Write Great Emails - Effective communication skills at work

Welcome to Write Great Emails - Effective communication skills at work. In this short video you'll get an overview of how the course is structured, the topics you'll learn about, and the outcomes you will get from the course.

You don't need to watch this video but it's only two minutes long and will help you understand what's coming up in the rest of the course.

Watch this video to get a brief overview of the Section 1 content before you dive into the detail.

The subject line is the first part of your email that people see. Learn why it is important, and how to create a subject line that grabs attention and provides essential information to the reader.

Most people read the first few lines of an email and then skim the rest of the message. If you want the recipient to read your message without missing important information you need to get the opening liens right. Find out how to create clear and concise introductions and increase the chances your email will be read.

A short video explaining why the introduction in the first message is different to the introduction in a reply.

The more topics you include in an email the greater the chance of confusion. A good introduction reduces the chance of confusion and helps the recipient see there is more than one topic for them to read.

Find out how well you start your emails with this simple assessment. The results will show you if and where you can improve your email subject line and introductions.

Download the activity sheet and practice applying what you have learned. This activity has the added benefit that you can use the work you do in this activity in your next emails. This means it isn't just practicing the theory, you are using real examples from your work. 

Watch this video to get a brief overview of the Section 2 content before you dive into the detail.

Short emails are read and responded to and you don’t have to take my word for it. There’s research to support this! Find out why short emails are better and learn some simple tips to keep your own emails short.

The examples in this video will show you how effective a little formatting can be. You’ll see how to make your emails easier to read and how this improves the chances of the recipient seeing the important information.

Questions, Actions, and Decisions need special treatment in emails. A few small changes to how you write them in your emails makes a BIG difference in getting people to see, read, and react to them.

Watch this video to get a few extra tips to master the finer points of handling questions in emails.

See how the techniques in this section apply to long emails. Even though the goal is to have short emails, sometimes we need to write a lot. When you do, it helps to use an effective structure.

Save time and effort by creating templates for your recurring emails. Whether it’s a weekly team update, or a regular message to your client, you’ll find it easier when you have a good template.

Complete this self assessment to see how well you structure your emails. Are there things you do well? What can you do better? Discover if there are specific actions you can take to make your emails easier to read.

Watch this video to get a brief overview of the Section 3 content before you dive into the detail.

Introducing group emails needs even more care than emails we send to one person. If a group email is well introduced it reduces the number of questions from the group and sets up a more productive email chain.

Did you know that people treat the CC field differently? You never know how other people will respond to a message they are Cc’d on. This video explains how to avoid CC confusion and the rules you can follow to avoid issues when copying people in an email.

There is one purpose for adding people to the Bcc field in an email. And that reason is not so they can spy on the conversation. Bcc is about protecting the recipients data and privacy. Find out why this is important in this video.

No one likes getting a chain with 20 emails and no introduction. What are we meant to do? Do we read the whole thing or just ignore it? You never want your recipients to ask themselves this question. Forwarding email chains can be a simple and effective way to deliver information if it’s done right. Watch this video to find out some of the best practices for forwarding email chains.

You wouldn’t push someone out of a group conversation at a party without explaining why. And you shouldn’t do this in group emails either. Learn the surprisingly simple rules to maintain polite and effective communication when adding and removing people in group email chains.

Multiple replies to the same email, people replying out of sequence, and topics changing mid chain. All these common issues can be fixed with a single reply. Learn how to reset and refocus an email chain that’s lost it’s focus.

Did the email chain change topics deliberately or unintentionally? Each case requires a different response. Learn how to avoid the problems caused by changing topics mid-chain, and what to do if a topic change does happen.

Email is just one channel of communication. Group email topics often move beyond email. When this happens you need to make sure everyone is aware of what happened and no one is left out of the discussion.

The questions in this test will show how many of the tips and methods you can recall from the training. Each question is multiple choice and the answers are available at the end.