8 Email Etiquette Tips - How to Write Better Emails at Work

[@NR4sDodu]

Beginning with the action required, then adding context at the end of an email is a new one for me, and makes so much sense.

[@nargiskhatun43]

What do you think about AI email or article copywrite tools? I think it can escalate your work time. If you are interested let me know.

[@xPentag0n]

You can look up the Pyramid Principles the book describes detailed how to write specific texts

[@jainamshah4819]

Absolutely True 👍

[@ayushtyagi8291]

Same here. Totally agree.

[@GB-TX]

Shockingly excellent - so accurate!

[@trinitygao3418]

That 30-second undo Gmail rule simply saved my life!

[@Jeff-yq6qr]

Talk about being less stressed about being cautious not to hit send accidentally! Love it.

[@tural.ahmatov]

I just always send scheduled mails. Gives me time to review before sent + looks cool to send precisely at 9.00 or 10.30 :)

[@techaddictdude]

Why did you accidentally send nudes to someone?

[@DukeAshvin]

Even for me too - Gmail Undo Sent !

[@laikathy9943]

Oh Your message makes me really want to try 😀

[@jihancessar7156]

"Summarize in your reply" is my favorite one. It makes you a bit organized and professional.

[@SirenaWF1]

Not only that, but it impresses the recipient because you read their email in detail.

[@jenkinsj9224]

@@SirenaWF1 But if the recipient happens to a boomer boss, he would think you are an a$$hole and would ask why the *uck you sent me back the same mail😂

[@roxanne_george]

Yes, I did this a few times too in the past and was surprised how well it was received.

[@achieving.excellence]

Considering the volume of emails we read on a daily basis - this type of email etiquette would save so much time and effort if emails are structured in this way. Thank you!

[@samantharouth7229]

I am a wordy writer in emails, but the call to action first and then context, along with the main info on the email header is my big take aways! Thank you so much for the great tips and tricks. Great learning expereince!!

[@stacysimmons6042]

Samantha, this made me chuckle: "I am a wordy writer in emails..." the use of 7 words to describe yourself as wordy. CLASSIC. We both hold tickets to the same show! Be well =)

[@andrewasonibare]

@@stacysimmons6042 I refuse to raise my hand in this room. lol. I even started to just be quiet in WhatsApp group chats and all because I just tend to be verbose. I see a great angle and I want everyone to just see it in technicolor as I do. While I have some raving fans of my clarity of thinking and presentation, apparently, not everyone gives a hoot. Am I doing it again? Oh well... Hi, I'm Andrew and I'm a verbaholic :)

[@andrewasonibare]

@Samantha Routh :) Great learning experience!! CONTEXT: I am a wordy writer in emails, but the call to action first and then context, along with the main info on the email header is my big take away! Thank you so much for the great tips and tricks.

[@ninjamiann]

I usually just schedule send of +3mins so I can have a longer "undo send" because murphy's law in the workplace is very real

[@cinnamon5187]

How do you do that in Gmail? It only gives you a Max of 30s?

[@omkarrajebhosale4153]

@@cinnamon5187 schedule send

[@sigma_z]

As a Principle Architect, I have mine is set to +365 days.

[@kirstyann]

Amazing!!! Going to totally do that

[@MrVinnyable1]

how to do it for outlook ?

[@noumaan]

As a remote team, we mostly use Slack. Some of the email etiquettes apply to Slack too. Would be nice to have a separate video on Slack etiquettes.

[@JonathanBaillieStrong]

THIS!!!!

[@houdasbaa4368]

Yes we use Teams , and this could be helpful to us! Thank you so much for all your advice!

[@GB-TX]

I almost rolled my eyes at this email, thinking I didn't need to listen because I'm a solid email-writer.... but this man just blew my mind! I'm humbled! Great advice across the board. They seem so simple and obvious and yet, rarely do people use these tips. But boy would I appreciate/and be more responsive if they did!

[@pavithren]

The most useful takeaways for me. The tip about prioritizing the action items and moving context to later part of the email + CTA In subject. Thanks Jeff and HBR!

[@alabatavictor74]

FOR MORE DETAILS OF THE VIDEO zeep.ly/iXCI6

[@runwaychick7]

I really like the addressing the main concern and THEN adding context!

[@setionos]

1. Include CTA in subject line 2. One email thread per topic 3. Recipient management 4. Start with main point first, then context 5. Summarise in your reply 6. Hyperlink whenever possible 7. Change default setting to reply (not reply all) 8. Change undo send option to 30 seconds

[@yourlinuxguy]

I didn't understand the 7th one.

[@potatotes7856]

⁠@@yourlinuxguyi believe this is just for preventative act if mistakes happen, since loop emails are packed with lots of involved parties including our managers, it is best to set one person default 😅

[@brayan8346]

I should have sent your video to someone a long time ago. We eventually told her “I'm not even going to read your email.” Every email she sent was a one-thousand-word essay. This obviously annoyed everyone so we requested she’d be concise and effective. She didn't do that so we stopped reading or replying to any emails which just led to more emails.

[@Wyfind]

My biggest tip: Add line breaks and consider bolding. It takes a lot of time to treasure hunt through one large block of text

[@jollyjumpnjellybeans3028]

I just learnt what parentheses are! I actually learnt a lot from this video, even after spending days on my course learning about professional emails. Thank you for making it all even clearer.

[@uero-ro]

I appreciate how this video about how communicate well via email was communicated to us well with a clearly structured video formatted with introductory overview and segmented sections with timestamps.

[@ksmith1964]

Ikr? It's Excellence on so many levels! ☺️☺️☺️

[@alexk8903]

What I really appreciate is when coworkers have an appropriate signature block with all contact information and titles. Especially in lengthy chain emails.

[@JeffSu]

Thanks for having me HBR 😁

[@phoebeq6331]

As your fan from the beginning, seeing u partner with HBR makes me feel so prooooud!

[@JeffSu]

@@phoebeq6331 thanks Phoebe!

[@prakharaug]

Thanks Jeff for the awesome content 😍

[@ankitasaxena5891]

Hyperlink suggestion was awesome. Wished I had seen this earlier. You gained one subscriber today 🎉

[@JeffSu]

@@ankitasaxena5891 awesome! Glad to hear it Ankita 😁

[@scottingalls8460]

When communicating about a specific topic for a project, I have my header format as (project code>name>topic). This way, the receiver knows what project it is (some people like using the codes, but I like the name) and what the email is about.

[@ijaen]

For complex emails I have trained my teams in the past on this: every complex email that needs a clear outcome needs: WHAT needs to be done. WHO is responsible of doing it. WHY it needs to be done, for context or training for new starters. WHEN or deadlines and sometimes HOW the task needs to be done to meet expectations. Emails don’t need to be long, need to be clear. A very long email should be a memo.

[@alabatavictor74]

FOR MORE DETAILS OF THE VIDEO zeep.ly/iXCI6

[@almouhandis-kv4pb]

​Try sending the emails after making the receivers into categories and use OpenAI to create customized emails for better results. You can do that with Whatsapp, Google Reviews, Social Media Comments... where everything is done for you AND you can send customized messages to people who ALREADY like your stuff

[@MariaFatimaY.Batain]

I was 12 yr old when I came across your channel. Now that I need to write emails, I remembered how you provide helpful tips regarding this matter. Thank you Jeff and to your team!

[@Jeff-yq6qr]

I definitely like #4 the most and I've actually be thinking about doing this in my sales emails for quite some time. I haven't been sure if it's too uncomfortably straight forward or not, but It makes sense, though.. get to the "ask" first and then color it with context later. Even when I read emails, I automatically go to the bottom to see what the "ask" is, and then go back up to read the context.

[@adityamishra7703]

Been using the 'same subject for thread emails' and the best tip was 'Undo send to 30 seconds', I literally paused the video there and then and first went to change it to 30 secs,thanks a lot sir

[@geoffscott5066]

I thought I knew how to write businesss email until now. I will apply most of these tips from now on. Thank you!

[@caterinablackmon2129]

The 30-second undo send rule is a lifesaver. I never knew you could change that setting! Thank you!

[@aeridgway]

Top takeouts for me: 1. Distilling the key points of a complex email and answering them in point form, helping you and the recipient 2. Action first, context later. However (as with other points) this may not work so well across cultures. 3. Changing the 'undo' function to 30 seconds. I had no idea this was possible. Reducing follow-up correction emails also minimises inbox clog-ups. I place a lot of importance in good email etiquette, so I appreciate every opportunity to improve. Thank you, Jeff!

[@derekroh4785]

Linking the setting, and have 30 seconds to change the e-mail were my favorites. thank you.

[@JeanJohn]

Tip 2 is my favourite, been using it since I started my first job. It keeps everything organised in my mail box and I can easily find previous mails. I recently talked to my team about it because they preferred sending multiple mails on a single topic. I also like tip 6 - hyperlinks, ever since I discovered CTRL+K, I bade goodbye to long links in my mails. Thank you for sharing Jeff, I didn’t know about tip 8 on Gmail.

[@bobbirowlett6728]

I think my favorite is to add a subject line with action item noted. Close second to that is noting people you add or remove from the thread and why. I tend to group my message as you stated, but the tips you offered will make it even better. Thank you!

[@lighthunter1980]

Great video! I disagree with the single reply vs all option. I reply all in most cases and if I reply to one person then it's a conscious decision. It's super annoying if someone just hits reply and drops off everyone else just because they didn't have reply all as their default setting. I had a vendor contact who did this often and in addition, started new email threads on the same topic - super annoying.

[@Nickabod79]

At my first big girl job in academe I wrote polite emails using many of these tips. I got dinged on my performance review for being curt in my emails. 20 years later, I feel vidicated. Thank you.

[@reguloalvarado1684]

Great video. I have mixed feelings about #4. I like to explain why I'm emailing them then ask the question (or favor). However, I also understand why it would make sense to upper management.

[@mjoeuson]

I’ve been so nervous about my new job, and I literally feel like your videos are saving my life lol THANK YOU!! God sent.

[@AerielFerguson]

I thought I had email etiquette covered....I too learned the hard way after making mistakes at my 1st job. To my defence I was 19 and didnt know emails were a big thing in the workplace. But that point abt putting the call to action upfront and then giving the context is something Im gonna adapt since Ive been the one to generally explain before I ask for something.

[@fernandocarrillomiranda504]

im going to make all my company employee’s watch this video before they start working for me. This helped me so much and, using this type of ettiquete makes everything way more clean and understandable. Communication is everything!!!

[@JL-xo2ed]

Good information, my #1 tip when speaking, do not say "to be honest with you" comes across as not always being honest. Instead use the statement, "to be upfront with you."

[@LSF7]

This just changed my daily conversation view. I'm gonna use this in personal communications as well.

[@JoeySteveandtheboys]

Saying "frankly" also works

[@Maria-kg1nh]

That is a good one. Thanks. I will have to use that! God bless!

[@sanupdivakaran]

The last and the final one "Change undo send" is the one which I always looks as my preventive measure whenever I am dealing with professional emails and thus that is one of my fav ❤

[@iemaj]

The context part is very good . I'll definitely do that.

[@AliHassan-bn4ri]

Awesome video. My favourite part is the importance of providing main point or raising a core question first and providing the context later. This truly gives reader the opportunity to continue reading or not.

[@geasaw]

Very helpful tips. Changing default reply to SENDER instead of REPLY TO ALL was useful for me. Also changing the UNDO SEND OPTION to 30 s was great help, avoiding lot of embarrassment and improving clarity. Thanks a ton .. 🙂

[@Leon_George]

You are Brilliant! I struggle with all these social etiquette things, and having someone lay it out for me, is so invaluable.

[@juliusdaviesd]

From my observation, this concept really works when you're writing to your supervisor / senior. Infact the entire video seems to lean in that direction. Problem with me is, as a subordinate if my Supervisor writes a mail to me in the above format,.. I perceive them to be too bossy and direct, without first making small talk :)

[@alabatavictor74]

FOR MORE DETAILS OF THE VIDEO zeep.ly/iXCI6

[@karlaarce51]

The team collaboration feature is one of my favorites. It promotes healthy collaboration without sharing your credentials. Plus, the tag management system makes email selection a walk in the park!

[@999nico]

The "Context" Part is great!

[@tamphan5910]

I also agree 👌

[@999nico]

@@tamphan5910 I have already used it in my emails today!

[@ahmedam77]

Amazing! 1. CTA is subject line 2. Reply instead of a new email 3. Start with actionable ask/step, then follow by context 4. Action items, Recap in the reply (confirm understanding)

[@leeles]

Thanks, Jeff, this is a very helpful summary. In many workplaces, there is little awareness and reflection on the e-mail habits and how to make this better for the whole team. I want to add that clear and open communication in the group is very important, so that it is clear to everyone, what ARE the expected etiquette and rules? It may differ from one company to the next, therefore we should always strive to speak about it explicitly and clarify this, so as to include everone in the current etiquette-framework.

[@adamknight5089]

This is really good, no-one gets taught email etiquette. Where can I watch (or read) more about this? This guy really knows what he's talking about

[@JeffSu]

My channel :)

[@ZeeshanMohammad-bi8kc]

Indeed, Clearly segregating the action required followed by the context helped & it really had worked as well to get the recipient's attention .

[@maheshjanagan6769]

Reading from the recipient perspective and finding an error is usual 😀😂 and your 30 sec undo tip will help 😉

[@TheJosephSim]

just started a new job - last week I was watching your CV tips - you're a lifesaver Jeff

[@natalieyuen7719]

Love the partnership with HBR!! And I will vote for "Summarize in the reply" with your video link shared 🤣🤣🤣

[@uniquekelvin]

My take away is the idea of beginning with the action required and then the context. Secondly the 30 seconds undo rule is also new to me. Perfect video, I learnt a lot.

[@mahjowee20]

Undo Send- extend the time to 30s 🤯 thank you! Overall, great content. Really helpful for email noobs like me

[@kayodeodeyemi4397]

Changing my "undo send" from 5 to 30 seconds was the most helpful tip. Thanks

[@pandancake683]

Those examples were gold. Loving the thought put into them!

[@andywilliams1055]

Apart from the great content, there are so many little things to admire in this video, such as the pop-up comments, transitions and little sound effects. Bravo and thank you 🙂

[@Gurumohan_EBC]

Hi There, This content of yours was very informative and helpful, personally I always summarised the emails into action item and context of the email.

[@Matt-ic9dt]

Love the tip about summarizing lengthy or confusing emails to ensure you're aligned with the sender!

[@NBTJacklyn]

This was awesome

[@RickVigil-mh8wz]

I absolutely LOVE the tip to include the main point/ask first, then the context! I'll implement immediately, thank you! Such great info.

[@liachngo]

I’d like to incorporate having the call to action in the beginning of the email. But it’s tricky, I feel. I feel it’ll take away the casual tone of the email and eventually affect my client relationships (too much “business only” and less friendly).

[@MK-uh2lx]

Reply all is changed to Reply as the default. That is my favorite. Thanks for all the tips!

[@SISTARRRRR1]

6:11 couldn't agree more lol. Btw, thank you for the tips, Jeff!

[@mahesh26sai]

This video is a testament that I have been writing good emails all these days

[@YesThatPrettyGirL]

THANK YOU FOR THIS!!

[@debbielahav5909]

Great video! As a teacher of business English, sharing this video with my students. Now they will see that their teacher isn't the only one....

[@axe.capital]

Tip number 6: Sometimes I add long links on purpose. If I know the recipient is a bit less computer literate and they could easily miss the embedded link, it needs to look a bit more obvious where to click.

[@patakanfosekan6580]

THANK YOU IS THE BEST PRAYER THAT ANYONE COULD EVER SAY TO @HACKERCHUNGM ON TELEGRAM, I SAY THAT ONE LOT.THANK YOU SIR EXPRESSED EXTREME GRATITUDE AND HUMILITY UNDERSTANDING💯💯✅

[@rustoo3823]

So true!

[@AndrewDeFaria]

If the recipient is that clues some 20 years after the web and hyperlinks have been around, then I wouldn't email him in the first place! How stupid are you that you can't tell it's a hyperlink?!?

[@hamzamabrouk7673]

The reply and mostly the 30-second rule is a life saver. Thank you.

[@hamzamabrouk7673]

I think I would add the use of Grammarly extension for proper grammar and better understanding.

[@hendriefalke5169]

People deliberately break these rules to "entertain" themselves.

[@andreambuguah]

Thank you, I'll include the main point first and then context moving forward. I love your reply for a confusing email - the action items and recap.

[@theniii]

the phrase "Email etiquette" annoys me as I really don't believe formal languages are productive. To me, it only adds an unnecessary emotional wall between the sender and receipiant. But this video was surprisingly useful and avoided all the traditional "email etiquette" bs. Maybe consider rewording the title to "how to email productively"?

[@valeriehawkins3666]

I had just watched your video, and then sent an email -- with a mistake in it! No could do the undo because I still had the default 5 seconds. Changed it to 30 seconds IMMEDIATELY! THANKS!

[@marietjiegeldenhuys4539]

Such sensible tips! The call to action in subject line and the "ask" first with context provided as secondary information

[@sahilsinghal9472]

Action required at the beginning of the email and improving the subject line are my two favourites.

[@joytolentino779]

Hi Jeff, what I liked is the changing of the period of sending to 30 seconds, it is a new idea and a very helpful one too. Thanks. I like organizing topics and ways not to WORK HARD BUT WORK SMART content.

[@senthilnathanssn]

The video is really good, I would like to add 1 more tip: If the email chain keeps expanding to multiple recipients & DLs , the responder can remove unnecessary participants from the email chain because that would save a lot of time.

[@williamsims383]

I love this video, his energy is so pure and focused. Came here three times.

[@mcartxca1990]

The undo time setting is the best thing I've learned since please and thank you!

[@roxanne_george]

Thank you very much! Some priceless tips here regarding Reply All and other Gmail settings. My fav tip is No 2 (one email per topic) but I'd like to add that it also works the other way round: to stick to the topic in question. Not like : "Thanks for contract No 111111, and as for contract No 444444, I'll send it to you later today." This is a recipe for disaster. Write only about contract No 11111, then go to the thread about contract No 44444, and write to them saying it'll be ready later today. It can prevent a whole other can of worms 😂

Fantastic content! When you are a novice and just want to send your email appropriately, email etiquette or norms are helpful. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@fungboy3]

Definitely tip 1 and 2 . I noticed by changing the call to action the responses I got generally were faster and straight to the point from budget holders

[@chrisfox8227]

Loved the format for adding and removing people from the email audience.

[@latoyas294]

I was totally clueless about going to my email settings to change the undo send option to 30s. Thank you so much for this!

[@fatimaa9164]

The last 2 tips will literally save my life. I actually never knew that I could just adjust that in the settings 😓

[@tiffanyolson4565]

OMG! the 30sec UNDO option for sent emails!!! YASSS!!! thank you!!!

[@rolandstaton4473]

I appreciate the entire video. Action then context is my favorite part.

[@RamzanLatif-c3q]

This video gave me the reason for not getting reply from clients. May you stay emailed. I mean happy

[@AK-zq8dt]

All tips were really helpful. But, Organising email, changing 'undo time & reply all' settings I liked the most!

[@highlanderes]

For complicated subject matters, I add a short “bottom line” statement at the top. Allowing the reader to ignore the details, or have a lot better experience going through them. It is highly appreciated.

[@prasannakumarbheemala9799]

Highlighting the Subject for a Specific Person and letting him know about the work he needs to do will be a good option in my opinion.

[@mokamotobuilders1499]

This is very helpful! Thank you! My favorite is the "Include CTA in the subject line" and the "Change undo send options".

[@mejulian01]

I consider(ed) myself competent enough, and thought I wouldn't learn much, but these are great tips. Much appreciated. Number 2 is tricky. If you have a random thought or question on your project, and you just want to run it by a couple of people, you might not want to inject it in the main thread, so it makes sense to have a side conversation. The issue is that sometimes those side conversations evolve until you have two main threads. This is hard.

[@Pejayyyy]

True, also the other thing might not fit in the context created by the main thread's subject, so then you are talking about a different thing with the wrong email's subject. Now that gets messy really fast. Only if the subject of the main thread is broad and generic like a project name, but thats it.

[@baarathsrinivasan2880]

my favorite among this is 30s delay for undo email. I personally caught in many situation where I find mistake while reading message form sent folder. This tip will be great use for me.

[@camillecunningham7361]

FEEDBACK: All Tips are new and important for me to implement. Thank you!!

[@shirleybaird537]

CTA at the begging with the content follow up. The abbreviated CTA in the subject is a good one I use, yet I got a better insight how that can be done more efficiently in the video. Great content!

[@AD-hb6zl]

That undo setting to 30 sec. is a life-saver! Thanks HBR and Jeff!

[@piyushbhatt.official]

Thank You Jeff for giving a valuable video on such an important topic which is must know for every individual and unfortunately schools don't teach us these things. My Fouvorite Point: Use hyper links instead of pasting long links. THANK YOU

[@CrispinCourtenay]

I like Action followed by Context or Summary - this is an excellent time saver, not just for email. A single thread for a topic or project becomes highly unworkable after about 25 replies. I think this is where it is time to switch over to an asyc solution that does threading well, Slack, for instance.

[@annby940]

30-second undo send will save my life one day but this video in general is so helpful!

[@moonlitnight1609]

Learning how to hyperlink and about the undo send options was very informative. I will be using them now. I have already changed my settings for the undo send option.

[@nehagupta8473]

Hey thanks for the video. I have been using numbers 1-7 ..learnt from my peers and seniors at work... But 8 was very new to me..thanks for sharing