Business eMail Etiquettes
Despite the growing prevalence of texting, instant messaging apps and social networks in the business world, eMail remains one of the most popular ways for modern professionals to communicate.
Although over 300 billion eMails are estimated to be sent every day, however, a surprising number of executives and entrepreneurs still struggle to grasp fundamental rules of netiquette. Following are eMail etiquette hints, tips and strategies to follow, which can help you connect and interact with others better.
General Business eMail Tips
Tone, context and subtle nuances are easily lost in translation when sending business eMails. Before sending the eMail, consider if your commentary could be misconstrued and/or misinterpreted, and if a phone call might be better advised. Truly important or time-sensitive queries may be best addressed via a call, given eMail’s periodic propensity to be delayed or misrouted by touchy servers and spam filters. Once written, eMails cannot be undone - watch what you say, whom you copy, and always think twice before sending them along. Don’t write anything in an eMail that you wouldn’t be comfortable saying in person - or in public. Emails are easily forwarded, shared and/or monitored by employers and inappropriate commentary may come back to haunt you. Professionalism is imperative. Unless you get a response, don’t assume that eMails have been received - Internet issues, inbox filters and even simple misspellings of eMail
addresses may result in communications going awry.
Copying Others on Professional Communications
Be careful to double-check recipients in an email and also be careful while copying and blind carbon copying contacts: A slip of the keyboard, finger or auto-completing contact form may inadvertently send messages to the wrong party, or result in dozens of parties’ contact information accidentally being shared with one another. When sending emails to multiple recipients, consider blind carbon copying for courtesy’s sake, or creating groups of users which shield recipients contained in the group from seeing who else has been copied. If you’re going to add people to the email conversation, let recipients know (For example, “I’m copying John Smith, our head of marketing, here.”) Before hitting ‘Reply All’ - which sends messages to all individuals copied on an eMail, not just the sender - consider, whether it is important for everyone to receive your response.
Tone, context and subtle nuances are easily lost in
translation in business e-mails
Email Subjects and Response Times
For courtesy’s sake, subject lines should be short, sweet and should directly relate to eMail contents: Misleading or false statements, or needlessly openended or misleading questions (For example, “Did you hear about...?”) will be poorly received. Before marking eMails as urgent, tantamount to putting an underscore under your message in someone’s inbox, genuinely ask yourself: Will the other party consider the query just as important as I do? If not, they may rush to read something that didn’t need urgent prioritising, and be understandably irritated. Courtesy suggests that we be timely about responding to eMails - most responses should happen within 24 hours. Should you lack time to respond that soon, it’s recommended that you at least send a brief note letting senders know when a proper response will be forthcoming. When away from your desk for travel or vacations, set an out-of-office response stating when you’ll return, and the conditions under which you may or may not be checking your inbox.
When to Send and Share
Business eMails should, wherever possible, be confined to working hours especially if you’re working in different time zones and/or continents, as recipients may be understandably perplexed to receive emails from you at 2:00 a.m. Some busy people clear out their eMail inboxes on Sunday night when they’re free from disturbances, before the work week begins. However, it is often inappropriate to contact them over the weekend, while you may not expect them to read messages until Monday morning, recipients may be offended when their leisure time is interrupted by what’s perceived to be an urgent work request. If you are ceasing employment with an organisation, it is OK to send an eMail update to give your contacts a heads-up and provide new personal contact information, which should always be professional and neutral or upbeat in tone. (You should also setup an automatic response making senders aware that you are no longer at the job, and whom to reach out to in your absence.) However, it is not appropriate to discuss new employers or provide contact information for your new position through a previous employer’s eMail network.
Sending Mass eMails
Don’t automatically add users to mass eMail lists without requesting their permission in advance. All mass communications should include an unsubscribe option that’s just one click away and not request added steps like retyping one’s eMail address, clicking menu options, or explaining why they’ve opted out of your communications. When sending mass eMails, use solutions that refer to recipients by first name but be certain names appear in the same color, font and size as the rest of the message, so the fact that it’s a faceless form letter isn’t obvious.