E-Mail Etiquette Presentation

8/8/2019 E-Mail Etiquette Presentation

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E-MailETIQUETTES



AIM

This is not a "how-to" document, but rather an instructions that offers advice on

improving your E-Mail skills



In the tech savvy world that we live, longforgotten and gone are those days when we

wrote letters in those yellow or green post cards!

Dear or Respected Sir/Madam and Yours

Faithfully are buried deep down in the core of the earth

µThe Postman always rings twice' - happens to

be a film and probably happens only in the films.

The garish red post box has become a piece of rarity.



But along with these are also gone those

etiquettes of letter writing?

Current day conversations, chats and lessformal emails have become more like

short hand - making them more and more

cryptic



When you wrote a letter you kept in mind

the following points.Purpose

Person to whom it is addressed

T one you should adopt Completeness of the message

Action required

Conciseness of expression



M ode of address or salutation

Salutation is the mode of addressing/wishing aperson.

(i) Dear Sir/Madam (when we are writing to a totalstranger whom we do not know at all).

(ii) Dear Mr/Ms/Dr/Professor + Surname as in:Dear Dr. Sinha, (when it is a formal relationship withthe addressee and the writer does not know him or her personally).

(iii) Dear Sujata (when the writer knows theaddressee personally and the two share a semi-formal relationship).



R eference to previous correspondence, if any.

Most official letters carried a subject line justabove the salutation. This is for quick referenceto the subject.

. C ontent of letter

The content of the letter begins on the next lineand is arranged in two or three paragraphs.

. C omplimentary close and signature

Letters usually end politely with the followingphrases:

Thank you, With regards, With best wishes,Hope to see



E-MAILING

SIMPLE

STEPS



To, Cc and Bcc

With only three choices for addressing an e-mail, i.e.the 'To', 'Cc' and 'Bcc' fields, you would thinkaddressing would be trouble free. Unfortunately, that'snot the case.

First:

There are the users who have no idea that the 'Cc' exists.

Every address is listed in the 'To' even if the email isonly directed to one person.

In cases such as this the receivers have no clue as towho should take action so either they all dosomething or they all do nothing.



Secondly:

There are users who feel that every single e-

mail should be copied to their entire addressbook whether it's relevant to those receiving itor not. These are the 'cry for attention' crowd.

Lastly:

There are users who never read the names of the people who receive a copy of an e-mail.They are the 'Did you see this?' crowd. For example, person X sends an e-mail to persons

A, B and C. C immediately forwards it to A andB with the question 'Did you see this?' notbothering to see that X already sent A and B copies



In summary, here's a rough guide on

how to populate the address fields:

The addresses in the 'To' are for the

people you are directly addressing.

The addresses in the 'Cc' are for the

people you are indirectly addressing. Copy

only those who need to be copied; not

your entire universe of contacts.



The addresses in the 'Bcc' are like 'Cc'

except that the addresses in 'To' and 'Cc'

do not know that the addresses in the

'Bcc' are included in the conversation.

The 'To' and 'Cc' addresses are blind to

the 'Bcc' addresses. As you can imagine,

use of the 'Bcc' is somewhat unethicaland therefore its use is discouraged.



Reply To All

The 'Reply to All' button is just a button, but it

can generate tons of unnecessary e-mails. For

example, if you send a dozen people an e-mailasking if they are available at a certain time for a

meeting you should get a dozen replies and

that's it. However, if each person hits the "Reply

to All' button not only will you get a dozen

replies, but so does everyone else for a total of

144 messages.



A Novelist

Messages should be concise and to thepoint. Think of it as a telephoneconversation, except you are typing instead

of speaking. It's also important to remember that some

people receive hundreds of e-mail messagesa day (yes, there are such people), so the

last thing they want to see is a messagefrom someone who thinks he/she is the nextPrem Chand.



Punctuation

!!! ? : ; . ,

Don't get caught up in grammar andpunctuation, especially excessive punctuation.

You'll see lots of e-mail messages where peopleput a dozen exclamation points at the end of asentence for added emphasis. Big deal.Exclamation points (called "bangs" in computer circles) are just another form of ending asentence.

If something is important it should be reflected inyour text, not in your punctuation



Abbreviations

Abbreviation usage is quite rampant with e-mail.In the quest to save keystrokes, users havetraded clarity for confusion (unless youunderstand the abbreviations). Some of themore common abbreviations are listed in thetable below. It is recommended that you useabbreviations that are already common to the

English language, such as 'FYI' and µN A'.Beyond that, you run the risk of confusing your recipient.



There was this lady who had some issuewith her newly bought Digi Cam and had

e-mailed her young cousin whosecognizance in the field of electronics is -shall we say the ' Any problem solver '? Sothis cousin of hers mailed back thesolution ending his emails with HTH andthen With Love.

A SHORT STORY



She understood the technical jargon of therepair procedures but had that naggingabbreviation HTH lingering in her mind -so nagging that she mailed her cousin

especially to know what isH

TH

!Well - Hope that Helps was not helpfulafter all for our lady! Current dayconversations, chats and less formal

emails have become more like short hand- making them more and more cryptic.



Salutations

The question here is "How personal is

too personal?" or to be more specific,how do you open your e-mail: "Dear Sir",

"Dear Mr. Smith", "Joe" or none of the

afore-mentioned.



In a non-business situation, it is recommendedthat you may bypass the standard formalities. Atmost, only include something along the lines of "Dear Virgil" or just "Virgil".

In the business situation, things are muchmore complicated. Each situation will need

to be evaluated on its on, but in general, usethe following as a guide: If you normallyaddress a person as Miss/Mrs./Ms./Mr. Smiththen that's the way to address them in e-mail.If you normally call them by their first name

then either omit the salutation or follow theguideline specified in the prior paragraph. If you are unsure, stick to the formal salutation.It's the safest bet.



Signatures

On a paper document (save a tree, send e-mail)it's typical to close the document with thefollowing:

Miss Manners Asset Manager

Since it's not possible (yet) to sign your e-mail,users will sometimes include the same information

(minus the signature) at the bottom of their e-mailmessages.



This practice is recommended because the

originator is not always clear to the recipient.Lots of companies use abbreviated names or numbers for employee e-mail addresses andthose abbreviations or numbers will mean littleto someone not familiar with their significance.

If your e-mail address is a business address,include your title and company name in the

signature. Normally, this might be part of aletterhead, but in the e-mail world letterheads arenot used (wasted space).



Attachments

Back in dial-up days it is recommended that all

attachments be held to 1MB in size. However, in

today's ever expanding broadband world, things

are a little different.

Cause for users on dial-up, the 1MB limit still

applies. For users on broadband or a direct

connection, it would up the limit to 5MB.

Generally, the only time to send attachments of the 5MB size is when the other party is

expecting it.



Send It From the Office, It

Comes From The Office

Personal e-mails sent from the office are

regarded as official companycommunications regardless of content and

could possibly expose you and your

company to unnecessary risk.



³Flames´

What is a "flame" or specifically what does it mean "to beflamed?" To be flamed means that you've sent an e-mailto a person (s) that has caused that person (s) torespond in many, not-so-nice words. It's basically averbal attack in electronic media.

Sometimes the reason for a flame is quite obvious (keepreading), but in other cases you just never know. Youmight send what you think is a harmless e-mail to tenpeople. Nine people respond in a rational tone while

number ten sends you a flame. Just remember thateveryone sees the world differently. You may be luckyand spend your whole life dealing only with the people inthe group of nine, but sooner or later you will run intoperson ten.



If you do choose to respond you will

probably end up in what is known as a

"flame war ". This is where two or morepeople end up exchanging flames for an

extended period of time.



Why do you need email etiquette

A company needs to implement etiquette rules

for the following three reasons

Professionalism: by using proper email

language your company will convey aprofessional image.

Efficiency: emails that get to the point are

much more effective than poorly worded

emails.Protection from liability: employee

awareness of email risks will protect your

company from costly law suits.



Sum Up: The etiquette rules?

There are many etiquette guides and

many different etiquette rules. Some rules

will differ according to the nature of your business and the corporate culture. A list

32 important email etiquette rules that can

be applied to nearly all companies has

been explained subsequently.



32 RULES1. Be concise and to the point.Do not make an e-mail longer than it needs to be. Remember that

reading an e-mail is harder than reading printed communications

and a long e-mail can be very discouraging to read.

2. Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions.

An email reply must answer all questions, and pre-empt further

questions ± If you do not answer all the questions in the originalemail, you will receive further e-mails regarding the unansweredquestions which will not only waste your time and your customer¶stime but also cause considerable frustration. Moreover,

if you are able to pre-empt relevant questions, your customer will begrateful and impressed with your efficient and thoughtful customer

service.

I



3. Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation.

This is not only important because improper spelling,

grammar and punctuation give a bad impression of you/your company, it is also important for conveying themessage properly. E-mails with no full stops or commasare difficult to read and can sometimes even change themeaning of the text. And, if your program has a spell

checking option, why not use it?

4. Make it personal.

Not only should the e-mail be personally addressed, itshould also include personal i.e. customized content. For this reason auto replies are usually not very effective.However, templates can be used effectively in this way,see next tip.



5. Use templates for frequently used responses.

Some questions you get over and over again, such as

directions to your office or how to subscribe to your newsletter. Save these texts as response templates andpaste these into your message when you need them. Youcan save your templates in a Word document, or use pre-formatted emails.

6. Answer swiftly.

Customers send an e-mail because they wish to receive aquick response. If they did not want a quick response theywould send a letter or a fax. Therefore, each e-mail shouldbe replied to within at least 24 hours, and preferably withinthe same working day. If the email is complicated, justsend an email back saying that you have received it andthat you will get back to them. This will put the customer 'smind at rest and usually customers will then be very patient



7. Do not attach unnecessary files.

By sending large attachments you can annoy customers and even bring

down their e-mail system. Wherever possible try to compressattachments and only send attachments when they are productive.Moreover, you need to have a good virus scanner in place since your customers will not be very happy if you send them documents full of viruses!

8. Use proper structure & layout.Since reading from a screen is more difficult than reading from paper,the structure and lay out is very important for e-mail messages. Useshort paragraphs and blank lines between each paragraph. Whenmaking points, number them or mark each point as separate to keep theoverview.

9. Do not overuse the high priority option.We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf . If you overuse the highpriority option, it will lose its function when you really need it. Moreover,even if a mail has high priority, your message will come across asslightly aggressive if you flag it as 'high priority'.



10. Do not write in CAPITALS.

IF YOU WRITE IN C APITALS IT SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE

SHO

UTIN

G. This can be highly annoying and might trigger anunwanted response in the form of a flame mail. Therefore, try not tosend any email text in capitals.

11. Don't leave out the message thread (Debatable).

When you reply to an email, you must include the original mail in your reply, in other words click 'Reply', instead of 'New Mail'. Some peoplesay that you must remove the previous message since this hasalready been sent and is therefore unnecessary. If you receive manyemails you obviously cannot remember each individual email. Thismeans that a 'thread less email' will not provide enough informationand you will have to spend a frustratingly long time to find out the

context of the email in order to deal with it. Leaving the thread mighttake a fraction longer in download time, but it will save the recipientmuch more time and frustration in looking for the related emails in their inbox! (Previously all letters with on a particular subject was filedseparately)



12. Add disclaimers to your emails.

It is important to add disclaimers to your internal and external mails,

since this can help protect your company from liability.C

onsider thefollowing scenario: an employee accidentally forwards a virus to acustomer by email. The customer decides to sue your company for damages. If you add a disclaimer at the bottom of every externalmail, saying that the recipient must check each email for viruses andthat it cannot be held liable for any transmitted viruses, this willsurely be of help to you in court.

13. Read the email before you send it.

A lot of people don't bother to read an email before they send it out,as can be seen from the many spelling and grammar mistakes

contained in emails. Apart from this, reading your email through theeyes of the recipient will help you send a more effective messageand avoid misunderstandings and inappropriate comments.



14. Do not overuse Reply to All.

Only use Reply to All if you really need your message tobe seen by each person who received the originalmessage.

15. Mailings > use the Bcc: field or do a mail merge.When sending an email mailing, some people placeall the email addresses in the To: field. There are two

drawbacks to this practice:

(a) the recipient knows that you have sent the samemessage to a large number of recipients.

(b) you are publicizing someone else's emailaddress without their permission. One way to getround this is to place all addresses in the Bcc: field..



16. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons.

In business emails, try not to use abbreviations such as BTW (by theway) and LOL (laugh out loud). The recipient might not be aware of themeanings of the abbreviations and in business emails these aregenerally not appropriate. The same goes for emoticons, such as thesmiley :-). If you are not sure whether your recipient knows what itmeans, it is better not to use it.

17. Be careful with formatting.

Remember that when you use formatting in your emails, the sender might not be able to view formatting, or might see different fonts thanyou had intended. When using colors, use a color that is easy to readon the background.

18. Take care with rich text and HTML messages.

Be aware that when you send an email in rich text or HTML format, thesender might only be able to receive plain text emails. If this is the case,the recipient will receive your message as a .txt attachment. Most emailclients however, including Microsoft Outlook, are able to receive HTML and rich text messages.



19. Do not forward chain letters.

Do not forward chain letters. We can safely say that all of them arehoaxes. Just delete the letters as soon as you receive them.

20. Do not request delivery and read receipts.

This will almost always annoy your recipient before he or she haseven read your message. Besides, it usually does not work anywaysince the recipient could have blocked that function, or his/her software might not support it, so what is the use of using it? If youwant to know whether an email was received it is better to ask therecipient to let you know if it was received.

21. Do not ask to recall a message.

Biggest chances are that your message has already been deliveredand read. A recall request would look very silly in that case wouldn't it?It is better just to send an email to say that you have made a mistake.This will look much more honest than trying to recall a message.



22. Do not copy a message or attachment without permission.

Do not copy a message or attachment belonging to another user without permission of the originator. If you do not ask permission first,

you might be infringing on copyright laws.

23. Do not use email to discuss confidential information.

Sending an email is like sending a postcard. If you don't want your email to be displayed on a bulletin board, don't send it. Moreover,

never make any libelous, sexist or racially discriminating comments inemails, even if they are meant to be a joke.

24. Use a meaningful sub ject.

Try to use a subject that is meaningful to the recipient as well asyourself. For instance, when you send an email to a companyrequesting information about a product, it is better to mention theactual name of the product, e.g. 'Product A information' than to justsay 'product information' or the company's name in the subject.



25. Use active instead of passive (Debatable).

Try to use the active voice of a verb wherever possible. For instance,'We will process your order today', sounds better than 'Your order will

be processed today'. The first sounds more personal, whereas thelatter, especially when used frequently, sounds unnecessarily formal.

26. Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT.

Even more so than the high-priority option, you must at all times try to

avoid these types of words in an email or subject line. Only use this if it is a really, really urgent or important message.

27. Avoid long sentences.

Try to keep your sentences to a maximum of 15-20 words. Email is

meant to be a quick medium and requires a different kind of writingthan letters. Also take care not to send emails that are too long. If aperson receives an email that looks like a dissertation, chances arethat they will not even attempt to read it!



28. Don't send or forward emails containing libelous,defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks.

By sending or even just forwarding one libelous, or offensive remarkin an email, you and your company can face court cases resulting in

multi-million dollar penalties.

29. Don't forward virus hoaxes and chain letters.If you receive an email message warning you of a new unstoppablevirus that will immediately delete everything from your computer, thisis most probably a hoax. The same goes for chain letters thatpromise incredible riches or ask your help for a charitable cause.Even if the content seems to be bona fide, the senders are usuallynot. Since it is impossible to find out whether a chain letter is real or

not, the best place for it is the recycle bin.



30. Keep your language gender neutral.

In this day and age, avoid using sexist language such as:

'The user should add a signature by configuring his email program'. Apart from

using he/she, you can also use the neutral gender: ''The user shouldadd a signature by configuring the email program'.

31. Don't reply to spam.

By replying to spam or by unsubscribing, you are confirming that your email address is 'live'. Confirming this will only generate even morespam. Therefore, just hit the delete button or use email software toremove spam automatically.

32. Use cc: field sparingly.

Try not to use the cc: field unless the recipient in the cc: field knowswhy they are receiving a copy of the message. Using the cc: field canbe confusing since the recipients might not know who is supposed toact on the message.



HAPP Y MAILING.

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E-Mail Etiquette Presentation