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Setting the
right tone in e-mail writing is more than just
choosing the right wine to go with the meal.
Tone in e-mail – how you say what you say – is
so important that an inappropriate tone can
cause a reader to ignore, delete, or overreact
to your message. A versatile writer can write
the same thing using a variety of tones. (Would
you prefer to be described as slender, slim,
svelte, skinny, scrawny, or starved?) But all
business e-mail writers must be able to control
the tone of their writing so their e-mail
messages will have the results they intend.
What Is
Tone?
Tone is the
quality in your writing that reveals your
attitude toward your topic and reader. Tone
comes from your choice of words, the structure
of your sentences, and the order of the
information you present. Why Is Tone
So Important In E-Mail
Writing?It's easy for
e-mail writers to let their tone slip from
professional to edgy or sarcastic. E- mail
emboldens writers to express thoughts they
would never say to a reader's face. And e- mail
is written quickly then sent. Most e-mail
writers don't review their messages as
carefully as they should. When they do review
messages before sending, they're looking at the
content, not the tone. But tone is important. A
flippant tone that the reader doesn't find
funny, or an angry tone can damage a
relationship as well as progress on a company
project. Five Tips On
Setting The Right Tone In
E-MailThe best
advice in setting the tone for your business
e-mail is to write in a tone that is closest to
the way you would speak to your reader in
person. These five tips will help you write
e-mail in a courteous and professional
tone.
1.
Keep Cool; Use Words
Carefully
Your mother
probably told you that if you can't be nice,
don't say anything at all. When writing e-mail,
if you can't be nice, wait. Wait an hour if
you're irritated, an afternoon if you're angry,
and a day if you're furious. For many reasons,
it's never appropriate to lose your cool in
e-mail:
- E-mail is
easily forwarded so the recipient can share
your e-mail rant with lots of readers.
- Flames beget
flames. If you use an angry tone in e-mail your
reader will probably answer in anger. While the
tone escalates, the work isn't getting done and
you make an enemy of a colleague or client.
- Your employer
owns your e-mail. It's not yours and it's not
private. Don't write in a tone you'd be
uncomfortable sharing with your boss.
Remember that
well-chosen words create a personal,
professional tone in e- mail. You can't rely on
emoticons to set the tone in your e-mail.
Choose words because they carry meaning to all
readers, some of whom may not understand
emoticons or abbreviations. 2.
Choose An Appropriate Greeting And
Closing
The greeting
in your e-mail establishes your relationship to
your reader. Most writers of business e-mail
begin their messages with "Hi" or "Hello"
followed by the recipient's first name: "Hello,
Fred." Some writers begin the message with the
first name only. "Dear" is still an acceptable
greeting in e-mail, not merely a vestige of
outdated "print" culture. If you're
writing an e-mail message to a group, use the
group name in the greeting. Don't begin your
message "Hi, guys" or "Everybody." Though these
extremely casual greetings may sound friendly,
it is actually just vague. Try "Dear Leadership
Team" or "Hello, Interns." A more specific
greeting sets a focused tone to the
message. Do write a
closing for your message. Beside making it
easier for your reader to find the end of the
message, the closing seals the tone and serves
as a final reminder of the main point or
requested outcome. Try an action-oriented
closing such as "I'll call you on Tuesday to
schedule the meeting." Or go for a gracious
closing: "Thanks for your help," or "I look
forward to meeting you." 3. Use Personal
Pronouns To make your
e-mail writing personal, address your reader
directly. Use the pronoun "you." Write: "You
may use the Executive Health Club on weekends."
Avoid: "Employees may use the Executive Health
Club on weekends." Use the
pronouns "I" and "we" when referring to
yourself or your organization. Write: "I
discovered that our mail room clerks were
throwing away most of the promotional fliers."
Avoid: "It was discovered that most of the
promotional fliers were being thrown away."
Write: "Because you used the product
incorrectly we will not refund your money."
Avoid: "Mannheim Manufacturing cannot refund
your money because the product was used
incorrectly." 4.
Write In The Active
Voice
Active voice
makes your e-mail tone clearer and more direct.
Active voice makes the "doer" in the sentence
clear. When you write in the active voice your
e-mail tone won't sound bureaucratic the way
passive voice does. Write in the active voice:
"We will gladly provide funding and materials
just as soon as the foundation accepts your
proposal." Avoid passive voice: "Funding and
materials will be provided promptly when the
proposal has been accepted."
5.
Order Information To Maintain A Professional
Tone
The beginning
of an e-mail message sets the tone and
emphasizes content for the message. Set a
direct tone by communicating the most important
information first. But what if the most
important information is bad news: a cut in
funding, a rejected application, the immediate
transfer of the hardest-working person in the
department? Will leading with the bad news
damage your tone? The answer is no. Even when
the main point of the message is bad news, you
must lead with it. Burying the bad news
somewhere in the middle or end of the message
is harmful; readers may miss it or misinterpret
its importance. We all know
that the volume of e-mail we answer each day
makes it difficult to write each message
thoughtfully with the correct tone. But if we
want our messages to achieve our goals, we must
set the tone in e-mail just as we do when we
speak. Let Humpty Dumpty be your guide, quoted
here by Lewis Carroll: "When I use a word,"
Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone,
"it means just what I choose it to
mean--neither more nor less."
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