Module 2a — Office
Correspondence
and Records
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Email replies
It is seductively easy to click the reply icon for emails. You can reply to your correspondent in just a few seconds. This can be dangerous. Keep these guidelines in mind when replying to emails.
- Don’t reply to a message hastily, particularly if you felt angry when you read the email. You may have misunderstood the incoming message. Even if you have not, waiting a while will let you respond in a more appropriate tone.
- When you copy (CC) or blind copy (BCC) your reply, make sure you remember the earlier messages that may still be included in the message. Some of these earlier messages may not be appropriate for the eyes of the person being copied the latest message. This trap has caused many problems for the unwary emailer. This applies to forwarding messages as well. You need to check whether the information that you are forwarding will not upset the original sender of the email. Remember, their target reader was you, not the person you are forwarding the message to.
- Consider whether you need to reply to everyone in the case of multiple recipients of an original email or only to the sender. This can create havoc if you intended to reply just to the sender but inadvertently sent your message to a group of people.
- Before replying, always consider if you really need to have all of the original message and prior messages in your reply. You may find it more effective to keep only a part of the original message as a way of indicating more clearly what it is you are responding to.
A message like:
Yes, did I miss one!: (
can be quite confusing!
Whereas,
Do you want to be on our mailing list for the agendas of our weekly meetings…
Yes! Did I miss one?
will be much more meaningful.
- You may consider revising the subject line completely if a conversation has resulted from the original email. For example, if a colleague has sent you a message on a particular issue, this may lead to further discussion on another topic. In such a case, it is helpful to change the subject line so that a discussion like an upcoming conference is not part of an email string under the subject line of “progress report from January on worksafe programme”.