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Emails; Outgoing:
What image are you portraying? Let’s start with your signature in your email program and or word if you are using it in conjunction with your email. To be consistent and professional, make sure you list your name, title, phone number, direct email address, address, web site and any other pertinent information. Make sure the font for the signature is the same you have set as a default for your email. The signature saves time for the recipient and will insure no delay in returning your call or any correspondence needed. Don’t assume they have the business card you left them two weeks ago. Insert a vCard.
1. Creating a Signature block
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In Microsoft Outlook, start a new message by using Word as your e-mail editor.
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In the new message, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the General tab.
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Click E-mail Options, and then click the E-mail Signature tab.
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Under Create your e-mail signature, type and format the text you want to use for your signature.
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In the Type the title of your e-mail signature or choose from the list box, type a name for your signature.
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Click Add.
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Under Choose your default e-mail signature, click the name of a signature in the Signature for new messages list box and the Signature for replies and forwards list box, or click (None) if you do not want to use a default signature.
2. Make it easy to include a vCard with your auto signature
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On the Tools menu, click Options.
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On the Mail Format tab, click Signature Picker.
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Click New.
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Select the options you want, and then click Next.
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Under vCard Options, select a vCard from the list or click New vCard from Contact.
Templates:
Do you get request for the same information on a regular basis? Set up a template; just remember the templates in the email are a little different than word. Take the time in the help section to set it up properly, this will save you hours. The templates can always be personalized once the basic information is compiled. If you are sending out newsletters and don’t want to design your own, investigate www.constantcontact.com.
Format: What does the email look like to the receiver?
Do you even know, what it looks like? This is very important in an email message and often overlooked by many email users. It is a fact that email is your image and the content is diluted significantly if the message itself is "not good looking". Have you ever received an email message that could be in another language or so you think it is encrypted? What are the reasons, it is simple.
1. The line length is the first reason. When composing email, most people are unaware they need to use a hard carriage return. It could look fine when you're viewing it because your email program most likely automatically wraps the words in a pleasant legible format. The word wrap is usually based on a line length of anywhere from 70 to 80 characters. Where this is a problem for the viewer if their program doesn’t have the capability of automatically wrapping incoming messages. What do you need to do place a hard "end of line" carriage returns when typing your message. Then there will be no doubt it will be legible. To be safe use a maximum line length of 64, this will eliminate the problem and ensure it should be accurate 95% of the time, depending on your recipients email settings.
2. As mentioned above the fonts can be different in each program and vary widely. There are several programs out there such as Eudora, www.eudora.com they have fixed fonts and are proportional spaced fonts (similar to AOL and CompuServe email). Fixed-pitch fonts, all characters in a paragraph will line up directly above each other. With a proportional-spaced font, CAPS, space bars and other keystrokes are wider, so each line can be different in length. So just remember when compiling a message using one type of font and send it to an email recipient using the other, the message could look different when they receive it! So what is the solution? It’s simple! Remember to use a hard carriage return before the end of the line to keep the problems caused by the difference in email programs to a minimum. If in doubt do a test email to a different computer at home or a friend, especially if you are enclosing pictures or graphics.
3. The third area to be aware of is which is less likely to happen, is the text editor and saving a file as another format. (Such as ASCII.) It will look great to you, but when sent via the Internet it can become scrambled, resulting in that foreign language issues you didn’t intend it to be.
In closing, I hope these tips will help you save time and represent a more professional image for your organization. Here are a few quotes, enjoy:
Karen T. Cynowa
Professional Organizer, Consultant and Trainer
“The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else- we are the busiest people in the world.” Eric Hoffer
“He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who has gained the respect of intelligent men and the love of little children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who has left the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who has never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who has always looked for the best in others and given them the best he had; whose life was an inspiration; whose memory a benediction.”
*published 11/30/1905 in the Lincoln (Kansas) Sentinel - an adaptation of this is often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, though nothing like it has been found in his writings.
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