Email Etiquette

Send better emails from your outbox!
Everything little thing you do reflects on your business. Given that at least 80% of your communication is done via email, your business image is leaving your outbox, one click at a time.

12 Email Etiquette Business Tips:

1. Obvious, but often overlooked- run the spell checker before sending out your mail. And don’t forget to check on the words not picked up by spell check – is the “their” over “there” in its right place and used correctly?

2. It helps to read the email out loud. You will often pick up errors doing this that you might have missed.

3. Choose a relevant subject line - you don’t want your carefully crafted email to end up in the recycle bin.

4. Make sure you send the email to the right person, as in point 3; you don’t want your mail landing up in the recycle bin.

5. Keep emails short and to the point.

6. When replying to a mail, ensure that your signature is placed above the last text or message thread.

7. Add a message when forwarding mail to someone- A good starting point is to briefly explain the reason why you are sending this mail on and why it is useful.

8. Do not use capital letters-NOBODY LIKES BEING SHOUTED AT!

9. If you do have to send a large attachment, get permission first. Otherwise be sure to limit the size of attachments that you forward to others.

10. Use the ‘high-priority’ indicator sparingly and only for mail that is really urgent.

11. Do not forward chain mail. Most are hoaxes and irritating to your reader- and your reader already has enough bad luck from ignoring the other chain letters they did not respond to and forward!

12. You can never check your outgoing mail often enough. Spelling, grammar and the overall tone of the message all portray your image to the world. Make sure it’s the one you want out there!