Join Randy Dean, MBA, and author of the recent Amazon e-mail bestseller, Taming the E-mail Beast, as he expands beyond e-mail processing, productivity, and efficiency into the realm of e-mail etiquette. We discuss how to make your emails get attention, actually get read, and then get acted upon. We deconstruct a good e-mail, starting with smarter subject lines that get noticed and get opened. We move into opening instructions that make the e-mail easy to understand and make action points, delegations, and deadlines clear and obvious. We cover effective body copy that helps recipients fully understand the message. And, we talk about effective closes that leave the recipient confident with next actions. Finally. we discuss how grammar still matters (yes, it does!)

We also discuss multi-party e-mails and how to help make each person's action items and deadlines clear, assisting with team coordination. We, of course, discuss several "problem" e-mail types -- those lacking clear instructions, overusing CC's, FYI's, and "reply alls", emails laden with complex or emotional content, "ping-pong" e-mails (you know - those e-mails that keep bouncing around between folks) and more.

We also talk about the right way to use e-mail for critical and/or urgent communications, and how to identify and re-use successful e-mail communications and templates to increase efficiency while simultaneously enhancing communications quality. 

* This course shows screen shots which may have small text as they are demonstrating real-world use of software which has font sizing we cannot change for demonstration purposes. Therefore, your experience will be best on a full screen device such as a tablet, laptop of desktop computer. We recommend that you fully upsize the screen when you view these videos.

Course Series

This course is included in the following series:

2 CoursesTaming the Email Beast

  1. Taming the E-mail Beast: Key Strategies for Managing E-mail/Input Overload for Microsoft Outlook Users
  2. Taming the E-mail Etiquette Beast: Strategies for Finding Sanity in Your E-mail Communications
Learning Objectives
  • Recognize the difference between a good subject line and poor subject line for getting desired response from an e-mail message
  • Discover how to develop a message that has a structure that begets the desired actions/responses/deliverables from the e-mail recipient
  • Explore how to develop the ability to compose effective multiparty e-mails that clearly identify the responsibilities of each individual recipient, and recognize when to not send a multiparty e-mail due to confusion.
Last updated/reviewed: August 20, 2023
50 Reviews (146 ratings)

Reviews

5
Anonymous Author
As expected --- very informative with practical tips which I'm also planning to use even for my personal stuff. I took all three available courses presented by Mr. Dean one after the other. Need I say more? At the end of the course, Mr. Dean mentioned other courses which I don't see here. Any chance Illumeo can make them available? Thank you in advance.

5
Member's Profile
This webinar talks about how to improve the way we communicate through e-mail by writing and sending clear, concise, and relevant messages to our recipients and avoiding pitfalls such as lengthy and overly complex messages, overuse of the BCC and Reply All features, etc.

5
Anonymous Author
This course is highly recommended, so many great tips which anyone can easily incorporate into their daily routine! I enjoyed Randy's session and will definitely benefit from the content shared. Excellent supporting materials which can also be used for ongoing reference!

4
Member's Profile
Email is by far one of the largest forms of communication, however, also one of the largest ways information is misinterpreted. This course is simple to understand yet very informative. Definitely one to complete again in the future as a refresher.

5
Member's Profile
This course should be required before I.T. activates a new employee's email account. The interval between mandatory refresher courses can be adjusted to fit the user's compliance with the principles enumerated therein.

4
Anonymous Author
Many good suggestions but some recommended alternatives may need to consider different environments/circumstances (like how a would-be sender can send urgent messages if they cannot call/visit).

5
Member's Profile
Randy has great ideas and good explanations as to why there are recommended and the weakness of the alternatives. He talks fast which holds attention but may lose some folks.

4
Anonymous Author
There are few tips that are really helpful but most of the topics covered is very common. The speaker is very entertaining and keeps the discussion very lively.

4
Anonymous Author
Excellent course for how to write effective emails. Maybe another course could include how to properly deal with emails once read (filing system).

4
Anonymous Author
Overall great course. Randy made email etiquette as entertaining as possible. Lots of good best practices and ways to increase productivity.

5
Member's Profile
Great course on sensible tips to use email more effectively, focusing on the subject line. This could save time from everyone's day.

5
Anonymous Author
Great course that should be a mandatory requirement for anyone in the business world!!! Randy is a fantastic instructor as well!

5
Member's Profile
Info was easy to follow. Not boring and made it clear why this can be very important to a business and your personal success.

5
Anonymous Author
Now if only the rest of the world would follow these guidelines, email communications would be so much more user friendly.

5
Member's Profile
Wonderful overview of e-mail etiquette! I loved the examples Randy made to nail home the points of his presentation.

5
Member's Profile
I enjoy Mr. Dean's presentations and I am already putting several of his e-mail recommendations into action.

4
Anonymous Author
I thought this course was pretty good. It might have been a little long, but it had some good information

3
Anonymous Author
would like a full text version of slides in case internet connection is not available to watch the videos

5
Anonymous Author
Great instructor and right on topic! Email etiquette needs to be taken seriously in the workplace.

5
Anonymous Author
Good to know items for people who communicate via email. Well structured and presented course.

4
Member's Profile
The info could have been covered in a shorter period because lots of information was repeated.

4
Anonymous Author
Some good info but much has already been used by us. Need some more stuff on email training.

4
Anonymous Author
It was really good to get an understanding of how to make emails work for you. Lots of tips.

4
Anonymous Author
Good learning platform when it comes to e-mails & stuff, i really liked what i learned here

4
Anonymous Author
There are some good tips on sending e-mails, although most of the info is common sense.

4
Member's Profile
Some good tips but a lot of it was common sense or covered in Randy's prior lessons.

5
Anonymous Author
This was a very informative course that I plan to bring back to my team. Thank you!

4
Member's Profile
easy to listen to. simple, clear and easy steps to incorporate into one's day.

5
Anonymous Author
Randy did a great job again. I enjoy his tips and tricks for managing email.

5
Member's Profile
Good reminders and a few new tricks picked up from this session. Thanks!

4
Anonymous Author
Lots of good information and helpful tips. A little wordy and lengthy.

4
Member's Profile
some good info but much of it already covered in taming email course.

5
Member's Profile
A very good course to remind us of best practices when using emails!

5
Member's Profile
This was very helpful as I get email overload in my organization.

5
Anonymous Author
This course served as a great reminder on general email etiquette

4
Member's Profile
We need more email training. It is totally over and misused

5
Anonymous Author
This course was good. I corrected some bad habits already!

5
Anonymous Author
Excellent clear presentation and very good tips and advise

5
Anonymous Author
Some helpful points that can be used in everyday emails.

5
Anonymous Author
Good reminder course for things we might have forgotten.

4
Member's Profile
People who are on initial stage of working

5
Member's Profile
Very relevant to my day-to-day tasks.

5
Member's Profile
Good information and thinking points

5
Member's Profile
Everything was simple and thorough.

5
Member's Profile
Great course! Very informative.

5
Member's Profile
Interesting useful information

5
Member's Profile
Great class! wonderful tips!

4
Member's Profile
easy to understand

5
Member's Profile
Valuable!

5
Member's Profile
Good

Prerequisites
Course Complexity: Foundational

No advanced preparation or prerequisites are required for this course.

Education Provider Information
Company: Illumeo, Inc., 75 East Santa Clara St., Suite 1215, San Jose, CA 95113
Contact: For more information regarding this course, including complaint and cancellation policies, please contact our offices at (408) 400- 3993 or send an e-mail to .
Instructor for this course
Course Syllabus
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Subject Lines
  Great Subject Lines9:36
  Solid Subject Lines12:38
Proper Intro and Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling
  Opening Intro. Following Subject8:52
  Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling8:00
Urgency, Complexity, and Nuisances
  Urgency in E-mails6:48
  Complexity10:30
  Particular Nuisances: CC's, FYI's, Reply All's9:36
CONCLUSION
  Something Fun and Useful12:02
Continuous Play
  Taming the E-mail Etiquette Beast: Strategies for Finding Sanity in Your E-mail Communications1:26:49
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
  Slides: Taming the E-mail Etiquette BeastPDF
  Taming the E-mail Etiquette Beast Glossary/IndexPDF
Bonus Materials
  Bonus Article: Properly Dealing with the Four Key Types of Misused E-mailsPDF
  Bonus Article: Smarter E-mail Subject LinesPDF
  Bonus Article: Finding Sanity in Your Written E-mail CommunicationsPDF
REVIEW & TEST
  REVIEW QUESTIONSquiz
 FINAL EXAMexam