Email Etiquette

Yes, even on the Internet, there is etiquette. Experts agree that your e-mail behavior has the potential to sabotage your reputation both personally and professionally. So let's look at the etiquette of email.

• Avoid Caps Lock in the email and in the subject line.
• Use punctuation and edit your email for grammar
• Don't use Return Receipt (RR) on every single email. Doing so is viewed as intrusive, annoying and can be declined by the other side anyway.
• Use a subject line that reflects what you are saying in the email.
• Keep your emails brief and to the point. Long emails are often put it aside until they have more time, which may not be too soon.
• In the same regard, read the entire email and response appropriately, answering all questions even if you don't know the answer.
• Respond promptly, 24 to 48 hours at the most.
• Like a letter, it is good form to add a opening and closing salutation.
• The recipient can change the size of the font if they have trouble reading your message, so keep the text size normal. 
• Only discuss public matters via email, if it needs to be private, email is not the secure means of transmitting that information. 
•  Don't use email for sending bad news, reprimands or saying unkind things about your boss. Remember, emails can last forever!
• Don't send one-line emails of thanks. 
• If it is a business letter, never use jargon, slang, emoticons or word shortcuts such as "BTW".  Very unprofessional.
• Do not forward chain letters
• If it sounds too good to be true don't forward it.
• If it sounds fishy, don't forward it.
• If it is a email petition, it has no value, don't forward it. 
• If it is worth forwarding, clean up the text, remove other people's email addresses and remove all the excessive carrots (>>>). 

This is just a brief look at email etiquette, but you get the idea. Until next time. ☺