Business Email Etiquette for Busy People
Do you use email in business? Do you use email to communicate with people not in your own culture? What are the dos and don'ts of business email etiquette which you need to know?
Use of email as a business medium continues to grow every year - in spite of instant messaging and other new communications technologies. So it makes good business sense that everybody who uses email in the workplace learns some simple but effective email etiquette tips to help reduce email overload and improve communication.
As an email etiquette expert I have spent the last 12 years working with many different types of organizations - big and small, national and international - to help improve their use of email. Hundreds of companies such as HSBC, L'Oreal, Johnson and Johnson and Estee Lauder have asked me to train their staff on how to get better results from their email. I have devised some simple but effective email etiquette tips which will improve the results you achieve with your emails.
Email is a fantastic medium - when used correctly. Email is a great way of communicating with large numbers of people and disseminating information to a wide audience at the touch of a button. We can connect with people all over the world and it has the capacity to make us more efficient and improve business results.
However it is this fast and informal nature of email which sometimes creates problems - and creates more work for senders and recipients alike.
Email should be like making a cup of tea. It takes a few simple steps to achieve a great cup of tea and we do it so often that it becomes second nature. And we do the same simple steps every time - not just some of the time or when it is convenient.
Email is the same. As an email etiquette expert I remind people that every email we send creates an impression of us, so we need to consider how the emails we send reflect on our profile.
The impression you make can be positive or negative.
As an example, why not ask yourself what you think of someone who sends you an email with spelling mistakes in? What do you think of them as a person? Reactions happen at the end of our emails and it is important that we are responsible for those reactions.
So, what is email etiquette and how can we apply it in business?
Tip 1: Always use an appropriate salutation and sign off. Email logic research shows that more than 70% of business email users like the emails they receive to have an appropriate salutation and sign off. So "Hello X" or "Dear X" might be more professional that "Hi"!
Tip 2: Create a signature for yourself with your name, job title and contact details. You may wish to include your cell phone number too
Tip 3: Use the subject line to good effect. Give the recipient of your email a clue as to what the email is about. And think about the whole lifecycle of that email. Might it be forwarded to someone else, stored and retrieved by your colleagues in the future. Make the subject meaningful for the whole potential life of that email - think workflow.
Tip 4: Spell check before you hit send. Most email packages have an auto spell check feature which prompts you to spell check your message before you hit "send" so investigate what options are available to you. Then reread it too. Words like 'form' when you mean to say 'from' may not be picked up as they are words too.
Tip 5: Lay out your message using white space to make the email easier to read. Use short paragraphs (2 lines long as a maximum) and bullet points.
These are just a few simple email etiquette tips to use in business. There are many more you can use but if you just follow the tips above, your emails will instantly improve - and your professional profile.
As an email etiquette expert I have spent the last 12 years working with many different types of organizations - big and small, national and international - to help improve their use of email. Hundreds of companies such as HSBC, L'Oreal, Johnson and Johnson and Estee Lauder have asked me to train their staff on how to get better results from their email. I have devised some simple but effective email etiquette tips which will improve the results you achieve with your emails.
Email is a fantastic medium - when used correctly. Email is a great way of communicating with large numbers of people and disseminating information to a wide audience at the touch of a button. We can connect with people all over the world and it has the capacity to make us more efficient and improve business results.
However it is this fast and informal nature of email which sometimes creates problems - and creates more work for senders and recipients alike.
Email should be like making a cup of tea. It takes a few simple steps to achieve a great cup of tea and we do it so often that it becomes second nature. And we do the same simple steps every time - not just some of the time or when it is convenient.
Email is the same. As an email etiquette expert I remind people that every email we send creates an impression of us, so we need to consider how the emails we send reflect on our profile.
The impression you make can be positive or negative.
As an example, why not ask yourself what you think of someone who sends you an email with spelling mistakes in? What do you think of them as a person? Reactions happen at the end of our emails and it is important that we are responsible for those reactions.
So, what is email etiquette and how can we apply it in business?
Tip 1: Always use an appropriate salutation and sign off. Email logic research shows that more than 70% of business email users like the emails they receive to have an appropriate salutation and sign off. So "Hello X" or "Dear X" might be more professional that "Hi"!
Tip 2: Create a signature for yourself with your name, job title and contact details. You may wish to include your cell phone number too
Tip 3: Use the subject line to good effect. Give the recipient of your email a clue as to what the email is about. And think about the whole lifecycle of that email. Might it be forwarded to someone else, stored and retrieved by your colleagues in the future. Make the subject meaningful for the whole potential life of that email - think workflow.
Tip 4: Spell check before you hit send. Most email packages have an auto spell check feature which prompts you to spell check your message before you hit "send" so investigate what options are available to you. Then reread it too. Words like 'form' when you mean to say 'from' may not be picked up as they are words too.
Tip 5: Lay out your message using white space to make the email easier to read. Use short paragraphs (2 lines long as a maximum) and bullet points.
These are just a few simple email etiquette tips to use in business. There are many more you can use but if you just follow the tips above, your emails will instantly improve - and your professional profile.
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