Email Shortcuts, Etiquette, & Abbreviations= Save Time (ST).

Ok, this is in partly for my agents to make my life just a few minutes more efficient. This stuff adds up quickly with 100 emails a day. 

1) Have professional looking headers. Only 5% of Realtors do this right!

Spam, Friend or Business? Email Headers, Why They Matter.  

2) Use a subject line!

Seems obvious but so many people forget. The problem is two fold.

• First you have a higher chance of spam filters trashing it.
  
• Secondly, you are making it harder to read on a cell phone that might only show the subject line,
• It wastes time figuring out what the message is about. It might just seem like 5 seconds but when you get 50-100 emails a day, and you want yours to not get lost, it matters.

3) Use a GOOD subject line

Similar to above but the "hi" is just as much a pain. Instead try in 4 or 5 words to summarize the message. AND make sure to REPEAT the message/subject line in the body. Too many people try to write one question in the subject line and another in the body, or nothing in the body, that gets confusing.

I learned the hard way when a meeting was missed, she said "oh I opened the email, but skipped the subject line with your first question. Try "Attached contract needs reply by 4pm". Also for first time emails (to new people), consider putting their name in the subject line. Compare

• "Mary, Did you client like 555 Oak St," vs
  
• "Did you like it?"

4) Use EOM = End Of Message, in the subject line.  (this can go before a "RE:" with a few sapces.

You use this if you are able to complete the entire message in the subject line. Such as "Meeting at 2pm at Hooters EOM", or if it is a reply write "Ok, Confirmed 2pm Hooters EOM  Re: Meeting..." (no need to repeat it in the body if there is an EOM in the subject line)

That way

• the reader gets their confirmation fast and
  

• knows that they can delete it and not open and read the email. Time saved is 15 seconds, but it adds up!

5) End email or Subject line with "No reply needed" NRN

This way the person getting the email don't need to flood your inbox with "ok" and "gotchas"

6) Don't send everything in the subject line and nothing in the body.

• For spam filter reasons, and
  
• It messes up cell phone email and
  
• it takes longer to verify that there is no message. This IS ok if you use EOM

7) Try to instant message short messages to keep the inbox clean. Get Trillian which is a cross platform (pay the $30 for the Google Chat option if your clients are behind a firewall and can't use other programs)

8) If you forward something, try and change the first part before the FW to tell them what it is. Take that extra 5 seconds to save the receiver 20 seconds (it takes them longer to figure it out)

9) Use BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) if you are emailing over 3 or 4 people. The reply alls get very annoying.

10) If you want to BCC me or somebody else, make my life easier and put "Erica, about that offer." That way I dont need to take a double take and figure out that the message isn't for me.

11) Later we can go in to Outlook filters that will send messages to particular folders and make them different colors based on who sent them and which email address they used (if you have multiple).  

12) RE means REPLY, NOT REGARDING. So don't start a new email RE: the contract details.

Or else you will confuse the heck out of the receiving party.

Thats all for now! 

Hope this helps. Any other Email shortcuts in replying back and forth?

Frank Borges LL0SA- Virginia Broker/ Owner FranklyRealty.com

Featured in BusinessWeek, CNBC, WSJ, NYTimes etc.

 This is yet another posting to the NEW group: $100 or 100 minutes, Techy time savers!

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Please post to the new group!