If you're like me, there are certain types of email that you send out regularly that follow a set form (client follow up notes, meeting notes, email article submission, etc). These can be irritating to have to recreate from scratch every time, but the tried and true method of creating a seperate document-file template, then sending that out as an attachment, may not always be appropriate. For example, email-based article submissions generally accept only plain text in-message formatting and require rigorous adherence to detailed submission guidelines involving the placement of bylines, the structure and length of the article body and the arrangement and length of bio-boxes and other inclusions - any deviation from which will result in a refusal of submission. Aggravatingly enough, these submission requirements are often so completely different from one submission site to another that it is difficult if not impossible to keep them straight without an entire set of templates. To get around these and other problems, consider using the signature option in your emailer program to create individual email "signatures templates" for these commonly sent and repetitive emails. Using the above example of an email article submission email, I might create a "signature template" that looks something like this: Title
Byline Body (single spaced, 60-65 characters per line, no html) Bio-box (no more that 3 sentences, no more than 2 links)
For a client follow-up or team meeting follow-up email, it might look something like this:
Client (or team member) Name
Date of Meeting Summary of Meeting Comments Action Steps Next Meeting Agenda
Once the "signature template" is complete, simply save it under a descriptive name ("articles-to-go submission" or "client meeting") and it's ready to use next time you're ready to send an email. Just insert the signature, then type around or over the contents as appropriate. Keep in mind, also, that you can add more than one signature to an email in most emailer programs, so using one of the above "signature templates" does not preclude your adding a standard business signature at the end of the email, as you would normal do.
I'm sure that if you think creatively and look at the emails you send out on a regular basis, you'll find many examples for which a simple "signature template" can save you time, trouble and annoyance. How many ways can you think of to use this time-saving trick?
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