Avoid Using HTML Stationary, Graphics, Excessive Color and Odd Fonts

The pile of bad resumes that I’ve received over the years has been far more valuable than I ever imagined. It turns out that there are many lessons to be learned about bad writing from the mistakes people make with their resumes. In addition to my encounters with the boastful guy (“I was their best trainer ever!”), the inappropriately-familiar-for-a-stranger guy (“Hey Corby!), the woman who included a Glamour Shots portrait of herself and the people who are hopelessly unable to proofread (almost everyone), I’ve run across the woman who prints her resume on lavender paper with gold flecks. While that might be appropriate for something (wizarding school applications?), it sure isn’t going to help you find a job with me.

Unfortunately, it’s way too easy to make the same mistake in email. Outlook and other email programs provide you with their own forms of “stationary” that too often includes busy backgrounds and brightly colored fonts that make it hard or impossible for your readers to make out what you’re trying to say. Even worse, although it often seems that Microsoft’s domination of the office software market must be nearly complete by now, there are still lots of people out there using other emails programs who won’t be able to open your message at all if you send it to them on the cute stationary with the kittens frolicking around the borders that you downloaded from spyware.com. Many web-based email programs and handheld devices simply won’t be able to deal with the kind of message. Some won’t get through because they’ll be blocked as suspicious attachments. Others will arrive with your text, the background and any other graphics all as separate attachments that your readers will have to open one at a time in order to find what you have to say. Since many of your readers are worried about the security threats posed by opening unknown attachments they just won’t do it. And a few of them will be so confused by a blank message with a whole bunch of strangely-named attachments that they just won’t click on them. In the end it’s just not worth the trouble of using the cute kitties and risking that your message won’t be read, even if you don’t take into account the impact that the less-than-professional look of your message might have on your readers. It’s never a good idea to make them work harder than necessary.
And don’t even get me started on what the dog people will think about those kittens….

Some other formatting issues to consider:

Avoid pictures and clipart for the same reasons you should avoid email stationary. Not everyone will appreciate them and they can balloon the file size of your messages, filling up inboxes and taking a long time to download over remote access or on handheld devices. If you just can’t live without them, save images in a lower resolution to reduce the file size.

Make a habit of using the most common fonts in all of your messages. It’s really best to stick to the basics when writing business email despite the temptation many people feel to personalize their work. Some fonts and colors can be difficult to read, especially when light colored text is used against a white background. To be safe, use a sans-serif font like Arial and choose black text on a white background. Ten or twelve point text is also best so your text isn’t too small that it can’t be read or so big that it looks like you’re shouting at your readers.

I know, it’s a little boring, but writing business email really isn’t an exercise in creativity. Your goal is to make sure that people hear what you have to say.