Technology Review July 2009 - E-mail Etiquette

Last month we talked about signing up for an e-mail account. Hopefully you are using your new account and finding life a little easier now that you can e-mail a manufacturer about product questions and answer potential customer inquiries. Now that you are e-mailing, you need to think about how you are being perceived by recipients when you are sending those e-mails. What you write and how you write it matters. Maybe it does not matter if you are e-mailing your friend Bob or Aunt Tilly, but if you are conversing through e-mail on a professional level, there are some basic do's and don'ts to remember.

When you are e-mailing, think of it as a letter, and although you are not going to print it, make it read professionally. Here are some e-mail etiquette tips to consider as you increase yourprofessional correspondence.

• Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation. This may sound really basic and obvious, but missing periods and no capital letters at the beginning of sentences gives a poor impression of you and your company. Also use complete sentences.
  
• Start with a greeting. Maybe you don't use "Dear" but you can start with a "Good Morning Bob" and "Hi Judy". 
  
• DO NOT WRITE IN CAPITALS. Sometimes you forget to make sure that Caps Lock key is off. This is considered shouting at someone in the cyber world. It is hard to read and comes off very negative. No one, especially not a customer, wants to be yelled at.
  
• Do not forward spam, chain letters, junk mail, etc. Over time you will be receiving e-mails with jokes, stories of good deeds that inspire faith and letters that promise good luck if you forward to ten people. You can definitely share these e-mails and forward to family and friends, but be careful who you send these to in the professional world.
  
• Use the subject line properly. First remember to add the subject in the subject line. Make the subject short, relevant and to the point. People receive excessive amounts of e-mails these days. Your subject line is the first thing that is seen. Make sure it makes sense and reflects the e-mail content. Limit the use of IMPORTANT and URGENT in subject lines.
  
• Think about your formatting. Yes, black text on a white background may sound boring in this world that will let you change font colors and add background colors. Think if you were typing a letter to print out to a manufacturer or client. Would you print green text on a pink background? Yes, black and white is simple, but it is readable and professional. Arial and Times New Roman are the two safest fonts you can use, every has them.
  
• Keep it short. Today, e-mails may be read on a Blackberry. Long books are hard to read on any screen. Keep it short and to the point.
  
• Read your e-mail before you send it. Reading the e-mail before you send will save you regrets later. It gives you a chance to make sure you catch all the little grammar errors spell check will not; such as did you mean "break" instead of "brake"? You will catch little and big mistakes.

Bottom line, e-mail may seem casual, but when it comes to business, it is a reflection of you and the way you do business. IT MATTERS (yes I am shouting that)!