I love email because it’s so easy. Easy to stay in touch with people with whom you don’t regularly speak. Easy to reach clients when they won’t return phone calls. Easy to lay out your points in an articulate manner instead of just spewing thoughts out of your mouth in the heat of the moment.

And I hate email because it’s so easy. Easy to accidentally forward sensitive information. Easy to use when you don’t feel like confronting a difficult situation (ain’t being passive/aggressive just a kick?). Easy to use as a crutch when you really should be picking up the phone and dealing with the matter directly. And most of all, it’s easy to get lazy with how business writing should be done. It's become such a casual medium, we sometimes forget that an email to a business client, superior or colleague is very different than one to your buddy or your girl.

My biggest problem with email is I get cute with it. I don’t capitalize anything, I write like I speak (which is to say, kind of sloppy), I use punctuation loosely. I made the mistake of using that sloppy style when I sent a note to a client of mine, a 1-star General, no less. Didn’t think twice about what I was doing. However, he did. Big mistake. He took note and treated me as if I were an overgrown tweener on our next in-person meeting.  It took a long time for me to regain his professional respect...which I did by taking him out to a really expensive steak dinner on my company. 

I know I'm not the first to experience the down side of email, so Better Guys is here to give some tips on how to use email effectively and avoid some common mistakes. 

1. Sloppy Joe – Save emoticons, abbreviations (TTYL, BTW, WTF), and excessive punctuation (!!!!) for friends and family. This is an issue for younger professionals who come straight from college and are used to writing emails and text messages this way. It's way too casual for the office and sends the message that you're not ready to deal with the big boys.
2. Backed-up into a Digital Corner – Email is imminently traceable and more permanent than you think. It doesn't just disappear into the ether -- there are backup servers, routine file back-ups, and every ISP has back-up servers for their protection. That means once you write it down and hit "send," you own those words. So use discretion when crafting any kind of email. Treat it like any other sort of correspondence; sketch it out and re-read it for accuracy. Would you be ok if your haphazard thoughts were forwarded to, say, a thousand other people? No? Then be sure of what you want to say before you write it. Which brings us to. . .
3. Wait, I Didn’t Mean It Like That! By its nature, email lacks nuance, like Alberto Gonzales. It's easy to misinterpret someone’s mood or tone in email. Once you type and send it, you leave yourself open to your tone being interpreted in a hundred different ways. Re-read every critical email before sending it to be sure your vibe is what you intended. That is, every email to your girl, your parents, your boss, your clients, or your lawyer, because. . .
4. Privacy? Surely You're Joking – Remember, there is no such thing as a private email. Those raunchy YouTube video clips and the just-this-side-of-porn photos that your buddy sends you? The flirtatious note to the new chick in sales? The critique of the boss' new sales strategy? It's out there for the world to see. Don't compose or forward these sorts of messages to your friends and colleagues from your work email. You don’t want your professional reputation in jeopardy if some guy or gal decides to forward your thoughts to the world. Right, Michael Richards?
5. You Do It In Person – Email shouldn't replace personal interaction, especially with business clients. Plan to meet with them in person or via phone for all important or sensitive matters. Truthfullly, fellas, this should apply to all aspects of your life, as well. You are an adult. And as an adult, there are certain things you do in person and do not do over email. You don’t quit a job over email. You do not ask for a raise over email. You do not alert people that someone has, uh, died over email. And you do not break up with your girl over email. That would make you a sissy.
6. Thank You For Not Thanking Me – You know what I hate? When I do something for someone and I get a one word response – “Thanks!” I know you appreciate it, and I dig that, but we’re all bombarded with email that slows productivity to a crawl, so minimize the traffic by eliminating emails that are detritus of the web. Tell the person the next time you see them how grateful you are for their help.
7. Fwd -- Ever get emails with no title?  Or the title says “Hi!” or “It’s me” or “Just checkin’ in!”? And yet there’s importatn info in the email that you may actually need at a later date, but you’d have no way of knowing that because the title doesn’t indicate anything of destinction? Here’s how you fix that – when you send an email, title it, let people know what it’s about. Use examples such as “Monday’s Meeting Agenda” or “Critical Customer Bullet Points” or “Saturday’s Party Plans, Featuring Ashely and Stacy.” Now, no more guess work as to the contents of these important messages!

Email is a fantastic tool that has increased productivity and kept people in touch and connected like the phone never could.  But it can also be a trap.  Follow these seven tips and you’ll be an email master.  Now pick up that phone and call your customer. She’d rather hear from you than read yet another email!  'K?