When was the last time you spoke to your neighbour?

By our new guest blogger, Rob Briggs, Senior Manager, Communications RBC Wealth Management

Once upon a time, when I was working for a London based PR firm, I got an email from a colleague in the US. Nothing unusual there you might say.

Except that the email was forwarding on a request from one of my colleagues in London.

Who was sat behind me at the time.

There's no surprise that email clutter is clogging our servers, infiltrating our inboxes and overloading our information buffers. But does it have to stop us talking to each other as well?

I'm sure most of us know the stats about how much meaning is conveyed in writing, how much in tone of voice and how much in body language. People who get stuck in a routine of electronic communication can often use e-mail as a barrier to hide behind.

Psychologists estimate at least 60% of communication is non-verbal, such as body movements, gestures, touch, facial expressions and eye contact. Another 30% occurs through tone of voice.

Your actual words only contribute about 10% to the actual conveyance of a message. Email, of course, involves only words.

So the next time someone sat less than 10ft away from you sends you an email, go talk to them rather than hitting the reply button straight away. It gets things done so much quicker.

It's rare to find someone trained to use email - I mean we're all expected to know how to do it, right? This might seem really strightforward but I'm constantly astonished by the volume of badly written emails that give little clue as to the author's intentions.

Here's 5 top tips for email etiquette. Follow these and you'll find your daily emailing life gets a whole lot easier:

1. Have the end in mind - why are you sending this email? Is it appropriate for your objective? What do you want to accomplish?

2. Use the subject line effectively. Put the topic and desired action in, e.g. 'FOR ACTION: Draft Melcrum Blog'

3. Be clear about what you want and from whom. Use the first sentence to state your objective and who needs to respond to it, e.g. 'James, please review and get back to me by close of business on Tuesday 26 August'.

4. Be concise. Apologising for length does not excuse it. Keep it short - 3 paras. max and use bullets where possible.

5. Don't get personal. Think before you send - you never know where it will end up. Never use email when you're angry. Draft it, by all means, then put it aside for a few hours, come back and edit for emotion.

Without breaking any confidences, what's the worst worded email you've ever got?