Email Etiquette

What is Email?

Electronic mail, most commonly called email or e-mail since around 1993, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Email operates across the Internet or other computer networks.

Email is an information and communications technology. It uses technology to communicate a digital message over the Internet. Users use email differently, based on how they think about it. There are many software platforms available to send and receive. Popular email platforms include Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, and many others. (Wikipedia)

What is email etiquette?

Email etiquette refers to the principles of behavior that one should use when writing or answering email messages. It is also known as the code of conduct for email communication. Email etiquette depends upon to whom we are writing- Friends & Relatives, Partners, Customers, Superior or Subordinates.

Why should we follow email etiquette?

We must follow email etiquette in our professional communication because it is a form of communication which is a reflection of senders and responders. Bad email etiquette reflects badly on us, and a record of this is kept in mailboxes over which we have no control. Good email etiquette reflects well on us, improves our public perception and persona and increases the chance of a prompt and comprehensive response. It’s not hard to maintain good email etiquette once we know what it is. A company needs to implement etiquette rules for the following three reasons:

• Professionalism: by using proper email language your company will convey a professional image.
• Efficiency: emails that get to the point are much more effective than poorly worded emails.
• Protection from liability: employee awareness of email risks will protect your company from costly law suits.

Before Compose:

One thing before you start, before creating or responding to an email, ask yourself this: is email the right medium for this communication? If you are not sure, pick up the phone or walk over to the person and have a conversation. Email only if it is the right medium.

This article contains a comprehensive list of rules and recommendations learned through experience and research (Wikipedia, Communication Books & Journals, great professional’s lectures etc.).

The first step in writing e-mail message:

• Identify the purpose of the message and determining what the recipient reading the message has to do.
• Focus your objective. Achieve the five I's: Inform, Inquire, Influence, Instruct and Incite.
• Focus your content. Don't let unnecessary ideas impose on your principal message.

To line:

Each individual on the To line is responsible for response or taking the action (or part of an action) outlined on the Subject line and the message relates directly to them.

Cc line:

• No action or response is expected of individuals on the Cc The recipient needs only to read or file the message.
• The individuals whose work is indirectly affected by the communication should be included on the Cc

Bcc line:

• A feature similar to CC except that in BCC or blind courtesy copy, recipients are invisible to the other recipients.
• Use Bcc field cautiously.

Subject: line

Subject line should effectively summarize the message. If the subject-line is clearly written, each recipient on the To line will have a clear understanding of the objective that the message relates to.

• Subject line should effectively summarize the message
• Not use more than 6 or 7words in subject line
• Never use CAPITAL letter
• When replying, change the subject line when the topic changes.

Salutations:

We should be very careful in writing the salutation because it can be mistranslated the reader about the sender. So the sender must ensure that his/her reader is comfortable and happy with my salutation, otherwise rest of the communication may not bring any positive result.

Body [Anatomy of an email]

The area where the message is entered

– Before you type anything into a new message, answer these two questions:

1. Why am I writing this?
2. What exactly do I want the result of this message to be?

Opening:

• Begin with a line of thanks. Find any way to thank target receivers. This will put them at ease, and it will make you appear more courteous. For example:
• Thank you for contacting Group QA.
• Thank you for your prompt response.

Composing the Content

In the first 1-3 lines of your email, specify what this email is about after composing the mail answer the following questions:

• Does it include action required?
• Does it require a reply back by a certain date?
• What information is contained that the reader will find necessary for their job?  

The four most common types of actions are:

• Action:recipient has to perform a physical action (Actions should always have a deadline). Ex: "Please provide the Reconcile report of November’15 by 10th December’15."
• Respond:recipient needs only to respond to your message. Ex: “Can you attend the staff meeting on Saturday?"
• Read only:recipient needs only to read your message. Ex: “Please read the attached HR action plan before next HR meeting on Dec 12th."
• For Information Only:recipient needs only to file your message for future reference. Even reading the message is optional. Ex: "Enclosed for your records.

Privacy:

• Email is not and never has been private. Once you send an email, the recipient can and will do what they want with it. If you need to share private information, pick up the phone, use a different secure system, or use coded attachments.
• If you can help it, never email confidential information either. Once emailed, confidential information becomes public as email is not private. Even though we hate the damn things, confidentiality agreements do exist to theoretically enable people to email confidential stuff around, but they rely on discretion and trust that the recipient agrees the information is confidential. As with private information, if you do need to send confidential information, wrap it in a locked format like PDF, password protect it and encrypt it. But be aware, there is nothing really to prevent the recipient of unlocking the information and still sharing it publicly.
• Use your corporate email for work only. Never use it for personal stuff. Corporate email is not private, it is archived, it is monitored, and most have policies against it. Use your private email for personal affairs never send personal messages to a recipient’s corporate addresses.
• Use the blind copy (BCC) or mail merge function to protect the privacy of your contacts.

Attachments:

When you are sending an attachment tell your respondent what the name of the file is, what program it is saved in, and the version of the program.

• Compress large attachments and send attachments only when they are absolutely necessary.
• Have a good virus scanner in place. People will not be very happy with mails full of viruses

Delivering Bad News:

• Deliver the news up front.
• Avoid blaming statements.
• Avoid that sound ambiguous.
• Maintain a positive resolve.

Writing a complaint:

• You should briefly state the history of the problem to provide context for your reader.
• Explain the attempts you made previously to resolve the problem.
• Show why it is critical for the problem to be resolved by your reader.
• Offer suggestions on ways you think it can be resolved or how you are willing to help in the matter.

Before you hit Send, review...

• Read it as if you were an outsider — how clear is it?
• negative comments about management
• criticisms of staff or performance issues
• see if you can shorten the email
• bonuses or salary issues
• product or liability issues
• gossip
• humor or other ambiguities

Check, and then check again ……..

• Edit and proofread. You may think you're too busy to do the small stuff, but your reader may think you're careless, unqualified, or unprofessional.
• Review and spell-check your email one more time to make sure it's truly perfect.

Reply or Reply to all:

Ask yourself: “Does everyone need to know this information?”

• Answer swiftly: Each e-mail should be replied to within at least 24 hours and preferably within the same working day.
• If the email is complicated, send an email saying that you have received it and that you will get back to them. This will put the people’s mind at rest and usually they will then be very patient!
• Respond only to messages that require one. When replying make sure that you are adding value to the conversation, truly moving it forward.
• While replying to an e-mail message with an attachment, which is to accompany your reply, you must forward the message instead of using the "Reply" or "Reply All" button. Otherwise, the attachment is not included with the message.
• Be conscious of responding to the sender or Reply to all Do not overuse Reply to all.
• Don’t reply to spam

The Closing:

In the business world, ending an email professionally is just as important as perfecting the rest of the message. If you do it sloppily, you might lose some precious business opportunities.

Courtesy is always important, no matter how short the email is.

• Before you end your email you can add some sentence as follows:
• Thank you for your patience and cooperation.
• Thank you for your consideration.
• Include an accurate follow-up statement:
• I will send you additional information.
• I look forward to receiving your input.
• If you have questions or concerns, do let me know.
• I look forward to hearing from you.
• Please let me know if you need further assistance on this.
• If a response is required, specify what, when.

Signatures: A professional signature makes it easy to contact you. Your email account can automatically add these data to the bottom of the email:

• Full professional name
• Job title
• Business phone/fax numbers
• Business street address
• Business website (if any)
• A legal disclaimer (if required by your company).

Complementary Closings: Below table shows some complementary closings for various circumstances.

Dos…

• Write in a positive tone “When you complete the report.” instead of “If you complete the report.”
• Be concise and to the point: Do not make an e-mail longer than it needs to be.
• Address all the questions or concerns to avoid delays: An email reply must answer all questions, which will not only save yours and you customer’s time but also your customer will be impressed with your efficient service.
• Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation: Improper spelling, grammar and punctuation give a bad impression of your company, it is also important for conveying the message properly.
• Read the email before you send it: It is very important to read the email before sending as it can prevent it from spelling and grammatical mistakes and thus, helps you sending a more effective message.
• Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions.
• Use a font that has a professional or neutral look.
• People just want to know what you want, so state that, in the first sentence.
• Provide all supporting information that will help the recipient complete an action or respond successfully.
• Keep language gender neutral. Apart from using him/her, you can also use the neutral gender: ''The user should add a signature by configuring the email program”.
• Use active instead of passive: Try to use the active voice of a verb wherever possible. For instance, 'We will process your order today', sounds better than 'Your order will be processed today'.
• Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT: Even more so than the high-priority option, you must at all-time try to avoid these types of words in an email or subject line.
• Use proper structure & layout: Use short paragraphs and blank lines between each paragraph. When making points, number them or mark each point as separate to keep the overview.
• Add disclaimers to your emails: This can help protect your company from liability.
• Take one last look at your distribution list – is this email necessary for all recipients.
• Once the email discussion goes beyond 2-3 replies anyway, it’s time to pick up the phone.
• Check your Inbox just before you leave office.
• Write about one thing
• Stick to one subject, with one request. Once that’s done, you can send a second one.
• If you write about multiple things, with multiple requests, it is likely that:
• your email won’t be read or acted on
• the receiver will only do one of those things
• Keep flaming under control
• Before you send an email message, ask yourself, “would I say this to this person’s face?”
• Calm down before responding to a message that offends you. Once you send the message it is gone.
• Read your message twice before you send it and assume that you may be misinterpreted when proofreading.
• Empathize with the sender’s frustration and tell them they are right if that is true.

[Flaming (To be on fire) Definition: Flaming is the act of posting or sending offensive messages over the Internet. These messages, called "flames.

Flaming is a hostile (Aggressive) and insulting interaction between Internet users, often involving the use of profanity (Vulgarity)...Wikipedia.

“Flaming” is when people express their opinions strongly and with the emotion, despite others feeling on the topic.]

Don’ts …

• Do not copy a message or attachment without permission: Do not copy a message or attachment belonging to another user without permission of the originator.
• Do not use email to discuss confidential information: Sending an email is like sending a postcard. If you don't want your email to be displayed on a bulletin board, don't send it
• Do not take your reader by surprise or press them to the wall.
• Do not wait until the end of the day to introduce a problem or concern via memo or email.
• Avoid writing a litany of concerns that you have been harboring for a long period of time.
• Don’t overuse the High Priority function: If you overuse the high priority option, it will lose its function when you really need it. We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf. If you overuse the high priority option, it will lose its function when you really need it. Besides, even if a mail has high priority, your message will come across as slightly aggressive if you flag it as 'high priority'. Likewise, be careful using the words Urgent or Important in the subject line.
• Never respond if you are upset: Take some time to cool off and consider appropriate response.
• Don’t Attach unnecessary files- Wherever possible try to compress attachments and only send attachments when they are productive.
• Don’t forget to attach documents: If you plan to attach a document, do it as soon as you refer to the document in the email. So often people forget to attach even when they indicate an attachment, Wagner says. It pays to attach right away so you don’t have to send a second email.
• Never Use sarcasm or rude jokes as it a professional/ formal communication.
• Avoid irrelevant information: It can confuse your reader.
• Avoid using long sentences
• Do not write in CAPITALS: WRITING IN CAPITALS MAKES IT SEEM AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. This can be highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response in the form of a flame mail. Never send any email with all text in capitals.
• Do not overuse Reply to All: Only use Reply to all if you really need your message to be seen by each person who received the original message.
• Do not use abbreviations: In business emails, do not use abbreviations such as Plz (please), BTW (by the way) and LOL (laugh out loud). The same goes for emoticons, such as :-).
• Don’t write a long introduction, don’t tell a story. Skip the niceties.