转载~ 写出不让人忽略的邮件

过氧化钙

你的客户和同事没足够的时间、耐心地看完他们收到的每一封电子邮件。有些人一天收到几百封邮件。所以他们会先看可以很快处理好的邮件。他们可能永远找不到时间回复、或甚至阅读其余的信件。
　　那么你要如何吸引他们的注意？试试以下的做法：
　　1.按照标准规范书写，该大写就大写，该有标点符号就用标点符号。良好的写作是有惯例规范的，这对电子邮件来说可能象是在浪费时间。但是把事情做对，尤其是小事情，是很重要的。即使你们那一群人发邮件时不大写、不加标点符号，但你还是该这么做。违背书写语言的基本规范、仓促间写成的电子邮件，则会凸显出发件人的粗心草率。有些简写可能会造成混淆。一开始就把信息表达清楚所花的时间，比后来再解释你真正意思所花的时间还要少。
　　2.直接说重点（当然还是要有礼貌）。有所要求时，务必明说。不要一开始就过分恭维收件人，不过简短的问候可能有帮助（例如“很棒的访谈。谢谢寄给我看。可以帮我一个忙吗？”）清楚说明截止期限和收件人所需的其他细节，好让对方能准时完成这件事。
　　3.言简意赅──但不要过分简短。长篇大论的电子邮件令人厌烦且耗费精神。越是需要往下拉或滑动页面，他们越是不会仔细阅读你的信息。他们可能只是走马看花，漏掉重要的细节──或者完全跳过不看。所以你写的信息，要尽量让对方在一屏内读完。内容要有重点，遣词用字尽量精简。
　　删除无关紧要的枝节之后，务必要保留真正的信息。举例来说，如果要让对方知道项目的最新动态，你必须提供足够的背景信息，提醒对方整件事的来龙去脉。从他们的观点去写你的信息。他们不像你投入你的项目那么深入，而且他们也有其他许多事情要做。所以务必提醒他们，让他们想起上次你写信给他们时，情况是什么样子，然后说明在那之后发生了什么事。
　　4.说明发生了什么事，以及何时发生。公司爆发严重的争议时，律师通常会要求客户列出“相关事件时间表”，详细说明导致争议发生的那些最重要事件。这份文件帮助每个当事人更清楚地思考事情如何演变。写电子邮件时，设法运用类似的方法。这可帮助你整理思绪，把整件事说得井井有条。也就是说，故事如果有清楚的开头、中段和结尾，比起夹叙夹议，事实和意见胡乱穿插在一起，能更有效地维系收件人的兴趣。
　　5.加进精简但能充分说明目的的标题。按下“发送”键之前，请检查一下标题。如果标题很普通或空着不写，你的信息会淹没在收件人过度拥挤的收件夹中。如果你想请对方采取行动，就请在标题强调这一点。你的请求必须让对方容易看到，并且容易执行。
　　6.审慎选择抄送对象。列在抄送名单的人，必须要能立即明白为何自己会收到该邮件；不要想都不想就按下“回复所有人”。给你发邮件的人，可能在发送时就已经抄送太多人了，如果你回复给所有人，等于是再犯一次同样错误，不应收到邮件的人会更加气恼。不要轻易使用密件抄送，除非你相当确定有必要这么做。这会破坏你的名声，让人觉得你做事有欠思虑。

Your clients and colleagues don’t have time to engage fully with every e-mail they get. Some of them receive hundreds of messages per day. That’s why they start with the ones they can deal with quickly. They may never get around to answering — or even reading — the rest.

So how do you earn their attention? Try these tips:

Stick to standard capitalization and punctuation. Conventions of good writing may seem like a waste of time for e-mail, especially when you’re tapping out messages on a handheld device. But it’s a matter of getting things right — the little things. Even if people in your group don’t capitalize or punctuate in their messages, stand out as someone who does. Rushed e-mails that violate the basic norms of written language bespeak carelessness. And their abbreviated style can be confusing. It takes less time to write a clear message the first time around than it does to follow up to explain what you meant to say.

Get straight to the point (politely, of course). Be direct when making a request. Don’t butter up the recipient first — although a brief compliment may help (“Great interview. Thanks for sending it. May I ask a favor?”). Spell out deadlines and other details the recipient will need to get the job done right and on time.

Be brief — but not too brief. People find long e-mails irksome and energy-sapping. The more they have to scroll or swipe, the less receptive they’ll be to your message. They’ll probably just skim it and miss important details — or skip it altogether. So rarely compose more than a single screen of reading. Focus your content, and tighten your language.

But as you’re trimming the fat from your message, keep the meat intact. When giving a project update, for example, supply enough background information to orient your readers. Consider your message from their perspective. They aren’t as immersed in your project as you are, and they probably have many other things going on. So remind them where things stood when you last sent an update, and describe what’s happened since then.

Plot out what happened, and when. When a serious dispute arises at a company, the lawyers will typically ask their clients to produce a “chronology of relevant events,” detailing the most important incidents leading up to the dispute. This document helps everyone involved think more clearly about how things unfolded. Try taking a similar approach when writing your e-mails. It will help you organize your thoughts into a coherent narrative. A story with a clear beginning, middle, and end will hold your readers’ interest more effectively than jumbled facts interspersed with opinions.

Add a short but descriptive subject line. Before hitting “Send,” check your subject line. If it’s generic or blank, your message will get lost in your recipient’s overstuffed inbox. Are you asking someone to take action? Highlight that in the subject line. Make your request easy to find — and fulfill.

Copy people judiciously. Include only those who will immediately grasp why they’re on the thread; don’t automatically click on “Reply All.” Your correspondent may have been over inclusive with the “Copy” list, and if you repeat that mistake, you’ll continue to annoy the recipients who shouldn’t be there. And avoid using BCC unless you are quite sure it’s necessary. It could get you a bad reputation as being indiscreet.

This is the third post in Bryan A. Garner’s blog series on business writing. The series draws on advice in Garner’s new book, the HBR Guide to Better Business Writing.

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