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E-mail Etiquette and Tips
E-mail has become an important
part of business life. The following tips can help you get
the most from your e-mail communications.
1. Respond quickly.
One of the values of e-mail
is in its speed. All business e-mails should receive a response
within 24 hours at the latest.
2. Use subject and text to
make it personal enough to identify the sender.
There is a lot of virus based
and spam e-mail being sent. To make sure your recipient knows
that an e-mail is actually from someone they know and therefore
should be read, use a descriptive and appropriate subject and include
enough in the body of the text that they can assume it is not a
fabricated message.
3. Be concise and to the
point.
Remember that reading an e-mail
on a computer screen is more difficult than reading a printed document.
4. Use proper spelling, grammar
& punctuation.
There is a trend to treat e-mail
as a quick communication method that does not require proper punctuation,
grammar, or spelling. This may be appropriate for social messages
between friends, but it is not appropriate for business communications.
There is a tendency in business settings to assume that those who
do not use proper punctuation, grammar, or spelling are not very
intelligent or not very professional. While a casual, lower
case style may be appropriate to text messaging on a cell phone,
it is not appropriate in a business e-mail. Not only does
improper use of the language provide a bad impression of the writer
and their company, it can be hard to read.
5. Use white space.
Reading from a screen is more
difficult than reading from paper. You can help the reader
by using paragraph breaks to create some white space within the
text and make It easier to read.
6. Do not write in all CAPITALS.
The convention in e-mail is
that all capitals is used to indicate that you are shouting.
If you are not intending to shout at the recipient, do not use all
caps.
7. Leave previous parts of
the message intact.
One of the strengths of e-mail
communication is the "thread" that results from including the original
message in your reply. This allows you to remind yourself
about the previous contents and provides an excellent "archive"
if you have to revisit the subject later. (Clearly, if the
message becomes very long or if you change subjects it is not necessary
to keep the entire thread.)
8. Write carefully.
Remember that an e-mail message
carries no body language with it. The writer can't tell by
your facial expression whether you are joking or if a comment was
intended as sarcasm. Take extra care to be precise, clear,
and polite so that you are not misunderstood.
9. Number items.
In a message that covers multiple
topics or asks multiple questions number the topics/questions to
make it easy to follow. If you receive a message with numbered
sections, reply using the numbers so the other person knows specifically
which topic you are addressing.
10. Make sure referenced
attachments are actually attached.
This seems obvious, but is is
very easy to refer to an attachment and then forget to include it.
It is good practice to actually attach a file as soon as you reference
it.
11. When unhappy, delay before
sending.
E-mail messages can be used
as excellent dispute minimization tools - especially if you don't
send all of them. If you are angry, go ahead and write the
message and let off a little steam. Then, let it sit for awhile
- hours or even days. When you re-visit the message later
you may find that it was a little too rough or that there is a better
way to state your argument.
12. Do not overuse the "Reply
to All" feature.
Only reply to those folks who
need a reply.
13. Consider using the blind
copy filed (Bcc) for large mailings.
If you send out a large mailing
and include all of the names in the "To:" field you have not only
indicated to everyone that this is a mass mailing, you have also
given out everyone's e-mail address. Using the Bcc field avoids
this.
14. Do not forward chain
letters.
Do not forward chain letters.
Many are hoaxes and virtually all have nothing to do with business.
15. Do not forward virus
hoaxes.
Messages telling you about the
latest computer threat as announced by Microsoft, NBC, and the Department
of Defense are invariably hoaxes. Check it out before forwarding
the message to your friends and associates.
16. Do not reply to spam.
People that sell addresses
to spammers have multiple prices. They get the highest price for a confirmed
good address. When you reply to a spam or send an "unsubscribe"
message you are simply confirming your address, bringing the address
seller more money, and setting yourself up for more e-mail.
Besides, the "unsubscribe" feature does not work when the message
is a spam.
17. Do not request delivery
and read receipts.
Some software does not support
sending receipts, some people have it turned off, and some people
are annoyed by the request. And, if you get a receipt returned
it does not mean that the recipient actually read the
contents - even if it is called a "read receipt".
18. Do not use email to discuss
highly confidential information.
E-mails are the high tech equivalent
of postcards. There are lots of ways that someone else could
be reading your e-mail.
19. Only send using the HTML
format if you are sure the recipient can display HTML e-mail
E-mail messages can be sent
in text or HTML format. HTML allows the addition of graphics
and more advanced formatting, but many e-mails are just text.
If a recipient's e-mail package cannot translate HTML and that is
what you send them what they see is a mess of software language
looking lines.
20. Do not mark a message
as urgent unless it really is urgent
Obviously, urgent message should
be exceptions and not everyday occurrences.
21. Do not assume your messages
are personal
Besides considering the "postcard"
aspect of e-mails discussed in item 18, you need to also remember
that e-mail sent and received on company computers or networks is
technically the property of the company and could be accessed and
read by others in the company.
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