Our Monmouth Blog

Jun 28 2007

Email Etiquette

Published by ourmonmouth at 8:30 am under Business Basics

It amazes me how my email inbox has grown over the years on any given day I can have over 300 emails. Mind you this is a combination of personal and business but it is still a large amount of material to sift through to figure out what is important, what can wait, and what is garbage/spam. Since effective communication is such an important factor in running a business I thought it is important discuss email etiquette.

For businesses like my own I use email as the primary form of contact with my prospects and clients. This makes my email communication that much more important. My email must represent me and my business in a professional, prompt, and courteous manor. When I am writing email I always first consider who my audience is. This is important so that I can choose the appropriate tone and language for my email.

From time to time we tend to forget that email was not intended to replace verbal communication. Sometimes you just need to pick-up the phone to talk to your client or customer. Email is also not intended to be used for “instant messaging” there are many other tools that can be used for that purpose.

Emailreplies.com put together a great list and details of 32 most important email etiquette tips. I took their list and boiled it down a bit further to what I think are the most important things to consider when emailing:

1. Be concise and to the point

2. Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions

3. Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation (spell check)

4. Make it personal

5. Answer swiftly

6. Do not overuse the high priority option

7. Do not write in CAPITALS

8. Don’t leave out the message thread

9. Read the email before you send it

10. Do not overuse Reply to All

11. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons

12. Do not forward chain letters