Does your Email pass the "Blush" Test?

Does your Email pass the "Blush" Test?

by Leslie O'Flahavan and Marilynne Rudick

We’ve all done it: clicked "send" only to realise our email message shouldn’t have been sent. Maybe we forgot to spell check it. Or forgot to attach the promised files. Even worse, we sent the message to the wrong person, or wrote it with an unprofessional, sarcastic tone. At times like these, we’d do just about anything to retrieve the embarrassing message before it reaches the recipient.

In this issue, we’re sending you one of our tried-and-true email writing tools: the Before-You-Send Checklist. Post this Checklist right next to your screen and all your messages will pass the "blush" test (you won’t send embarrassing email). Or circulate the Checklist among your colleagues as a random act of kindness!

E-WRITE’S Before-You-Send Checklist

Does your email pass the "blush" test? Use the Before-You-Send Checklist to keep yourself from sending embarrassing email messages.

Address
____ The right address?
____ Addressed to the right person/people? (Only those who "need to know")

Tone
____ Is my tone appropriate?

Main Message
____ Does the subject line preview the content of the message?
____ Does the subject line represent the current content of the message?
____ Is the main point of your message in the first paragraph? On the first screen?

Format
____ Short paragraphs?
____ Is white space used to group ideas?
____ Can information be presented in vertical lists, using dashes or numbers?

Final Check
____ Initial caps and end-of-sentence punctuation?
____ Spell-checked and proofread?
____ Are promised attachments attached and explained?
____ Would the message make you blush if it were forwarded to someone else?

Reproduced by kind permission from E-WRITE. E-WRITE teaches writing courses, writes the contents for websites, email marketing letters and newsletters.

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