Email Best Practices 2.0

NEO PRO 5 … A QUICK REVIEW – NEO Tip #9

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:14:07 +0000

Several people have asked me about Caelo’s new NEO Pro 5. Don’t confuse this with a full review .. I’m just saying what I like and why I think it’s definitely worth upgrading to.

Overall

I think it’s a well-balanced release. There are a few big features, and many smaller ones. But the smaller ones really add up too because they are thoughtful … they improve behaviour of existing workflows and increase productivity.

Before you rush to upgrade …

First, read about the new features: What’s new in NEO Pro 5

Make sure you have some time available after installing it. Upgrading to NEO Pro 5 requires you to rebuild your catalog, which is easy but can take minutes to hours depending on the number of messages you have.

Also, you’ll want some time to get acquainted with the new ribbon and trying out the new features.

Here are a few of the things I really like

#1 – Conversation View

Jim’s comment to me: “I REALLY like the conversation view. Can fly through email even faster” really says it all (thanks Jim).

The Right/Left arrow commands for quickly expanding/collapsing a conversation make it super easy to drill down.

#2 – Note capability for annotating messages

Very well designed. That you can easily add dates is a sweet touch.

You can use the Note feature for notes to yourself but you can also it for other creative things like managing your workflow. If you do, the new Noted virtual folder (that lives in Status view) will be very helpful. Suggest you make it Hot, and learn the feature’s new keyboard shortcuts.

#3 – The new Ribbon interface

I’m used to the Ribbon interface from other products, and figured it would mostly just help new users. It will, but I was surprised to find how much I like it too.

I love the new clean look and operate with the Ribbon minimized almost all the time. Here are some suggestions for getting started:

Right-click the Quick Access Toolbar and choose to show it below the Ribbon. For something you click often, it’s way too far away when it’s above the Ribbon.
Run with the Ribbon maximized until you learn where everything is.
Add every command you use regularly to the Quick Access Toolbar (this is the secret sauce!). Reorder the commands into logical groups (right-click, choose Customize then drag and drop with the Customize dialog open).
Then run with the Ribbon minimized (I toggle Ctrl+F1 to view/hide it)

You can stick with the old menu/toolbar if you want, but I suggest you give the Ribbon a shot.

#4 – New layout – “Set Views Left and Right”

Just try this (see View | Layout). You will either love it or … not so much. This has always been possible but tricky to set up without a stock layout. I stack Bulk Mail and Search on the right.

That’s it. I like the other features and fixes too but the above features alone make upgrading worthwhile for me. I also found the release to be very stable even from the very first beta.

REREADING EMAILS BEFORE SENDING DOESN’T HELP AS MUCH AS WE THINK – Best Practice #9

admin — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 22:30:58 +0000

Yes, simple rereading will catch mistakes. But it won’t catch the big ones, and it’s even less likely to catch the little ones.

Here are editing and proofreading tips that are better suited for email.

Do you reread your emails before sending them?

I didn’t for routine emails until I recently noticed more mistakes cropping up. Not so much spelling or grammar as leaving out whole words. Now I make it a habit to reread my outgoing email, even the short ones.

However, in researching this week’s best practice I was surprised to discover how I’m still missing errors – a simple rereading is not nearly as effective as I thought.

What works best for email?

I researched editing suggestions from both email experts and from print proofreaders/copyeditors. No lack of suggestions but most was too general from the email experts, and too arduous (for email) from the print media side.

So I came up with my own practical guide for editing outgoing email.

PRACTICAL EDITING TIPS TAILORED FOR EMAIL

Edit in two passes. That’s right – twice.

We use different parts of our brain to catch the two types of errors we all make. Simple rereading attempts to catch both at the same time, something experts say is not effective.

The two passes (simplified from conventional editing terms):

Editing Pass – make it clear and concise.
Proofreading Pass – check for typos and wrong words.

The Editing Pass (catch the big stuff)

This is the pass to say what you mean, and mean what you say.

What outcome do you want? Will your email achieve it?
Have you anticipated questions (to reduce unneeded replies)?
Does your email say what you want right up front?
If actions are required, do they stand out? Is it clear who should take them?
Are you sticking to the one topic per email best practice?
Does your Subject reflect your email content?
Are you as concise as you can be? Anything not contributing to your desired outcome should go. Be brutal.

The Proofreading Pass (catch the little stuff)

This time you are looking for spelling mistakes, typos, incorrect words.

The key is to go S L O W L Y, so slowly that you process every word, and your brain can’t auto-correct. Some editors suggest reading backwards or reading aloud. Just going word-for-word works well for me.
Be wary of headings. We tend not to see mistakes there.
Resist the temptation to rework anything – stick to correctness. If a semantic or order change is needed, do another editing pass.

Pause between writing and editing/sending

I’m a huge fan of this. My writing becomes infinitely clearer and much more concise when I edit the next day. We can’t afford to do this often, but waiting until tomorrow to edit important (or widely-distributed) emails really does work.

Isn’t this a lot of work?

No. It’s actually more efficient. It’s also easier than you think:

Notice that the first five Editing Pass steps are simple best practices that with a little practice can easily be built into your writing process. The last two (fixing up the Subject and making it concise) are my two most common edit-time activities.
For non-critical email when pressed for time, do the Editing pass and skip the Proofreading pass (and risk occasional misplaced words).

WHAT’S THE CURRENT EMAIL ADDRESS FOR A CORRESPONDENT? – NEO Tip #8

admin — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 00:20:16 +0000

Having trouble remembering which email address to use for someone? It’s a pain to check their latest email to verify. Try using the default feature of NEO’s “New Message To”.

The “New Message To” feature

To send a new message to a Correspondent, right-click the Correspondent folder and choose New Message To (or press Ctrl+E).

If the Correspondent has just one email address, a new message will open addressed to them.

However, if there is more than one email address for them, you get to choose:

Click Set as Default which sets it as bold so it’s easy to pick next time.

Notes

You can right-click any message in List View and do New Message To, but you can only set the default from the Correspondent folder.

STAY ON TOP OF INDUSTRY NEWS WITHOUT CLOGGING YOUR INBOX – Outlook Tip #8

admin — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 19:14:52 +0000

Microsoft introduced RSS reader capability in Outlook 2007. RSS? Really? Yes it’s techy, but worth looking at for one very good reason: it automatically reduces Inbox clutter.

Email newsletters seem easier but require an extra step

To subscribe to an email newsletter you just give them your email address and emails soon start arriving. However, unless you create an Outlook rule to redirect them to another folder, they will all arrive in your Inbox. Not good.

You don’t want less important email mixed in with your normal business email. It’s distracting and it makes your important business email much harder to find. Creating the Outlook rule to redirect it is easy but a nuisance (and can be problematic in Outlook if you have a lot of them).

RSS automatically puts your info aside for reading later

What is RSS? RSS is the industry-standard way to be notified of and receive new web content without having to manually check (for more info, do a web search on RSS).

The great thing about using the Outlook 2007 RSS feature is that your posts are all automatically delivered to a separate Outlook folder under RSS Feeds and outside your Inbox:

How to create RSS Feeds in Outlook

See Use Outlook as an RSS Reader from How-To Geek. The comments at the bottom of the How-To Geek article are helpful too.

Notes

If you already have a workable way to automatically separate your email newsletters from your business mail, then this won’t add much value.
Many sources (like this one – Email Best Practices 2.0) offer both RSS and email newsletter formats. Many sources may have just one.
If you do a lot of reading (i.e., dozens of daily sources) you will prefer an RSS newsreader program like Google Reader. I use Feedly which is a nice-looking front-end to a not so pretty Google Reader. Newsreaders are highly configurable and designed for power reading.

10 REASONS TO SEND SHORTER EMAILS – Best Practice #8

admin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 07:22:14 +0000

You may have noticed that your boss sends shorter emails than you do, and their boss even shorter still. They’re definitely onto something.

We’re getting very good at understanding “short”

Twitter, SMS, and now film reviews in under four words – Icy Dead People. Short is trending!

If verbose is your comfort zone, try scaling it way back and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Good things may happen

10	People may start reading your emails on their Blackberries.
9	Your email may fit into Outlook’s AutoPreview (which shows the first couple lines in the list view) and may be able to be handled without opening (extra points).
8	People may be more likely to consider your email during their Inbox clear-down (hint: can they read and action it in under three minutes?).
7	You’ll be more inclined to stick to the one-topic-per-email best practice.
6	Your emails may get forwarded more often. If your recipient found your email hard to digest, they might hesitate before feeding it to someone else.
5	Your email is more likely to be read completely. At some point down an email (I heard mention of 18%), readers switch from reading mode into skimming mode.
4	You may be more Gen-Y/Z friendly (see above). I have no data to support whether younger generations like shorter emails, but I’m guessing they do.
3	Your boss may be pleased to see you’re not spending your entire day in email.
2	You’ll look like a busy person who can’t wait to get back to your most challenging projects.
1	Getting into the swing of an allegro tempo will help you clear down your Inbox in less time.

Careful – short doesn’t mean slapdash

You risk being impolite, inattentive, frivolous. Choose your words thoughtfully and always write to get results. “Friendly but direct” seems to work best for business email.

Longer emails have their place. I’m just saying that many of us (and I definitely include me) would get better results if we went shorter much more often.

TRY THESE FOLDER LIST SORT ORDERS FOR YOUR VIEWS – NEO Tip #7

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:33:03 +0000

Out of the box, NEO sorts Folder Lists in Tree order but you may find that Alpha or Recently Used orders simpler and a better fit for some views.

Tree order is the default. Have you tried the other sort orders?

Orders that I use and recommend

Remember that you don’t have to use the same order for each view, or even all the time for the same view.

Correspondent View – Alpha order is much better if you don’t care about the New | Current | Dormant top level feature and you tend to scroll to find people. Recently Used order is a perfect choice if you use the Folder List filter a lot. Hint: use Alpha order when combining folders.

Bulk Mail View – Ditto.

Category View – Again, same as above except that if you like to drag and drop to Categories, you may prefer Recently Used order over Alpha because your recent ones will be at the top.

Status, Date, Attachment and Outlook views – These seem to work best in Tree order. The reason is that they have an internal ’system’ ordering that makes sense (e.g., in Date by date, Status by workflow relevance, etc).

Notes

You have to be in Tree order to add folders and group folders.
If in Alpha or Recently Used orders you will see a Location field. It shows the in what Top Level folder the appears. Not very useful really, so to make more room you can put your cursor on the left edge of the field and drag it to the right edge to make it go away.

USE SEARCH FOLDERS FOR YOUR TOP 5 CORRESPONDENTS – Outlook Tip #7

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 03:45:23 +0000

Outlook’s View feature operates only within a single folder, making it unhelpful for showing emails in different folders. Break out of Outlook’s folder straitjacket with Search Folders.

Search Folders are highly configurable, but one of their best uses is one of the simplest: show all the email (both sent and received!) between you and a correspondent in one place.

Search Folders primer

Search Folders are virtual folders. They’re folders but they don’t contain the actual emails (they still live in the physical folder). What they do is just collect references to them into a single folder so it appears like they exist there.

Outlook comes with a few predefined ones, but here we’ll show you how to create your own.

Create a “Correspondent” Search folder

If you create one of these for each of your top 5 correspondents, and put them in your Favorite Folders area, you’ll be surprised at how much browsing time you’ll save.

First …

then …

and …

Notes

They are updated dynamically as new emails arrive.
Grouping on Received or Subject works really well.
When you delete them the Search Folder disappears but the emails in them don’t (that’s a good thing).
Did I say highly configurable? There’s lots more you can do with Search Folders. It’s worth playing with them to learn more.
If you like the concept of virtual folders, you may like Nelson Email Organizer. It creates Correspondent, Date, Status, Attachment and others automatically for you.

ONE TOPIC PER EMAIL PLEASE – Best Practice #7

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:20:13 +0000

You may think you’re making it easier for your recipient by putting everything in one convenient email. In fact, you’re making it much harder.

Five reasons for sticking to one topic per email

I’m referring to the emails that contain one topic, then BTW … here comes an unrelated one (emails with many related points are fine).

1 Task management gets harder

To your recipient, each email is a task. Busy people love the satisfaction of actioning and clearing an email within a couple minutes.

Emails containing more than one topic feel heavy and require some juggling. If there’s only time to partially reply, the email needs to stick around – not very motivating when the mission is to clear out the Inbox quickly.

More likely, the email will get passed over until there’s “more time.”

2 Partial or delayed response

We’ve all experienced this: a response to one item and silence on the others. What happened? With great intentions, your respondent likely only had time for one item (the easy one) then got busy and forgot about the others. Then there’s that awkwardness of following-up by referring to items in an old email your correspondent thought was dealt with.

What if you need an answer on one item this week, but the other one can wait. Sometimes people wait until they have all the answers before responding. Also, it’s just human nature to defer emails that appear to require more effort. Think about all the times you’ve skipped past emails that looked hard.

3 Awkward to forward

People love forwarding email (and delegating). If your second topic was perfect for your recipient to delegate, he’d have to pull it out and send it in a separate email. That’s much harder than simply clicking Forward on a single-topic email.

4 Longer emails

The more topics the longer the email. Shorter emails are more likely to be read (and read sooner), and are more mobile-friendly.

Note also that not all emails are read to completion. You may find items near the bottom get missed (More on inverted-pyramid writing in a separate topic).

5 Their subjects are surprisingly awkward to write

So awkward that we get lazy and write ones like “Two things.” Pretty goofy, especially when referring to it later.

Doesn’t this create even more emails?

YES, more emails that work and fewer emails that don’t work!

GET ALERTED WHEN A KEY CORRESPONDENT EMAILS YOU – NEO Tip #6

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:22:28 +0000

Most of the time alerts are distracting, but sometimes we need to jump into action the moment a particular correspondent emails us.

Here’s how to get selectively alerted in NEO Pro.

First, set up your New Mail Alerts in Options

Go to Tools | Options | New Mail Alerts tab. Enable alerts only for Hot messages. Getting alerted for all emails is discouraged these days (but of course, do what works best for you).

Now make your Correspondent Hot

You’ll receive a new mail alert for just those Correspondents you’ve made Hot. Here’s my Hot view:

I’ll only get alerted when either Joshua, Marni or Tina contact me – exactly what I want.

The beauty of it in NEO is that it’s a breeze to make Correspondents Hot or not Hot (right-click and choose Make Hot/Remove from Hot, or Ctrl+H). You can change who’s Hot much more quickly than having to configure an Outlook rule (ugh!).

JUMP QUICKLY TO AN EMAIL IN YOUR SORTED COLUMN – Outlook Tip #6

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:22:54 +0000

We know to sort on a column to find an email, but then waste time scrolling down to it. Try entering the item’s first letter instead – it’s much faster.

This is yet another feature I think many people aren’t aware of or aren’t in the habit of using enough.

How it works

It operates on text columns like From, Subject, Categories.

Now, suppose I’m looking for an email I know who’s subject started with the word tax. Rather than scroll all the way down, I press t, and I jump immediately to:

This is a pretty smart feature. …

It’s actually multi-key search. If I had entered ta I would have jumped to the emails starting with ta (like tax). Enter the subsequent keys quickly. Note it works only on leading characters.
Searches up or down and it’s case-insensitive.
Ignores prefixes like RE and FWD.
Works when “Show in Groups” is enabled.
Works in all Folders Lists as well.
And works the same in NEO Pro too.