What else can you do to irk the readers of your emails?
Here are a few more examples from our nationwide survey.
Not Providing a Context
- People who respond to a question that was asked in an e-mail without including the original email, so their response is out of context and forces you to look up the original e-mail you had sent to see exactly what you asked…
- Failure to include the previous message in your reply
Solution: Either include the previous email or give the reader a clue to what your email is responding to.
Problems with Subject Lines
Subject lines generated a diverse set of opinions. Some people feel that subject lines should be updated when the topic of the email chain changes. However, others feel that the subject line should stay the same so that people can search for the email thread more easily. As you’ll see below, one person solves this problem by appending the new subject to the original subject within the subject line. What do you think?
One general principle that held true for all was that vapid subject lines like “Hello” or “Hey” were annoying and useless. The subject line should contain the specific subject, main point, or purpose of the email. Never leave it blank.
- Generic Subjects. Basically writing “hello” instead of “Conference call to discuss XYZ”
– Subject lines that don’t give any real indication of subject or importance
- Meaningless or misleading subject line. I can’t tell you how many emails I’ve deleted because the subject line indicated it was not important or not a concern of mine.
- Failure to append a topic to a string subject that has diverged from the original topic (append rather than replace, so I can sort)
- Not putting a subject line on the email.
- Useless subject lines. Let me know what this is about; “Help!” is not useful
- Uninformative subject line (for example, “FYI” with no other information, or “read this”)
- No subject in subject line, repeatedly
- Subject line that says nothing about the subject of the email. Many times I see just ‘hello’! Very annoying
- Changing the topic within a long thread without changing the subject line
- Adding a comment to a subject line at the beginning rather than the end
- (For example, original subject was “Please submit report by 2 PM today,” and the responder changes the subject line to “DONE – Please submit report by 2 PM today,” instead of “Please submit report by 2 PM today
– DONE.” (HATE THIS. It means one can no longer properly sort the messages by subject later on.)
Solution: Use a subject line that states your main point, request, or purpose. Never leave the subject line blank or fill it with a vapid term.
Typing All In Caps
- WRITING IN ALL CAPS. IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE’S YELLING AT YOU.
- PEOPLE WHO CAPITALIZE EMAILS ARE ANNOYING
- People who type in all caps. It slows the reader down by about 20%
- ALL CAPS – people are shouting at me
Solution: Never use all caps.
No Greeting, No Closing</h3
This is another area where opinions vary. Some people don’t mind it when an email writer launches straight into the message without a greeting; however, others feel it is rude. Why not err on the safe side and begin every email dialogue with a friendly opening? After all, it doesn’t take long to write “Hi” or “Dear…” or “Hello”.
- Not including the name of the person to whom it is addressed in the body and launching into the message straight away. Particularly annoying when the emails are in professional domain. Very disrespectful. I have gotten messages from my vendors in this form.
- Not including a courtesy ‘Hi’ in front of the name. Highly disrespectful
Not signing off with your name at the bottom. How time consuming is that? Plus, email apps provide a signature feature.
Solution: When starting a new email exchange, open with a greeting and close with a pleasant phrase like thank you, yours truly, all the best, etc.
Foolish Forwarding
Want to lose credibility fast? Forward chain letters, cute anecdotes, and especially, prayers that guarantee good luck only if you forward them to your 50 closest friends. People are busy. Only send emails you are sure they will want to read.
- Forwarding everything.
- Forwarding messages without asking permission from the sender
- Not deleting the original message header, to line, etc when forwarding.
- People resending emails if they send one and don’t get an immediate response.
- Sending Stupid Chain Letters
- And loads of stupid jokes..and most annoying chain letters saying you have to pass on to a number of people…
- – Forwarding a joke or message where there are multiple other forwards below it, sometimes Takes forever to scroll down to the meat.
- When people FWD an email, and do not clean up what they are forwarding. They include all the comments, highlights, and all the FWDs. It leads me to believe they never processed it, and are just shoveling it back out to someone else.
Solution: Think carefully before you forward anything. Remember that humor often doesn’t play well on email, so the thing you think is hilarious might strike your reader as being in bad taste. Never forward chain letters, no matter how inspiring you think they are. If you feel compelled to forward something, be sure to delete the names of previous recipients so your readers do not have to scroll down.
What are your other email pet peeves? Write to me at lizd@worktalk.com.