Email protocol

Best selling business author and top blogger, Seth Godin, posted a great list of 36 items to consider before clicking send on an email. Email has become ingrained into our business and personal lives to the point that we barely think about how to manage it. Seth’s post points out a number of things to consider.

Here are the tips that either made me say, “Oh yeah, I hate that” or “Gee, I think I do that”.

# 3 – Are recipients blind copied?

Seth’s referring to group emails here. It amazes me when I get a group email and all the addresses of the other recipients are visible to me. That’s OK for the gals in my book club but not for an email where the recipients don’t necessarily know each other. You wouldn’t give someone’s telephone number and address to strangers would you? Use the blind copy (Bcc) address box for these emails.

#13 – Are you angry?

I have both been a recipient of angry emails and will admit, I’ve sent out a few in the past. I take Seth’s wait one hour advice a bit further. I now won’t draft a response for 24 hours or as long as it can reasonably wait. I’ll sometimes get someone else to read over my response before clicking send just to make sure I’m not saying something I might regret later. Email doesn’t go away. Once it’s out there, you can’t get it back.

#14 – Would it be better to make a phone call?

Ok, I struggle with this one. I love email. I prefer to get email over phone calls. Why? I’m an introvert and so I like to process information before I respond to it and I find interruptions jarring. I just assume everyone is the same so I email more than I phone. However, clearly a phone call is better in some cases. Complex ideas or information that will take a long time to type isn’t best for email. As well, if you’re worried about how someone will interpret your email, pick up the phone.

#15 – Blind copying the boss

Seth asks you to consider what will happen if the recipient finds out you’ve blind copied your email to the boss. Visibly copying the boss is not always advisable either. Are you doing it because the boss needs to be involved in decision-making or needs to know an outcome? Or, are you copying the boss as a message to the recipient that you don’t trust he/she will follow up or because you want the boss to know that the person you emailed has screwed up somehow. Either way, this is a nasty way to communicate. Be careful with this one.

# 28 – Forwarding a hoax?

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate forwarded emails telling me about some concern that is clearly an urban myth (e.g. Don’t let someone spray a perfume sample on you in a parking lot—it’s poison etc.). Seth recommends checking snopes.com before you forward something like this.

# 30 – Am I quoting back the original text in a helpful way?

Related–make sure you respond to all the questions asked. There are some folks out there who routinely answer the first or last question in the email only, making subsequent emails necessary.

Check out all 36 items and let me know the ones that you can relate to. Are there any you disagree with?

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Why use a wiki?

I’ve been working on a wiki for one of my clients this week. It’s the first time I’ve created one and so far, it’s been relatively easy to do.

The client is responsible for leading a large working group. The members are scattered across Canada and recently, productivity within the group has slowed. There have been missed deadlines and members are unclear about what’s happening with some of the agreed upon activities. There’s been a communication breakdown.

Although not the whole answer to the above woes, I suggested creating a wiki to re-energize the group and get things back on track. A wiki is server software that allows multiple users to create and edit a simple webpage. It’s great for collaborative projects. The best way to get a handle on wikis is to watch this excellent video by the creative folks at Common Craft. It’s focus is on wiki’s for personal use but it will give you the idea.

The wiki I’m creating has a project management focus. I’ve set it to “private” so only working group members can access it. It will allow members to track progress on tasks and create working documents that everyone can edit (with a recorded history so you can revisit earlier versions). Members can use the wiki while they are on conference calls to discuss progress. During these meetings, everyone can view the same pages at the same time and live edit.

There is also a calendar feature. This allows for notification on deadlines, meeting dates etc. Wikis allow you to link pages and insert videos making their engagement potential high. The templates I’ve seen are easy to use and visually appealing.

Depending on the number of users with writing and editing privileges you need, you might be able to use a wiki platform for free. Most providers offer a 30 day trial to get you started and to see if the platform meets your needs. Monthly subscriptions are affordable as well.

There are oodles of wiki providers out there and it can be tough to decide which one to go with. I found the Wikimatrix helpful. It lists virtually all the wiki platforms out there and then itemizes their features—allowing you to compare them with each other.

If you have a large project to manage, staff in satellite offices or simply need an easy way to track documents you’re collaborating on with others, a wiki might be the communications/management tool to keep you moving forward.

Any of this blog’s readers using a wiki? Share your experience in a comment.

Creating the perfect tagline

I just listened to a great podcast on taglines over at The Nonprofit Jungle. The subject relates nicely to my last post about creating a logo.

In the podcast, Sarah Durham and Dan Gunderman discuss the elements of a good tagline and how creating one for a corporate entity might differ from creating one for a non-profit. The duo provides a number of examples of effective and not-so- effective taglines and even includes a test to see how your organization’s tagline stacks up.

I agree with Dan’s comments that creating a tagline is one of the most difficult jobs for a copywriter. It’s often much easier to write a six-page brochure or annual report than to come up with those perfect few words (no more than seven) to sum up the work of an organization.

If you haven’t given podcasts a try yet and you work for a non-profit, this is a great one to start with. It only runs 10 minutes so give it a listen.

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