Business Email Etiquette

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Business Email Etiquette

• Are you being Rude?
• by Paula N. Strozier

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Are you being rude?

• Do you forward e-mails without comment?

• If you cannot take the time to write a comment
  about why you are forwarding that particular
  e-mail to that particular person dont bother
  forwarding at all or youll be viewed as rude

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Are you being rude?

• Do you send overly large unexpected attachments?
• If you cannot take the time to determine file
  size and ask first when would be the best time to
  send them, youre being viewed as rude!

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Are you being rude?

• Do you start every e-mail with a Hi or Hello
  with the recipients name
• Do you close with a Sincerely, Take Care, and
  your name?
• If you cannot take the time to personally address
  an e-mail and sign off with courtesy, you will be
  perceived as demanding or curt, youll be viewed
  as rude!

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Are you being rude?

• Do you use multiple !!! or ??? in your e-mails?
• If you do, you will come off as pushy and/or
  condescending and youll be viewed as rude!

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Are you being rude?

• Do you include everyones e-mail address in the
  To field even if they dont know each other?
• If you do, that is a breach of privacy when you
  expose your contacts e-mail addresses to
  strangers and you will be viewed as rude!
• Send it to yourself and then put everyone else
  in the bcc

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Are you being rude?

• Do you check email regularly
• Ignoring an email message is discourteous and can
  be confusing to sender.
• Use the Out of Office Assistant Tool in Outlook
  to let people know when you will be returning
  their emails.

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Email Response

• Always reply promptly even if a brief
  acknowledgement is all you can manage at the time
  and then follow up later.
• Dont leave out the message thread keeping the
  original text will help the recipient remember
  what he/she originally said.
• Be careful when replying to mailing list messages
  or to messages sent to many recipients. Do you
  want to reply to the whole list or just the
  sender?
• Do not reply to Spam (unsolicited email).

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Subject Field

• Always fill in the Subject field with a brief and
  concise description of the content of your
  e-mail subject line contents can many times
  determine if your email will even be opened.
• Very important in helping those you communicate
  with organize and manage their e-mail.
• Avoid using all caps or all small case, terms
  such as Hi, Help or Please Respond, or the
  recipient's name in the Subject field you may be
  misidentified as a spammer and your e-mail may be
  deleted.

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Addressing Contacts

• Keep it formal unless and until it is clear the
  relationship dictates otherwise.
• Initially assume the highest level of courtesy
  Hello, Mr. Anderson Dr. Smith Ms. Jones, etc.
• Include a proper greeting and closing with every
  message unless you exchange several emails over
  the same topic as if you are carrying on a
  conversation.

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Message Content

• Make sure the content is relevant, concise, and
  to the point.
• Be careful how you express yourself email lacks
  the cues and clues that convey the sense in which
  what you say is to be taken and you can easily
  convey the wrong impression.
• Limit the use of smileys such as ) or ( in
  business correspondence.
• Use capitalization and punctuation in the same
  way that you would in any other document this
  makes communication easier and helps avoid
  misunderstandings.
• Use short paragraphs and blank lines between
  paragraphs.
• continued

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continued

• Do not type in ALL CAPS it is considered yelling
  or screaming online also, text can be more
  difficult and take longer to read when typed in
  ALL CAPS.
• Dont extract and use text from someone elses
  message without acknowledgement or permission.
• Read and re-read the message before you send it
  out!
• Watch out for those mistakes that spell check
  doesnt catch.
• Example form instead of from you instead of
  your
• Count to ten before hitting the Send button.

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Formatting/File Size

• Refrain from formatting your e-mail with colored
  text and background colors or images in
  day-to-day communications. Color and formatting
  choices can make your e-mails difficult to read.
  
• Using large background graphics that take forever
  to download, especially if the recipient has a
  slow phone connection, is inconsiderate.
• If you do feel the uncontrollable need to use any
  type of formatting in your daily communications,
  do so sparingly.
• Consider file size when sending messages
• Compress or "zip" large files before sending.

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Attachments

• Keep attachments to a minimum.
• Do not send unannounced large attachments to
  others. Ask first.

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Email Abuse

• Dont send or forward frivolous, abusive or
  defamatory messages.
• Do not forward or send jokes, chain letters, or
  unimportant e-mails without the recipients
  permission.
• Dont send unsuitable email messages or
  attachments.
• Dont send Virus Hoaxes

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What Should NOT Be Included in an Email Message?

• Confidential information
• Concerns about disciplinary action
• Conflicts about grades or personal information
• Concerns about coworkers
• Complaints
• Anything you would be embarrassed for anyone else
  to read.
• Personal invitations to parties where only a
  select few have been invited.
• Check your organizations email policy

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Resources

• www.OnlineNetiquette.com
• www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html
• www.expressiveconcepts.com
• www.MISalliance.com
• www.emailreplies.com
• www.microsoft.com (Grabby Lady)
• www.NetManners.com
• www.NetMannersBlog.com
• www.NetiquetteForums.com
• www.TechMuseBlog.com
• Thanks to Judy Settle for her excellent research
  and design skills