9 Annoying Email Mistakes That Even
Smart People Make
Elsa Yeboah-Boateng
IMPROPER USE OF "REPLY ALL," CC, OR
BAD SUBJECT LINES.
BCC.
You should probably put as much thought
We've all committed this kind of error, so it isn't
into your subject line as you do into the
surprising that it's among top executives' pet
email itself. That's because people get so
peeves. Before you send a message, look care-
much email these days that they skip
fully at the recipient list to make sure you aren't
reading some of their messages. If your
sending your message to people who shouldn't
subject line doesn't tell the reader right up
see it. You should also avoid copying people
front why your message is important, it
who don't need to see it, since you'll just be add-
may get skipped as well..
ing to the general email clutter. At the same
time, make sure everyone who does need the
RUN-ON SENTENCES.
Surprisingly, this came up as a frequent
information is included. And double-check that
you aren't just replying to one person if you
mean to reply to the group, or vice versa.
complaint. By run-on sentence, I mean a
sentence that goes on and on so long,
FAILING TO ADD VALUE TO THE
and with so many additional clauses, that
CONVERSATION.
a reader might forget halfway through
what the original point was, kind of like
this sentence right here. Don't do it. Use
a period once in a while.
"There's lots of chaff in emails," Lamb notes.
So don't add to the problem. If you just want
to thank someone, or you agree with something they said, consider whether you need to
send an email at all, and if so, whether you
need to send it to everyone on the thread or just
to that one person.
26