{"id":157,"date":"2008-07-03T00:28:35","date_gmt":"2008-07-03T05:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ashokkarania.com\/blog\/?p=157"},"modified":"2008-07-03T00:28:35","modified_gmt":"2008-07-03T05:28:35","slug":"email-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/email-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Email Checklist"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kartik Mistry<\/a><\/span>\u00a0sent me the following Checklist for Emails. He got it via\u00a0Seth’s Blog<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by Seth Godin on 6\/5\/08.<\/p>\n

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The Checklist makes tremendous sense.\u00a0And hence I thought of putting it up here. Check it out!Before you hit send on that next email, perhaps you should run down this list, just to be sure:\u00a0<\/p>\n

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1. Is it going to just one person? (If yes, jump to #10)<\/p>\n

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2. Since it’s going to a group, have I thought about who is on my list?<\/p>\n

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3. Are they blind copied?<\/p>\n

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4. Did every person on the list really and truly opt in? Not like sort of, but really ask for it?<\/p>\n

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5. So that means that if I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0send it to them, they’d complain about not getting it?<\/p>\n

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6. See #5.\u00a0 If they wouldn’t complain, take them off!<\/p>\n

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7. That means, for example, that sending bulk email to a list of bloggers just cause they have blogs is not okay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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8. Aside: the definition of permission marketing: Anticipated, personal and relevant messages delivered to people who actually want to get them.\u00a0 Nowhere does it say anything about you and your needs as a sender.\u00a0 Probably none of my business, but I’m just letting you know how I feel.\u00a0 (And how your prospects feel).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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9. Is the email from a real person? If it is, will hitting reply get a note back to that person? (if not, change it please).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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10. Have I corresponded with this person before?<\/p>\n

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11. Really? They’ve written back? (if no, reconsider email).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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12. If it is a cold-call email, and I’m sure it’s welcome, and I’m sure it’s not spam, then don’t apologize.\u00a0 If I need to apologize, then yes, it’s spam, and I’ll get the brand-hurt I deserve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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13. Am I angry? (If so, save as draft and come back to the note in one hour).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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14. Could I do this note better with a phone call?<\/p>\n

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15. Am I blind-ccing my boss? If so, what will happen if the recipient finds out?<\/p>\n

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16. Is there anything in this email I don’t want the attorney general, the media or my boss seeing? (If so, hit delete).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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17. Is any portion of the email in all caps? (If so, consider changing it. )<\/p>\n

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18. Is it in black type at a normal size?<\/p>\n

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19. Do I have my contact info at the bottom? (If not, consider adding it).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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20. Have I included the line, “Please save the planet.\u00a0 Don’t print this email”? (If so, please delete the line and consider a job as a forest ranger or flight attendant).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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21. Could this email be shorter?<\/p>\n

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22. Is there anyone copied on this email who could be left off the list?<\/p>\n

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23. Have I attached any files that are very big? (If so, google something like ‘send big files’ and consider your options. )<\/p>\n

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24. Have I attached any files that would work better in PDF format?<\/p>\n

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25. Are there any \ud83d\ude42 or other emoticons involved? (If so, reconsider).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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26. Am I forwarding someone else’s mail? (If so, will they be happy when they find out?)<\/p>\n

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27. Am I forwarding something about religion (mine or someone else’s)? (If so, delete).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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28. Am I forwarding something about a virus or worldwide charity effort or other potential hoax? (If so, visit\u00a0snopes\u00a0and check to see if it’s ‘actually true).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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29. Did I hit ‘reply all’? If so, am I glad I did? Does every person on the list need to see it?<\/p>\n

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30. Am I quoting back the original text in a helpful way? (Sending an email that says, in its entirety, “yes,” is not helpful).\u00a0<\/p>\n

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31. If this email is to someone like Seth, did I check to make sure I know the difference between its and it’s? Just wondering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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32. If this is a press release, am I really sure that the recipient is going to be delighted to get it? Or am I taking advantage of the asymmetrical nature of email–free to send, expensive investment of time to read or delete?<\/p>\n

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33. Are there any little animated creatures in the footer of this email? Adorable kittens? Endangered species of any kind?<\/p>\n

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34. Bonus: Is there a long legal disclaimer at the bottom of my email? Why?<\/p>\n

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35. Bonus: Does the subject line make it easy to understand what’s to come and likely it will get filed properly?<\/p>\n

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36. If I had to pay 42 cents to send this email, would I?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Kartik Mistry\u00a0sent me the following Checklist for Emails. He got it via\u00a0Seth’s Blog\u00a0by Seth Godin on 6\/5\/08. \u00a0 The Checklist makes tremendous sense.\u00a0And hence I thought of putting it up here. Check it out!Before you hit send on that next email, perhaps you should run down this list, just to be sure:\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashok-karania-wordpress.staging9.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}