Review: Writing Great Emails is Not Art: 9 Ways To Get There

Title: Writing Great Emails is Not Art: 9 Ways To Get There

Series: N/A

Author:  Gisela Hausmann

Publisher: Self Published

Published: February 12, 2013

Genre: Non-Fiction

Format: Kindle

Pages: 16

Source: Received From Author

Read: February 26, 2013

In A Few Words: Straightforward

My Rating: 3 Stars

Amazon: Buy Here

Amazon Synopsis:

Wondering what it takes to get your emails noticed?

On average U.S. office workers send and receive more than 100 emails per day. Are you looking for ways to get people to read your emails sooner?
In WRITING GREAT EMAILS IS NOT ART, 9 WAYS HOW TO GET THERE, author Gisela Hausmann explains why email is the least attractive way to “get mail” and what unspoken rules influence our perception of emails. She dissects email into its parts, and describes simple and easy to follow techniques how to improve each one so your email will stand out in its recipient’s Inbox.

Melissa's Musings:

This book is very straightforward and to the point. It does offer some helpful tips on how to get your emails noticed. The most important that I gleaned from reading this being that you should always pay attention to the details. Whether it be the time of a meeting, or spelling a person's name correctly, it's attention to the little details that show your conscientiousness as an employee and show that you care about your job and your co-workers.

I don't necessarily agree with all the methods and terms presented in the book though. In talking about greetings, the author states that "Good morning" should only be used as a greeting if the email is sent before 9:00 a.m. I don't quite understand this reasoning seeing as morning continues on for another three hours past this time.

In talking about endings, the author states that "TGIF!" is an example of a good ending that demonstrates personal engagement and additional effort to strengthen business relationships" (loc 268) I honestly don't see how this applies. I have never used TGIF in a business email, nor would I think to. That would only be something I might use in a personal email, because it seems to improper.

There's also another point made that I'm curious about that I've actually never seen in an email which is putting NNTR (No Need to Reply) at the end of an email. I've never had anyone do that to me. Email chains usually just have a natural ending point and it seems a bit harsh to put this in, depending on the circumstances. Maybe that's just the way it feels to me since I've never seen it before.

The author also offers up some excellent points like, "Before sending a truly important email, take a break and walk around to get some distance to your words" (loc 366)

That's very important because you never know when your judgement could be hasty or clouded by emotions, so it's always good to take a step back, even for a moment. You never know, stepping away could help you come up with that perfect phrase or segment of the email that really gets your point across exactly the way you're shooting for.

Also, "Read it aloud to yourself, while applying different tones"

I can't count the number of times I've sent an email and then happened to glance back over it and cringe because upon reading it over again, it just doesn't "sound right." I don't always remember to, but I try to read most of my professional emails aloud, just to double check.

There are some interesting facts on the number of emails sent and time spent emailing, but the one thing I felt was missing in that regard was the source for these statistics. I always think it's a good idea to include sources for facts like those, because they are enough to make people curious to check out more information.

Overall this does have some useful tips, and can help you craft that perfect email.