Have you ever been CC’d on an email and wondered whether the sender expected you to reply, or just wanted to make you aware of the issue being discussed? Maybe you’ve received an email in all caps or with five exclamation points at the end of a sentence and assumed the sender was upset and virtually “yelling” at you. Or wait, were they just really excited?

Well, you’re not alone.

Sendmail, Inc. and CPP, Inc., conducted a survey of 500 working professionals and found that “64 percent said email has resulted in tension or some other unintended consequence at the office.” Still, another survey by Pew Research found that “61 percent of American workers who use the Internet say email is “very important” for doing their job,” with only 35 percent describing landline phones or 24 percent describing cellphones and smartphones as “very important.”

So how can you make the most of this powerful tool? Here are my top tips to help you eliminate confusion and maximize productivity when sending your emails.

Read and Reread Before You Hit Send

Email is quick, but writing yours shouldn't be. After you’ve said what you need to say, take the time to read the email again – and again – before you send it off. Don’t let grammatical errors or the wrong tone damage your ability to effectively communicate with others over email.

Don’t Overuse CC or BCC

We all have enough email to sift through in our inboxes, so be mindful of who you’re CCing and BCCing on your emails. Before you hit send, think to yourself “does this person really need to be included?”

Change the Subject Line

Email trails can go on forever and before you know it, that email about the lunch meeting is about developing the 2016 strategy. Be mindful of the topic being discussed and change the overall subject line when necessary.

Stay Away From These Five Words/phrases

The Muse shared a post on the five words/phrases that make you sound less confident in email. Just minimizes your request. Hopefully makes you seem unreliable or out of control of the situation. Actually is used so often that it usually doesn’t actually make sense and is becoming a filler word. Kind of is vague and sorry is usually unnecessary, but if it is, probably best to pick up the phone instead.

Aim for Brevity

The whole idea of email is to allow for quick communication. Don’t let your emails become novels – keep them short and to the point, otherwise you’ll lose your reader’s interest. If you do have to say a lot in your email, use bullet points and new paragraphs to help break up the text.

Don’t Create More Work for your Reader

Want to schedule a meeting? Great, send your recipient a few dates/times that work for you. Try to include important information in the body of your email so that you don’t create a long email trail just attempting to schedule a lunch meeting.

There’s no denying the importance of email – it’s quick, easy, lets you keep a log of your conversation to refer back to and helps businesspeople to communicate with each other no matter where they are or what time it is. Even if email isn’t a top tool at your job, surely you use it to communicate with friends and family at home. Give these tips a try and watch your email communication improve!

Now that you've got emails down, check out how to amp up your social media game!