Email Etiquette
Creating a More Professional
Workplace
 |
 | The Best of:
Email
Tips at Work |
| |
"You really irritated our
customers yesterday. We need to talk about it."
"There are extra Girl Scout
Cookies in the break room!"
"I don't like the way you made
the decision to go forward, Jerry." (AND sent as
a
Reply All)
Sound familiar? Can
you recognize
what is wrong with each? Every one of those examples above
breaks the rules of email etiquette.
MAKE THE CHANGES
STICK
OVERHAUL your office email system, in a few
easy steps.
-- $6.97 Payable using Credit Card or PayPal --
Get the Full
List and a Tutorial on how
to implement you new email policy.
Poor
workplace
email etiquette does more than just violate a (usually unwritten)
standard. It sends a message about your professional posture
and discipline with office procedures, both as an individual
and as a company.
It is a part of a bigger code of propriety called
netiquette.
Decency
quickly deteriorates when proper email etiquette is not followed. A
painful example from a Kansas City based Fortune 500 company when the
CEO attacked his management staff on email (called "flaming") by
stating "The parking lot is sparsely used at 8 A.M.; likewise
at
5 P.M. As managers - you either do not know what your EMPLOYEES are
doing; or YOU do not CARE ... In either case, you have a problem and
you will fix it or I will replace you." The email quickly
made
the rounds on the internet and the stock price fell by over 22% from a
high of $1.5 billion USD. Ouch.
Those
of you that are
independent
business people and simply doing a little home office organizing, these
email tips for etiquette apply as well.
Manage
the email overload by defining a process to keep
emails at a manageable level.
If your
business email etiquette may need a cybershot in the arm, read this
online internet tutorial quick list below to check your office on just
how aligned they are. |
|
If
you are
considering a revamp to your internal email requirements, you may want
more than a quick list. Get a
complete
guide and tutorial.
Email
Business Etiquette - SOME HELPFUL TIPS
FORMAT
- Include any
target due date in the subject line.
Agree upon a
level of importance and state that in the subject line, such as
•
Level 5 – urgent, drop everything and give attention asap
•
Level 4 – pressing, needs attention within 24 hours
•
Level 3 – important, please read
•
Level 2 – necessary but not urgent
•
Level 1 – for information only
Avoid
over-rating your importance level or exaggerating with the use of
IMPORTANT and URGENT, unless absolutely necessary.
CC
anyone that does not need to take action, but should have a record of
the email.
If you are responding
to an email and changing the subject at all, change the subject line
too.
Let’s
say the email started with a request for a time together over coffee.
After two or three back-n-forth’s, the date was agreed to but the
sender added “hey, what ever happened to the Millstone project? Did the
client get those numbers to you that you needed?”
Generate
an automatic response if you will be out of the office one day or
longer. The automatic response should state who the backup
is, or
how to contact the recipient immediately.
Use
discretion in using REPLY ALL.
And
FORWARD for that matter. I received a slightly rude note from a friend
once, and wanted to forward it to my sister with a sassy
comment.
We get VERY familiar with the REPLY key, and often mistake it for the
FORWARD key. Well, you can guess what happened.
If
you are seeking an answer from the email, state the question(s) clearly
and separately.
APPROPRIATENESS and TONE
Sensitive
issues should not be transmitted through email, but rather handled in
person or by phone. This would include any email where
critiquing
is involved, or where it could be interpreted as criticism.
Delivering
a negative answer to an internal customer is considered delivering bad
news. Key dialogs between customers and suppliers should be
in
person or on the phone.
Words
with judgmental tones are amplified in email. Avoid negative
words, if possible.
Absolutes
should not be used unless they indeed are absolute (never, always,
everyone, worst, etc.)
When
forwarding an email, be aware that you are now sharing a message
written for you to a third party. Review whether the original
sender would approve of the eventual receiver seeing his email.
Avoid
overreacting to an email that was interpreted a certain way.
Do
not hastily respond to an email with expression of extreme emotion or
opinion in the email (called flaming). This is unprofessional
and
counterproductive.
Internal
emails may have a different
level of professionalism than those that get sent externally.
In
either case, it is appropriate to use proper grammar.
TOPIC CONTENT
Limit
email usage to a single topic.
For
long emails, include a summary statement at the start of the email so
that it can be quickly scanned and dispositioned.
Make
the subject line meaningful. For example: “Jackson
case
review” is too vague. Consider instead: “Draft agenda items
for
Jan 30th Jackson case meeting”
Limit
jargon and acronyms when distributing to an external recipient or
someone that is not familiar with the terminology.
Be
simple in your language. If you need to be more complicated,
the
message should probably be in some other communication medium.
SPAM TOOLS
- Your
system should have an efficient filter for spam checking. A spam tool
should scan your outgoing e-mail and thoroughly check for keywords and
phrases that may trigger the spam filters. It helps ensure
your
e-mail lands in your audience's inbox rather than their junk mail
folder.
- If your business owns a website, then it
may be that the spam-check tool came with it. If not, consider a website service that integrates Spam-Check
for you that includes great tools like SpamCheck.
MAKE THE CHANGES
STICK
OVERHAUL your office email system, in a few
easy steps.
-- $6.97 Payable using Credit Card or PayPal --
Get the Full
List and a Tutorial on how
to implement you new email policy.
Get
the Step-by-Step guide including:
- What to
consider when defining your email etiquette policy
- Best
ways to "sell" your new email guidelines
- The full
and detailed list of
- - Format guidelines
for everyone
- - Appropriateness & tone
considerations
- - How to make the topic content work
best
- - Proper grammar and typical mistakes
- Common
mistakes when changing your policies
