{"id":1054,"date":"2016-01-18T08:49:35","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T06:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/?p=1054"},"modified":"2016-01-18T08:51:26","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T06:51:26","slug":"yawn-phrases-in-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/?p=1054","title":{"rendered":"*Yawn* Phrases in Business Emails"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a study conducted by The Radicati Group Inc<\/a>, \u00a0the typical corporate email user sends and receives about 105 email messages per day. That is a lot of \u2018commercial noise\u2019 in a user\u2019s inbox.<\/p>\n

How does a business ensure that important emails are read and not deleted?<\/p>\n

By applying the rule, keep it short and simple<\/em>. This means pruning out the many useless phrases that thrive in business emails.<\/p>\n

Emails have become an extension of our thoughts and communication. The modern email user will write an email and press the \u2018send\u2019 button before checking if the contents are correct. This is understandable in a world of I-have-no-time<\/em>. The problem with this approach is that there is no \u2018face\u2019 to the email and the email could create a negative perception about your company. Spelling errors and overused phrases can spell commercial disaster. It conveys the perception that your business is unprofessional, rushes through everything and that the use of correct language is not important.<\/p>\n

It is time to examine your emails. Do your emails let you and your business down?<\/p>\n

The top five useless phrases in emails<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. I think \u2026<\/em><\/strong> When a sentence begins with this phrase, it tells the recipient that you are unsure about yourself. Your tone must be assertive and confident.<\/li>\n
  2. Please be advised\u2026 <\/em><\/strong>People often use this lawyer-type phrase. It is unnecessary. Be direct. If you are informing a debtor that payment is overdue then state the obvious. \u2018Your cheque is overdue\u2019 is to the point and unpretentious.<\/li>\n
  3. Please do not hesitate to contact me \u2026<\/em><\/strong> People will contact you if they are interested in your product or have a query. This is an irritating clich\u00e9 used in emails. The message you are sending out is that you are not an original thinker.<\/li>\n
  4. Kindly \u2026<\/em><\/strong> \u2018Please\u2019 works better than this old-fashioned word.<\/li>\n
  5. Enclosed please find \u2026<\/em><\/strong> People tend to use this phrase because it is neutral and the user avoids using the personal pronoun \u2018I\u2019. The word \u2018find\u2019 shows a lack of understanding about the use of language. It suggests that the reader should look for the document. Rather write ‘ Document X is attached to this email’.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Do not allow unnecessary words to taint your clients\u2019 view of you or your business. Phrases are useless communication \u2018fillers\u2019, rather like small talk. And, who has time for that?<\/p>\n

    Having email\u00a0problems? <\/em>
    \nWriter’s Support provides a consulting service and business writing workshops.<\/em>
    \nContact writer@ulrikehill or +27 71 636 8028.<\/em>
    \nThis article was first published on Writers Write’s blog 9th September 2013. <\/em><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    According to a study conducted by The Radicati Group Inc, \u00a0the typical corporate email user sends and receives about 105 email messages per day. That is a lot of \u2018commercial noise\u2019 in a user\u2019s inbox. How does a business ensure that important emails are read and not deleted? By applying the rule, keep it short […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[190,220,91,218,219],"class_list":["post-1054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-01business-writers","tag-business-writing","tag-communication","tag-email","tag-useless-phrases","tag-writing-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1054"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1059,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1054\/revisions\/1059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ulrikehill.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}