Written by Marnie Bergan on the 03/02/2009
Many businesses spend hours and hours at a computer or hundreds of dollars paying someone to get the copy on their website right or to write that perfect sales letter. It baffles me to then see them send an email that damages their image as a professional.
Email etiquette is one of those must-knows that you would hope any business owner would have figured out. Unfortunately, from time to time I come across emails that make me shudder and not want to reply simply because of the lack of effort or thought that has gone into them.
Communicating online via your website, social networking site, forums or good old email shouldn't be thought of as any less important than traditional communication techniques, such as letters or phone calls. In fact, it is so important that many universities now include core courses in their Business and Management programs that are dedicated entirely to what has been dubbed 'e-communication'.
There are many, many do and do not's when it comes to writing emails. Below I've outlined what I consider to be my top email crimes when it comes to business email etiquette.
It's important to consider the privacy of those you are sending emails to by correctly using the To, CC and BCC fields. While this point mainly applies to mass emails such as newsletters, it's still relevant when sending emails to even just three or four people who do not necessarily know each other.
Unless sending an email to people from the same organization, the safest thing to do is to add all addressees to the BCC field, otherwise you may end up receiving either an email from an annoyed associate whose email address you've just freely given out to people they're not familiar with or you may lose a subscriber from your database.
When sending attachments, there are a few simple rules to stick to. Firstly and most importantly in my books, do not send an attachment without addressing the receiver directly. When I receive an email with an attachment and no email body whatsoever, I can't help but instantly think it's lazy and rude and more often than not I won't feel like responding.
When writing the email to accompany the attached file, as you always should, it's a good idea to refer to the attachment rather than assume the receiver will just know it's there. Take a moment to explain what's attached and why you're sending it. While you may think that the attachment is straightforward, it's what the person receiving it thinks that counts.
As well as explaining what the attachment is, a good habit to get into is naming the attached file appropriately. A date is always a good idea, as well as your business name (if needed) and a simple title. You can't always assume that the person for whom the attachment was intended is going to store it in their email until they need it. They may very well save it to their computer and naming the file properly allows them to find it easily in future.
Similar to naming your file, subject lines are important. I know my inbox gets hundreds of emails a day and descriptive subject lines help me distinguish between the emails I need to read now and those that can wait until later. Basic but effective and definitely something that should form part of a good email. Tip: depending on which email client you're using, you may be able to turn on an option that will remind you to include a subject if you try to send the email without one.
Such a simple thing – but it can make or break the way a client or colleague sees you. While sending an email when you're in a hurry that reads, "Mary, brochure attached. Bill" may seem fine to you, Mary may see it as extremely rude. If Bill had only taken 10 extra seconds to add a couple more words – "Dear Mary, the brochure you requested is attached. Kind regards, Bill" – I’m sure Mary's reaction would have been a lot better. If you can't take the time to send a proper email – don't send it.
It goes without saying that you should always check the emails you're writing. Unfortunately, whether due to time constraints, stress or carelessness, it seems this often gets overlooked. You should read over your email at least once after finishing it and check for spelling and grammatical errors, typos, poorly worded paragraphs, a sufficient greeting and farewell, and ensure you've said everything you need to say.
It's easy for misunderstandings to occur when communicating via email and they can be costly. They're also easily avoidable. Taking the above points into consideration when writing your next email will help ensure you do not need to send a sorry/I forgot/let me explain email when you could be working on more important things.
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