E-mail: Etiquette

In her book, Chan offers practical strategies for making the most of your e-mail time and making sure the e-mail you write gets the results you want. Here are two of her tips:

Use the journalistic triangle to get to the point fast. Have you ever noticed that the first paragraph of a newspaper article contains the most important information? The rest of the article provides details that support, explain, expand on and illustrate that information. Here’s an easy way to figure out what your main point is in an e-mail you’re writing: Imagine your reader is about to go through airport security on her way to an important meeting. You have 15 seconds to shout out your message before she disappears into the crowd. What would you say?