E-mail Etiquette

E-mails should be the same as written letters:

Always begin with the person’s name.

Indenting your first line of a paragraph is not always necessary in an e-mail, but certainly looks more professional.

Never send anything you wouldn’t wisely say in person. Do not use e-mail as a source of expressing anger or spreading gossip. Never respond to gossip e-mails, hit delete!

Sign your name to your e-mails. First name only with friends or family is fine. Whole name when sending professional letters.

Avoid adding your phone number and physical address unless when communicating for business. Many people forward e-mails and you would not want your personal information being sent out to 100 other people.

Responding to an E-mail:

When responding to an e-mail always do so as courteously as possible. We may live in a fast paced society, but we should always use appropriateness in every aspect of conversing with one another.

Always respond, even if just to say ‘Thank you for…’

Forwards:

I know these can be rather frustrating, yet there are times you get a really sweet letter or something important you want to pass along.

1. Copy and paste the original content into a new emai

l. When you simply FWD, you’re also forwarding all the other recipients addresses with it. When this happens ONE person might REPLY ALL with inappropriate comments. **There was a time when someone sent something inappropriate to me and she had not even realized she sent it to me. Someone sent her an e-mail to which she FWD to ALL in her address book. ONE of her friends replied ALL and I saw what she wrote. This was a person who I know that if her parents knew about it they would be quite disappointed. She was 19 at the time and I did write her back. I cautioned her about using the REPLY ALL option and informed her that she sent it to me. I was polite yet I reminded her that her example to her friends is very important. She responded with a sincere apology and no doubt felt embarrassed over the matter.

2. Only FWD when the person you’re sending it to MUST know about it.

Sending Links:

1. When sending or including a link in your e-mail always give a description of the site you are linking them to. Avoid using linked text, such as ‘here’, unless your sentence gives the description and title of the site.

Text:

1. Do not use ALL CAPS. All caps means you are shouting.

Copies:

1. You may use CC, copy to, when sending the same e-mail to multiple people.

2. You may use BCC, blind copy, when sending the same e-mail to multiple people when wanting to retain the privacy of those you are sending e-mail to. Simply add YOUR e-mail to the sender box and BCC is where you add theirs.

Subject Line:

1. Assign a subject line with courtesy and tact. Be short and simple but polite. You may use “Re: The Meeting Last Night” or “Need a Response About Dinner”

And Spacing (Special Thanks to Joy): Use your Enter button liberally! Each paragraph should be 5-7 sentences for easier reading. Do you want to keep the reader interested? Avoid long paragraphs. Using e-mail is meant to be quick and easy reading. Let’s keep it that way. ;O)

Let’s keep these tips in mind when communicating on the internet. I hope this has been helpful.