Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

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Have you ever thought about the brand you’re conveying in the emails you write? You should. Every email you send affects your professional reputation. To give the right impression, make sure your emails do a few things:

o Go only to the essential audience. Remember, every message you send takes up space in the recipients’ inboxes. So use Reply All and Cc sparingly.

o Get to the point. While context is critical, remember that what your reader actually needs to know is a subset of everything you could tell them. Given that the adult attention span is a mere eight seconds, make every moment count.

o Are clear. But don’t take this too far, shooting off one-liners that are terse and cause confusion. Be concise — but not at the risk of leaving out critical information or context.

Adapted from “How to Make Sure Your Emails Give the Right Impression,” by Shani Harmon

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