Top 50 Business Email Etiquette Rules If you use a smart email client, business email etiquette can help you build healthy business communications, eliminate email overload and boost your email productivity. See below the most complete list of business email etiquette rules. Make it easy to read and understand your message. 1Use complete sentences, not random unfinished thoughts. 2Include all necessary details in your message to help your reader get the point. 3Do not use slang, specific terms or acronyms which are not widely used. Otherwise your recipient might have problems understanding you. 4Make your message brief and to the point. Concentrate on the subject matter. 5You can choose to quote questions before answering them. Do not overuse quoting all original text however, as a ton of >>>> clutters the message and prevents it from looking neat. Edit out unnecessary information from the message you are responding to. Use proper grammar, spelling and punctuation 6Use a proper sentence structure in your email messages. 7Spell the name of the recipient correctly. 8Do not type your message in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS - this is considered shouting according to email etiquette rules. Besides, the ALL CAPS text is difficult to read. 9Do not type your email in all small case either - this gives the perception of a lack of education. 10Avoid using informal words like coz, aint, gotta, etc. This can make you sound uneducated. Be careful with styling and formatting 11Refrain from using fancy fonts and multiple font colors. A business email is supposed to look formal and restrained. 12Do not use patterned backgrounds; they will make your message harder to read. 13Use formatting like italics or bold fonts sparingly. Rely on words, not formatting, as your email may not look as intended in a recipients email client. 14Refrain from using too many embedded images in your message; otherwise some spam filters may regard your email as spam. 15Use plain text over HTML when in doubt. Use a neutral tone of communication 16Refrain from getting too informal before you get to know the recipient better. 17Avoid using multiple instances of an exclamation mark (!!!) or a question mark (???). 18Avoid using emoticons in business emails; this may look unprofessional. You should only use them (sparingly) when youve reached a familiar level of communication with your recipient. 19Dont use sarcasm or irony; they can be misinterpreted easily. 20Chill out before sending a nasty reply to a nasty email. A rude reply can make the things even worse. Be thoughtful and polite 21Start every email with a greeting. Make sure to use an appropriate salutation. 22Never forget to include a closing phrase at the end of the message, e.g. Best regards, Sincerely, or Thank you. 23Dont hesitate to thank your recipient in case they were of help. 24Do not forward email messages without your personal comment or a short personal note; otherwise this may sound impolite. 25Do not send business attachments after business hours when they will likely be using a smartphone or other personal device to read your email. Take advantage of signatures, email templates and auto-replies 26Use an email signature with your contact details. This will give your recipient more options to continue communication. 27Using an automated signature will save the time spent on typing a salutation, name and contact details. 28Use the auto-reply feature when on vacation. 29Use email templates or standard responses to save time when replying to frequently asked questions. Make sure to edit the template text before sending to make it sound more personal. 30If you have no time to reply to an important message right away, send a short notification email stating when youll be able to attend to the request. Check it twice before you send 31Check your email before sending to see if you wanted to send an attachment but forgot to include it. Ask for permission before sending huge attachments. 32Make sure the Subject field in not empty. The subject line should reflect the main idea of the message. 33Make sure the address or addresses in the To: field are those you wish to send your message to. 34Spell-check your message before sending: a message with typos can be treated as unserious or even be ignored. 35Before clicking Send, reread your email to make sure it is not emotionally charged or impolite. Dont harm your recipient 36Dont overuse the CC: feature. This can clutter the Inboxes of those youve contacted and expose their email addresses to each other which might cause a privacy infringement problem. 37When forwarding or replying to an email message with multiple recipients noted in the To: or Cc: fields, remove the addresses of those to whom your reply does not apply. 38Do not use the Reply to All option for no special reason. Configure your email client to use the Reply option by default, not Reply to All. 39Do not broadcast product or service information emails to those who didnt subscribe to your mailings. 40Make sure to provide an UNSUBSCRIBE option if you send an opt-in newsletter. Abide by laws and regulations regarding email 41Follow your companys emailing rules and policies. 42Do not use your corporate email account for private communications. 43Do not forward corporate emails to anybody besides your company employees, clients, partners or company service providers. 44Do not use an internal corporate mailing list for personal announcements unless you have been permitted to do so. 45Before sending bulk mail to a list of foreign recipients, make sure to learn what you can and cannot send to the recipients in that specific country. Manage your emails efficiently 46Use an email client to track all emails in one place and be able to attend to them in a timely manner. 47Respond to emails within 24 hours of a business day. 48Before accusing someone of ignoring your message, check to see if their reply was mistakenly deleted or sent to your Trash or Junk folder. Use the EmailTray email client to have all good emails rescued from the Spam folder. 49Add an email address of each new valuable contact to your approved or white list so that their future emails could go through your spam filter or ISP filtering system. 50Use anti-viral software and update it on a regular basis to avoid the risk of sending viruses via your corporate email account. Following the email etiquette rules in your everyday life will give you a definite advantage. However, it is not enough to forget about the post effects of email overload. Business email etiquette rules will primarily save the time of your email recipients and encourage them to pay you back with the same courtesy. If you want to make your work with email really productive, you should also take advantage of email management tools. These can help you automate many tasks and save the time that you spend on email management daily. Take EmailTray for a test drive to see how comfortable it is to use a smart email client!
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 10:21:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015