Email Checklist
Posted on | June 17, 2008 | drew stauffer
Seth Godin, author of “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable” and “All Marketers Are Liars” has compiled an email checklist that is definitely worth a read. Seth goes through a 36 point checklist just to make sure every email is perfect.
Here are a few of the ones that stood out to me:
13. Am I angry? (If so, save as draft and come back to the note in one hour)
14. Could I do this note better with a phone call?
16. Is there anything in this email I don’t want the attorney general, the media or my boss seeing? (If so, hit delete).
32. If this is a press release, am I really sure that the recipient is going to be delighted to get it? Or am I taking advantage of the asymmetrical nature of email–free to send, expensive investment of time to read or delete?
33. Are there any little animated creatures in the footer of this email? Adorable kittens? Endangered species of any kind?
35. Bonus: Does the subject line make it easy to understand what’s to come and likely it will get filed properly?
Check out Seth’s post and let us know what you think. Are your emails as perfect as they could be?
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4 Responses to “Email Checklist”
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June 28th, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
I also especially like five other tips:
1 - Is any portion of the email in all caps? (If so, consider changing it.)
2 - Have I included the line, “Please save the planet. Don’t print this email”? (If so, please delete the line and consider a job as a forest ranger or flight attendant).
3 - Did I hit ‘reply all’? If so, am I glad I did? Does every person on the list need to see it?
4 - Are there any little animated creatures in the footer of this email? Adorable kittens? Endangered species of any kind?
5 - Bonus: Is there a long legal disclaimer at the bottom of my email? Why?
June 30th, 2008 @ 9:09 am
@David
Yeah Seth makes a lot of good points in his checklist.
July 2nd, 2008 @ 3:55 pm
Great info! I also like this article on e-mail etiquette from your wireless device.
E-mail etiquette for your wireless device
July 2nd, 2008 @ 4:11 pm
@ Julia
Thanks for mentioning the article. That author does mention a lot of interesting points that we should all keep in mind.