Even after the advent of social media
and improvements in text messaging, email is
still the mode of communication that continues to prevail in the
professional realm. The ability to give direction, put out fires, and more
without being face-to-face has enabled many businesses to use email as a
productivity tool. However, there are times when professionalism goes out of
the window, and etiquette rules are forgotten. Today, we will take a look at 27
email etiquette tips for business professionals.
1. Greetings and Send-offs: I never start
an email with the contents. An email always begins with a sound introduction or
with the recipient’s name. This will, in the beginning, let them know to whom
they are speaking with. When you begin by acknowledging them by name (e.g.
Hello, John Doe), you will let them know whom you intend on talking with. When
you are done with an email, always finish by saying “Thanks” or “Cheers”, to
practice good etiquette and respect.
2. Know When to Call: Not all
communication has to occur through email. Once conversation begins to mention
specifics, it may be wise to schedule a phone call—this can prevent
misunderstandings and can even expedite your correspondence. It is also
respectful to pick up the phone when a meeting, scheduled by email, is
cancelled.
3. Mind Your Punctuation: Professionalism
involves knowing how to mind your punctuation. In a standard email
correspondence, you should use periods and question marks about 95% of the
time. Leave exclamation points to when your conversation is light-hearted, and
you’re familiar with the recipient.
4. The Clock is Ticking: When dealing
with business, never keep them waiting. As the saying goes, “time is money”.
You should never let a recipient wait more than two days for your reply. Just
like a phone call, waiting on an email can hold up progress on whatever project
you are attempting to establish. After all, isn’t that why you’re emailing and
not using snail mail?
5. Write it Right: Grammar and spelling should be
two considerations when emailing in a professional environment. Even though the
content is the star of the email, ensuring that your grammar is in check allows
the business acquaintance to know that you are taking the conversation
seriously. Most email clients have spelling and grammar checks, so use them!
6. Consider Company Culture: Let’s be
honest—while grammar and tone should be professional, we must still consider
the companies that we are contacting. Inner business emails between more
relaxed companies will of course be a bit different from, let’s say, the White
House. While minding your grammar, continue to give off an approachable vibe
while emailing.
7. Engineer the Perfect Subject Line: The first
thing your recipient sees is the subject line. Frankly, they will discern the
importance of an email by a subject line before reading its contents. Make sure
you leave a great impression by being mindful of capitalization, being concise,
and to the point.
8. Reply vs. Reply-All: Nothing is
more embarrassing than sending a mass email that was intended for only one
recipient. This is the result of an email that began with multiple recipients.
When replying, you will have the option to “Reply”—which emails the sender—or
“Reply-All”, which sends your message to everyone the original message was sent
to. Double check before sending, or you’ll be sorry.
9. Consider The Privacy of Others: There will be
instances when you’ll have to send business emails to multiple recipients who
may not know each other. The recipient’s email address is added to the “To:”
section in average emails, but in multiple recipient emails, you should add the
addresses to the “BCC” or Blind Carbon Copy section, to prevent others from
viewing recipient addresses.
10. Tailor a Signature: Unlike a
greeting or send-off, an email signature is automatically added to the bottom
of a message, where you can add a small biography and contact information. This
doesn’t replace a quality greeting, but it does allow a new acquaintance to
learn more about you and to know where to get in contact with you.
11. Go in Vacation Mode: Several times
a year, during vacation, I usually find myself separated from my email. As seen
in tip #4, time is of the essence, and it’s rude to leave an email in your
inbox unanswered. To alert individuals of my absence, I add an auto-responder
(through Gmail, but also available on other clients) mentioning of why I’m gone
and when I will return.
12. Be Mindful of Links: Hackers have
found ways to add viruses and malware to attachments and links. When forwarding
emails, ensure that the links and attachments are safe. Also, reduce the number
of chain messages you forward and never send any from an unknown recipient.
13. Create a TL:DR Summary: TL:DR is an
acronym standing for “Too long, didn’t read”. It’s quite blunt and is the case
for many busy business acquaintances who simply are too busy to read long email
conversations. For this reason, when forwarding or periodically when replying
to conversations, summarize previous points in bullets to keep recipients
up-to-speed on email contents.
14. Job Search Tip: Resume and Cover Letter: When
searching for a job, email etiquette is of the utmost importance. When replying
to a job board, always ensure that you include your resume and cover letter. By
default, these should be attachments unless they explicitly are against them.
15. Ask Before Attaching: The reason
companies don’t like large attachments is because companies are given a
specified storage space they pay for. Your large attachment eats up their
storage allowance. Before sending a large attachment, or multiple ones, always
ask for permission from the recipient.
16. When is Irony Appropriate?: Irony is a
popular form of comedy for most people. However, in a business setting, you
should shy away from it. Irony in any written form can be misunderstood at
best, and at worst be taken as offensive. Save the irony for emails within your
company.
17. Rethink Your Font: A company
email isn’t a PowerPoint presentation from your sixth grade English project:
leave the fancy fonts for another time. Not only does it come off as
unprofessional, some companies may not have the email clients that can present
such fonts. Besides, who wants to read Edwardian Script font anyway?
Professional Fonts to Use
a. Times New
Roman
b. Georgia
c. Veranda
d. Arial
e. Book Antiqua
f. Calibri
18. Documents Open for All: Obscure file
types can prevent companies from being able to open the attachments you send,
which can slow down business operations and projects. Leave attachment file
types to PDFs, .doc, .txt, or .jpeg. They usually are of a reasonable size and
can be opened on most machines and operating systems.
19. Separate Work from Play: It’s not wise
to use your company email to send personal messages to friends and relatives.
Use your business email for colleagues and business acquaintances only, for two
reasons: to maintain the professional nature of your inbox, and to limit
wasteful use of email storage space.
20. Ensure Your Email Wasn’t Trashed: If you
haven’t heard back from a receiver, chances are that they are busy. Inquiring
on whether or not they got your message could make it worse, but there are
times when emails are quite pertinent. Wait a week to a week-and-a-half if time
allows, and if you still don’t have a reply, call them or dispatch another
email.
21. Make Your Intentions Clear: When
recipients only have a minute or two to read an email, you should make your
message as concise and to the point as possible. Provide an outline in the
beginning of the email of what you expect from the recipient before going a bit
in depth.
22. Connect Email to Your Phone: To prevent
recipients from waiting, connect your business email to your phone to ensure
that you are able to reply to them in a timely manner. In the settings of most
smart phones, you are able to adjust your signature.
23. Inner Company Acronyms: While
acronyms are ill-advised to new acquaintances, creating company acronyms
between co-workers can be a clever way to ensure that they understand the
importance or intent of the message. Acronyms like “NRN” (No Reply Needed) can
allow colleagues to know what messages are urgent and what can wait.
24. Extend What’s in Email: It’s easy to
blame forgetting or misunderstanding a meeting request given through an email.
Most email clients don’t have alarm systems. This means it’s your
responsibility to apply outside the inbox what is relevant (creating calendar
alerts for meetings, etc) to be productive.
25. Consider Time Differences: It can be
aggravating to request a call or meeting through email and not hear back within
a timely manner. It is necessary, however, to ensure that this isn’t due to
time zone differences. If you are requesting a call from an Australian
acquaintance and you’re in New York, ensure time zone differences are worked
out.
26. Check Your Calendar: To prevent
unnecessary back and forth emailing, it is wise to be mindful of traditions and holidays in the culture or
religion of your recipient. If you are in a country where Christmas isn’t
widely celebrated, it may not be wise to schedule a meeting for December 24th
when the rest of your location is on business as usual.
27. Inform Employees on Etiquette: It’s fine and
dandy to follow all of these email etiquette tips yourself, but if you are the
only one following them, it still gives your business a bad image. Share
valuable email etiquette tips with your co-workers to ensure the business name
is kept sound.
No comments:
Post a Comment