Email Etiquette

Email Etiquette : Your (almost)

Complete Guide

•To enhance current skills and provide new ones to improve your email etiquette and acumen.

Mission Statement

Goals

• Utilize the basic functions of email to send the correct one, to the correct person, in the correct manner.

• Convey the meaning the way you want and not leave it to interpretation.

• Do not allow emotion and moods to affect your meaning. • Increase your expertise in the areas of when to and when not to

email, spelling, grammar, syntax, tone, and emoticons. • Become a reliable source of etiquette information to your

coworkers, friends, relatives, and pets.

Ice breaker - Have you ever:

• Sent a personal email to a friend outside of work?• Used foul language, possibly offended someone, sent an innocent flirt?• Sent someone a joke, a video, or link to a website?• Were critical of a person and sent it to THAT person?• Said something negative about a coworker in an email? • Replied to the wrong person?

Clinton vs. Bush and Billions of Emails

•2001 (32 billion), 2009 (100 billion)•Time spent per person = 25% then we go home •20 per day = 8,000 per year

Innocent Email and Bad Timing

• What happens when a public figure sends a seemingly innocent email to a coworker about the frustrations of their job?

THE Emails

• Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?

• If you look at my lovely attire, you’ll really vomit. I am a fashion god.

Why Email?

• Convenience - you can email almost anyone, multiple people at the same time, even people you don’t even know.

• Searchable record – You have no worries about what you said.• You can respond whenever you want – unlike a phone call or in-

person visit. Have time to craft the message you want. • Attachments – Word documents, spreadsheets, emails, links

from shared drives and websites, charts, photographs.

Why you shouldn’t: (or at least think about it)

• Encourages brief exchanges to go on and on about benign issues. Before you know it, you have an email chain of 20.

• Delicate issues – tone is much better conveyed by calling, then a summary email can be sent.

• Email never sleeps or leaves work – they defy time zone. Don’t let it define YOUR time zone.

• Forwarding – Your emails can be altered. If it is a sensitive issue, use a pdf file or another unalterable method.

Things I Forgot to Remember

• Would you send the email if the person was in front of you (within punching distance.)

• Who is watching and what programs are they using to monitor it. • Is an email forever after you delete it and empty the recycle

bin...assume it is it forever, so are the consequences.• Negative consequences of an email you should not send: Can be embarrassed, reprimanded, people lose respect for you

(offensive or makes no sense,) suspended, fired, jail, lawsuits, breakups, divorces, death.

Spelling, Grammar, Syntax - A Necessary Snooze Fest

• Use it all of the time – DON’T GET LAZY.• Don’t use words if you don’t know their meaning. • Grammar: the study of the classes of words, their inflections, and their

functions and relations in the sentence. • Syntax: the way in which linguistic elements (as words) are put together

to form constituents (as phrases or clauses). A harmonious arrangement of parts or elements.

• I ain’t got nothing, we was at the office, your welcome, you very smart.

Emoticons :0, ;) :>) abbreviations

• General rule don’t use them for work/professional organization or network emails. Except for .

Sent Mr. ! to the unemployment line (or at least turned him into a part-timer. (I told you so! vs. I told you so )

• Text/IM Abbreviations – FYI, w/, s/b, lol, btw,ooo, wfh, fwiw, f/u.• What about WTF/WTH? Do you know what it means? Should

you use them?

Functionality: to, cc, bcc, reply to all, reply, forward

• To/CC: Be sure to address the correct person, fairly simple right? Slow down lil’ doggie Mr. Auto fill wants to say Hi!

• If emailing multiple people, put the person you want to address in the to field and cc the rest.

• If you CC someone’s boss on a complimentary email, it makes the compliment better. If a complaint, it makes it worse.

• BCC: Sneaky time! Rule of thumb is you never want to use it within the company you work for.

• It really is talking behind someone’s back right? Feel Dirty?

Reply all: the potential Hindenburg of Functionality.

• Be careful with forward/reply and risk sending to the wrong person.

Subject lines, font, color, bold, punctuation, closing greeting

• Subject lines: add them, add to them, but don’t change them. Use professional ones.

• Font, color, bold, italics underline – everyTHING in moderation. • Punctuation – Exclamation points and question marks: (Don’t get them in bulk at Costco.)• Using too many may be insulting. Please get this handled asap! The client needs the results. Get this done now!!! The client cannot wait any longer!!!!! Do you understand? Do YOU understand??? (are you an idiot?)• Closing: K.I.S.S. – No religion, fancy quotes, later dudes, etc.

Sadly, It’s almost over

• Remember the suit.• Who is watching…and recording your emails. They are forever.• Email is convenient and flexible, don’t let it take you over.• Don’t forget to call and visit.• Golden Rule – Do I want to receive the email that I just sent?• Use functionality properly and wisely.• Review before sending…you can’t take it back.

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