Quick question.
How many emails do you read and write every single day?
Well, I may be writing approximately ten emails, but
I definitely read over 20 emails a day. But guess what?
What?
I have realized that a lot
of emails do not sound professional.
A lot of people make so many mistakes and
honestly, an unprofessional email is a huge turn off.
Are you one of those people who make mistakes
and do not sound professional as a result?
Well, if you are, then this lesson is for you.
Because today I'm going to be talking about
seven email mistakes that are made by professionals.
Stick with me until the end because this
video is going to help you really write
good emails by avoiding those mistakes.
The first mistake that you probably make
is you don't personalize your open statement.
Now, guess what?
There are many people who start their email
by saying I hope you are fine.
I hope you are well. Really?
Is that how you're going to start your email?
Well, let me tell you that these
statements don't really hold any value.
They are just emails that you've
kind of cut, copied and pasted. Right?
However, I would suggest that you personalize your statement
instead of writing something as boring as that.
What do I mean?
Start using a statement that is
based on the current situation.
Current situation of whom?
The person that you are writing to.
What do I mean by that?
Let's see a few examples.
Suppose if someone has come back to work after
going on a vacation, are you going to start
by saying I hope you are fine?
No, you simply go ahead and say
it's great to have you back today.
Or you could say, I trust you've had a well deserved
break and then you go ahead with the remainder part of
your email, which is the actual purpose of your email.
Or let's say that you're writing this to someone for
a favor, but you know that the other person has
already got a lot of work piled up.
Are you going to start by saying I hope you are fine?
Of course that guy is not fine.
He's got so much of work, he's stressed out.
So how do you personalize your opening statement?
You can say, I hope you're managing to hold
up with all the work that is piled up. Okay?
So be smart.
Don't write statements like I hope you are fine.
I hope you are well that have no meaning.
Personalize your opening statement.
Now, there is another way to sound professional.
How do you do that?
You must use understandable English.
It's good to use nice vocabulary, but your English
can be professional if it is easily comprehensible.
So in order to do that, you must remember
that an email has to be well worded.
Well, how can you word an email?
Well, there are certain ways to do it.
The first thing you must do is
make the use of phrasal verbs.
Now, phrasal verbs are a very smart form of English
phrases which makes your English sound professional but also very
concise and does not make you sound too wordy. Okay?
So let's have a look at what phrasal verbs we can use.
Now, most of you probably use the word cancel.
I would like to cancel our appointment.
I would like to cancel our meeting.
There's no problem with using that word, but
you want to make it sound understandable.
You want to make it
sound professional and more concise.
So I would say let's call after the meeting or
let's have the meeting moved to another date, right?
These sound a lot more native englishlike as well.
Similarly, instead of saying mention, you could simply
say, hey, can we bring up this issue
with our director when we meet next Thursday?
Why is the word mention when you can use a more
understandable and a more smart English phrase like bring up?
Or you can say something like, I'm going
to hint at this decision when we talk
about it in our catchup next Friday.
Okay, so what are we doing?
We are using understandable English, concise
English, which ultimately sounds professional.
However, there is also another way to sound concise
and less worthy when you are writing an email
and that is by using smart business idioms.
Like I said, it's not very
important to only sound professional.
By using big words, you can in fact become
less wordy and still sound nice and professional.
So use smart business idioms to do that.
Instead of saying busy, let's say someone's called you
to send a report but you are busy.
Why would you say I am busy at the moment when you
can use a smart business idiom which is swamped with work?
I'm sorry that I'm swamped with work at the moment.
Could we arrange this later or could I send it later?
On the other hand, there are some people who
use the word easily available, nothing wrong with that.
But I have a better replacement by using a smart
business idiom which is at the touch of a button.
So we have software which can perform many
functions at the touch of a button.
So as you can see, smart business idioms
and phrasal verbs, they help you make your
English understandable concise and you end up sounding
a lot more professional as a result. Okay?
But like I said, there are some
more mistakes that you're probably making.
So stick with me.
Some of you write fragmented emails.
Now, what is the meaning of fragmented?
Fragment means something which is broken,
something that has cracks in it.
Do your emails have cracks in it?
I bet sometimes your emails might do.
What do I mean by that?
Now there is something, there is, there is
a certain language that you need to use
called discourse markers or signposting language in emails.
If you don't use these two
little elements in your email.
Your email becomes difficult to read.
In other words, it makes your emails fragmented
because discourse markers, they are like the glue.
They kind of stick together your message.
Your idea becomes whole only when you have
these discourse markers or transition words which help
you transition from one idea to the other.
Okay, but let's understand that a little bit
more because discourse markers make your message effective.
If you don't use discourse
markers, your message becomes ineffective.
And of course, if your emails are
full of discourse markers and with the
right signposting language, it also becomes coherent.
Coherent means there is a logical flow to the idea.
A person can understand the main idea, the
explanation and the conclusion in one logical flow
by making your entire idea presentable.
Let me help you understand that with an example.
Now, have a look at this email.
It's kind of fragmented.
Let's read it together.
It says we require installing the prototype
for this application in two weeks.
We have asked our software engineers
to work on the details.
Now, there seems to be no
connection to these two ideas.
These two ideas seem almost isolated, as if
they are part of two different emails.
There seems to be then there needs
to be a sort of connection.
And that is why I need to use this cross
markers, right, to connect them to transition from this idea
to the other in order to make this whole.
So what do I use?
I would use either in fact or I
would use in order to expedite this.
Let's see if we can use either
of this and have a clearer transition.
So if I say something like, we require installing
the prototype of this application in two weeks.
In order to expedite this, we have asked
our software engineers to work on the details.
What am I doing here?
I am saying that this requirement
is something that we do have.
However, if we want to get this requirement
done with quickly, we need to do this.
So to move from idea number one to
idea number two, you need this discourse marker.
Here is a transition which helps the idea
become clear to the person reading it.
Alternatively, you can also use in fact, okay,
so use, discuss markers, use signposting language, because
that is the glue which brings the ideas
together and makes your message effective and coherent
and in a nice organized way.
Okay?
Now, there are some of you who are actually rude in
your emails, even though you don't intend to be rude.
And I don't mean to say that in a
very accusatory way, but the problem is that a
lot of us do not use diplomacy in language.
So you need to be diplomatic.
You need to use something called as
tact, which means you cannot be offensive. Okay?
Now, how do you think you can be offensive?
We have a look at that in a while.
Okay, but direct language should not be used, which
means you have to be diplomatic and you must
make your message sound empathetic, which means your message
to sound like you are caring about the person
that you are writing to.
Now, how do you do that?
Like I said, you need to ask or use
negative questions, especially when you are making suggestions.
OK, this is only one way of being diplomatic.
There are many ways, of course.
But now you're probably wondering how can I be positive
and sound nice if I'm using a negative question?
Let me help you understand that with an example.
So, if I'm making a suggestion, if I say
we should do this, what do you think?
Do you think it is diplomatic or
do you think it is direct?
I believe that it's very direct because when
I say we should do this, it almost
sounds like I'm imposing what you should do.
What we should do?
I'm not even giving you the
opportunity to give your idea.
However, if I use a negative question when offering
a suggestion, then I sound a little less direct.
Let me show you how.
Wouldn't it be a winwin situation if we did
see, when I'm using the negative question, wouldn't it's
almost like me asking you for your opinion based
on what I've said, I'm not just imposing my
opinion on you, I'm opening this opportunity for you
to also given your opinion in return.
And therefore you can use diplomatic language
in many ways, out of which negative
questions and suggestions is one of them.
Well, there are also a lot of you
who make another very simple mistake and a
very silly mistake of forgetting to explain attachments.
Well, emails have attachments, but some
of us forget to explain it.
Now, what happens if you do that?
Well, the logical thing that normally happens is
that people that you are writing to, they
won't even check your attachment, right?
I mean, if you don't mention that you have
sent an attachment, why would they even check it?
I mean, they may forget to do that, right?
You can't assume they will, so
you need to mention that.
However, what is more important is that you
must briefly state what the attachment is about. Okay?
No surprises here.
Don't wait for someone to open it and get
surprised in a good or a bad way.
Tell them what the attachment is about, right?
And make sure that you are connecting the
attachment and how it is relevant to the
main message, your email message and your attachment.
They should have some connection.
You can't write an email about the sales
and send an attachment about the marketing agenda.
You can do that, right?
So there has to be a relevance to the two. Okay?
So you need to ensure that you
don't forget to explain email attachments.
So let's have a look at how we can do that.
Here's an example.
You can write an email, slip in
an attachment and write it's like this.
You can say I have attached a file for your
reference which contains go ahead and mention what it meant,
what the attachment contains, it's got the estimated cost, it's
got the list of vendors and the time to procure. OK?
Always give those details in.
However, I want to talk about one of the
very common mistakes that people make even today.
People think that an email is an essay.
Is an email an essay?
No, an email was actually made and
invented only to write short messages.
So are you announcing too much in one email? Are you?
Probably you are.
So therefore, I would suggest that you
discuss only one agenda per email.
Don't write an email that talks about everything
that you possibly can cramp in there, okay?
So I would suggest you stick with only one
or two topics in the agenda because that is
going to be easier for the reader.
If you want the reader to respond faster to
you, give the person lesser things to deal with.
Don't give them so many issues, okay?
So deal with only one or two topics and
make sure that that is one way to help
them process and give you the response much faster.
Now the next, and this is one
of the biggest mistakes which is unforgivable.
Nobody can forgive you for
this mistake, which is proofreading.
Because proofreading is something that removes
grammatical errors, telling errors, etc.
The silly errors, right?
So now, a lot of people, what do we do?
We voice type our messages.
Now that is a good thing to do because, you know,
software has enabled us to do things faster by voice typing.
But sometimes voice typing may not be accurate, it may
not give you the exact words that you are looking
for instead of your y ou r, you may end
up getting yo apostrophe re which changes the meaning altogether.
And that's not a good thing.
So even if you have an AI suggestion, a lot of
softwares come with a word that gets suggested in the email.
Now, they may work sometimes, but a lot of times they
are not always in the context of the message, okay?
You may mean bear and you may end up
getting the word be aree instead of bear.
And that's kind of embarrassing because
it changes the meaning again.
So, AI suggestions, again, not 100% reliable.
So proofread your message even though you have used
software and your voice typing and your AI suggestions.
And last of all, make sure that
you divide the email into paragraphs, okay?
Make sure that your email is not too hard on the eyes.
Like I said, your email, this should not
be a paragraph or a big essay.
Your email should be easy to read and understand.
So make sure you divide the email into paragraphs.
Now, I have a little thing, I
have a little test for you.
I won't do this for you,
but I would like your comments.
Here is an email, which is an
email with a lot of mistakes, okay?
So please take a screenshot.
You can just pause the video here, take
a screenshot and you're going to tell me
what email mistakes you can detect, okay?
There could be five mistakes,
six mistakes, I don't know.
I want you to tell me how many
mistakes are there and what those mistakes are.
That way I will know if you have understood this
video and that way I will be sure that you
are not going to make those email mistakes anymore.
Okay?
So I will be back with a new lesson, but
make sure that you incorporate whatever you've learned today.
You learn how to write your emails
by avoiding these mistakes and using the
right form of language and techniques to
avoid email mistakes, thereby sounding more professional.
I'll be back with some more lessons.
Evident will then keep practicing
and keep writing professional emails.