“Manners make the man” William of Wykeham
Emails are a Big Part of Our Lives
Emails have become such an important part of our daily exchanges. It is no longer only part of our working life but has taken over every and all aspects of our lives. We email to all sorts of people, some we know well and some we hardly know, from friends and family to co workers and total strangers. People have taken a greater liking to email and texting than to verbal communication. Whether you are addicted to email or not, understanding some basic email etiquette will improve your email writing skills.
We should not forget that email as much as any other mode of communication represents who we are. Your email content, what you write is important, it projects an image of who you are or who you are not. When writing your emails always focus on the message you are sending or want to send, think about what you are writing, is it clear? Is it proper? Is it thoughtful? Is it rude? Does it make you look bad? Do you sound angry or nice and polite? Do not be hasty to press the send button, reread what you wrote and make sure you are satisfied with the content. It is bad email etiquette to send a message that does not convey the intended message. Take the appropriate time to write a proper message which includes greeting, main text message, and proper ending.
[image source_type=”attachment_id” source_value=”548″ align=”right” size=”medium”]Work Email Etiquette and Social Email Etiquette
It is clear that when one writes a work email and a social email the greetings, style, tone, length, grammar, endings will differ. For work emails one should stay formal, clear, short and polite. The social emails can be longer, familiar, friendly, less formal but always polite and considerate.
Always check your email for spelling and grammar mistakes
It is bad email etiquette not to write a subject line with your email, it is proper and considerate to let the recipient know what the email content is about
When composing your email or replying to an email do not insert the address to whom it is intended, only when you are done writing, correcting, proofreading should you insert the address. Many emails have been sent accidently before they were ready to be sent. Be cautious, play it safe and adopt good email habits
Do not write long emails [image source_type=”attachment_id” source_value=”731″ align=”right” size=”small”]
Do not misspell names, look over the name before you send your email
Do not use abbreviation, use complete words and sentences
If you are using your work email do not send personal emails and if you are sending a work email always use your work email address and not your personal one
Always use polite and courteous greetings and salutations. Never, use slang or casual words, address people by name or last name or title when not familiar with them. Use words like Hello, Hi, Good morning, Good day, Good afternoon.
Avoid using exclamation, question marks in work and personal emails, it does not project a positive image, most often the message that comes across is not the one you want to present
Same idea for writing an email all in caps, it does not reflect positively on the sender and will offend the recipient
When you are very angry do not write any emails, take a few minutes or even hours, once you have had time to calm down, your email will look and sound differently than the one you were going to send in a moment of rage
Even when you are overloaded with work you should take the time to reply to email that were specifically addressed to you (we are not talking about advertisers and the sorts)
Do not open emails or attachment from unknown senders
When you are ready to send your email make sure to insert the right address
Do not blindly rely on the email name list, accidents happen and inadvertently similar names can be inserted and the wrong recipient will get your message, so take the extra ten seconds to look and verify
Only include people in the email list that are concerned by the content, it is not proper to “reply all” to people not concerned by your email
When sending attachment make sure the recipient is informed and has agreed, do not send large attachment, resize them
[image source_type=”attachment_id” source_value=”538″ align=”left” size=”small”]Closing emails should be courteous and include words like; sincerely, regards, thanks again, warm regards, best regards, thank you, thanks for your help, greatly appreciated etc…