that primary recipients of an email,
who are expected to respond,

should go in the "To" field.

Other recipients of an email,
who are not expected to respond

and who are included as a courtesy
or for their information,

should go in the "CC" field.

Next time you receive an email
that's been addressed to multiple people,

take a look:

Are you a primary recipient,
or are you on "CC"?

Do you need to respond?

What I love about the "CC" rule

is it makes the expectations
on your recipients so clear.

If you're in the "To" field,
you should respond;

if you're on the "CC" field,
you should not respond.

And it also reduces the burden of email

by hopefully cutting back
on the number of emails sent.

Those people on "CC"
don't have that awkward moment

where there wondering,
"Am I expected to pitch in here?"

The "CC" rule will change your email life.

What about your other option, "BCC"?

Now, "BCC" can be a bit sneaky,

so there's only a few specific cases
where you should use it.

One is to protect your recipients identity

if you're emailing sensitive information
to multiple people, for example.

Another is to avoid a reply-all-pocalypse.

We've all been there: someone
sends an email to too many people,

people all start hitting "Reply All" -

chaos.

Good use of "BCC."

And for extra credit,

an absolutely top email etiquette move

is to move someone to "BCC"
if their input is no longer required

on an ongoing thread.

How this works is if the thread's
getting a bit out of control

and you know someone
is not needed to respond,

you send one last message
moving them to BCC.

They're blissfully removed
from any future chaos.

And you are an email etiquette superhero -

you've just selflessly saved their inbox
from unnecessary emails.

We're just about ready to send our email.

Or are we?

I've saved probably the most
important thing till last

because when you send an email

should be as much
a consideration as what you put in it.

First things first,

if it's a work email,
stick to work hours -

no 2 a.m. emailing in your pajamas.

One of the major causes of email stress

is that we can't get away from it.

It demands so much from us,

especially now that we're all
walking around

with mini computers in our pocket.

We can check email anywhere and anytime.

But instead of feeling free,
we feel trapped.

We're expected to be always contactable.

We can never leave.

The only way to buck this trend
is to start setting boundaries.

Unless you're a heart surgeon,

you really probably don't need
to be on call all the time.

In fact it's probably better
if you're not -

I've checked my work email
in some incredibly inappropriate places.

So just stick to work hours.

Now, you could say
that it's on the recipient to decide

when they check their email.

You can send an email at 2 a.m.

but they don't have to answer
until the following day.

The problem is

that's a lot easier said than done.

When you've got
an unread email notification

burning a hole in your pocket,

it's very tempting to check it.

Therefore it's on the sender
to set a reasonable norm

and exhibit good
email etiquette in doing so.

So that's our email completed.

I hope you'll join me
in spreading good email etiquette

and making our digital lives
a little bit easier and friendlier.

So all that's left for me to do then

is to sign off.

Thank you!

(Applause)