E-Mail Etiquette 101

LeAnn Huffman of At Your Service Group (04/23/2008)

Here are some tips on e-mail etiquette that I thought maybe beneficial to you during the course of business:

Always think before you click. While it is possible to retrieve messages that you have sent for a brief window of time, it is always best to read your e-mails at least twice before you hit the send button.

Never e-mail on a date, even if it’s your husband or wife, or in a meeting, unless you ask if it’s all right with the person you’re with, and you excuse yourself.

Never write more than three paragraphs. People truly don’t have time to read it. Keep your message within the constraints of the space you are reading from now.

Never e-mail in all caps. Some people misinterpret this as shouting.

Declare e-mail bankruptcy. When all else fails and you are feeling overwhelmed, take all your addresses and tell them you are overloaded with e-mails. Tell them that you are wiping everything out of your inbox, and ask them to re-send anything if it is really important. Apologize and tell them you will be much better in the future about your response time.

My last tip for keeping yourself more efficient is to clean out your inbox. Read an e-mail once, then delete or save into folders that have been set up. A monthly cleaning is an excellent idea. Label your e-mail folders for specific clients, subjects or projects. Then delete and organize your files, reserving your desktop for those that you need on a daily basis.

And, if you need help with this kind of project, don’t forget to call on the professionals!