We all know how to answer a work email, don’t we? But do we all do it the right way? I think there is always some place for improvement. I have written many posts on how to manage your inbox, I have even advocated the idea of not replying to all the messages you get. Here’s some tips on how to answer a work email like a pro. Get to the point quickly I know you want to express how happy you are you got the email and you want to flood the first paragraph of the email with courteous words as poetic as the sunset over Tahiti beaches, but let me tell you one thing – not only no one expects that from you but they actually might not have time for that. Don’t waste sentences to blow someones ego or to be overly polite. Seriously! Get. To. The. Point.

1. How to Answer
Emails
Like a Pro
with a special bonus – how to appear so much
more smarter when it comes to emails
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2. We all know how to answer a work email, don’t we?
But do we all do it the right way? I think there is always
some place for improvement. I have written many
posts on how to manage your inbox, I have even
advocated the idea of not replying to all the messages
you get. Here’s some tips on how to answer a work
email like a pro. Get to the point quickly
I know you want to express how happy you are you got
the email and you want to flood the first paragraph of
the email with courteous words as poetic as the sunset
over Tahiti beaches, but let me tell you one thing – not
only no one expects that from you but they actually
might not have time for that. Don’t waste sentences to
blow someones ego or to be overly polite. Seriously!
Get. To. The. Point.
HOW
TO ANSWER
EMAILS
LIKE A PRO
AND APPEAR SO MUCH SMARTER

3. Use bullet points and text formatting
Our attention span at work is constantly challenged
making it difficult to read dense paragraphs of text.
Use bullet points where possible to summarise ideas,
data, or conclusions and to provide succinct answers.
Michele Connolly from Get organised Wizard makes
good point when she explains in her article how
important it is to keep emails simple by using bullet
points.
follow Michelle on Twitter

4. Let the others reply first
If you’re CCed on an email, and someone
else CCed would be better suited to provide
an answer, let them do it first.
Rob Sobers from www.robsobers.com
suggests even a rather radical solution of
deleting every email you are CCed on. I
wonder what you think of that?
follow Rob on Twitter

5. Forward emails sent to you by mistake
Instead of replying with a long explanation saying how
and why this and that does not concern you anymore,
forward the email by replying and including the
correct person on the thread.
Marsha Egan from the Inbox Detox explains the right way
to forward email in her instructional video.
Follow Marsha on Twitter

6. Don’t speculate on intent
Words are just words – what drives communication is
very often our interpretation. Believe me, it’s hard to
read emotions in emails. So don’t do that. Don’t
speculate on intent.
This 99u.com article by Scott McDowell explains in a
great way how to introduce emotions to you emails
without making too many innuendos.
follow Scott on Twitter

7. Answer promptly in you scheduled time
If you can answer something promptly (under two
minutes) do it. If you have to take time to answer
thoroughly, plan that time. Don’t create an awful
backlog in your inbox, and frustrate the sender.
Tim Schraeder - Community Manager at @thegridio says
that scheduling specific email times and turning off
notifications saves him a lot of time! I couldn’t agree more.
follow Tim Schraeder on Twitter

8. Don’t answer at all
Some emails are not meant to be replied to. If
someone informs you about something that
does not require your comment or answer then
you really do not have to answer with, “Ok, thx”
or “Great, got that.”
Seth Godin – Author, Blogger, Marketing Guru when
asked about answering all emails simple says…
"No, you shouldn't. But many people do, because
there doesn't seem to be a great alternative. It's
asymmetrical, and productivity loses to politeness."

9. Share random thoughts at odd hours
Create a caché of short, random thoughts that you
can auto-send in the middle of the night. These could
be: a question about the status of a project or an
inspiring quote out of nowhere.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing
elit. Phasellus eleifend nec leo at fermentum. Mauris
in neque eleifend, maximus tellus eget, laoreet lorem.
Nunc non dui velit. Nunc lobortis tortor sem.

10. Well, you’ve just had a chance to get familiar with a bunch of useful
tips that should and will increase your productivity greatly. The only
way to make those work is by implementing them daily as habits.
And remember that the only way to get rid of the bad habit is to
replace it with the good one. To make it easier for you to trace the
bad habits I have prepared a list of ridiculous habits other people
have that are just apparently making them look smarter. In reality
those are just ego tricks that blur the reality and kill productivity.
HOW
TO APPEAR SO MUCH
SMARTER WHEN
ANSWERING EMAILS

11. Send vague but frequent status updates
Start every other email with this snippet that you hope will
immediately impress your colleagues. They probably won’t
read much past this, so feel free to follow it with a
meaningless data point on this month’s returning users or
the new engineer that’s joining the team in 4 months. This
may include some deep and rather irrelevant points on
business strategies and so on.

12. Wait a week before responding to direct
requests, then ask if it’s still needed
Never respond to direct requests right away. If your help is
truly needed, that person will find you, but most likely he’ll
just ask someone else. After 7 days has passed, respond
with, “This got buried, still needed?” That is actually the
avoiding technique you can use in real life situations as well.
Pretend you are not there.

13. Complain about how much email you get
Complaining makes you so much more busier than you
actually are. And makes you look important. After all it is all
about keeping up the appearances, isn’t it? When
complaining do not forget to mention that you somehow
manage to get through this incredibly massive load of emails
daily and still have time to… complain about it.

14. that was
How To Answer Email Like A Pro
And Appear So Much Smarter
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