The Business E-mail Etiquette Basics You Need to Know

When it comes to your business e-mail communications, you need to make an impression that can lend to the determination that you are a credible professional enterprise and someone that will be easy and a pleasure to do business with. You only have one chance to make that first impression which will be invaluable to building trust and confidence.

Below are the key Business Email Etiquette issues that need to be considered with every commercial e-mail sent. These are the issues business owners, their employees and Netrepreneurs need to be aware of in their day-to-day online communications to ensure the best possible results.

• Professional Behavior on the Job: Know that how you use your e-mail, company e-mail address and employer’s technology is a serious issue! Sending non-business related e-mails, jokes, forwards or chain letters on company time to friends or coworkers reflects on your lack of professionalism. Visiting Web sites that are questionable or not necessary to your job responsibilities will reflect poorly on your ability to be trusted. Never assume that these activities are not being monitored. While on company time do not assume you have any privacy when using company resources and equipment.
• SUBJECT: Field: The SUBJECT: field is the window into your e-mail and can many times determine even if your e-mail will be opened. If this is an initial contact with a customer based on their request through your site or otherwise, be sure to have a short SUBJECT: that indicates clearly what the topic of the email is. Typos, all caps or all small case can lend to the impression you may be spammer.
• Level of Formality: Try to avoid the prevailing assumption that e-mail by it’s very nature allows you to be informal in your business e-mail. Only time and relationship building efforts can guide when you can formalize your business relationships and therefore your e-mail’s tone. One should communicate as if your e-mail is on your company letterhead at all times. This is your business’s image you are branding!
• Addressing: How do you address your new contacts? I would suggest initially that you assume the highest level of courtesy: Hello, Mr. Anderson, Dear Ms. Jones, Dr. Osborne, etc. Until your new contact states, “call me Andy” or “you can call me Diane”. You will also be able pick up clues on when you can address have a more relaxed tone by how contacts approach you as well as how they sign off. Most business people do not mind being called by their first name, however, in a global economy that can be perceived as taking premature liberties in the relationship if used too soon.
• TO:, From:, BCc, Cc fields can make or break you:       …In the TO: field make sure you have your contact’s name formally typed. John B. Doe – not john b doe or JOHN B DOE…In the FROM: field make sure you have your full name formally typed. Example: Jane A. Jones. Not: jane a jones or JANE A JONES. The later two give the perception of lack of education or limited experience with technology. By only including your first name or e-mail address you are giving the perception you may have something to hide or do not know the basics of configuring your e-mail program.

…BCc: use this field when e-mailing a group of contacts who do not personally know each other. By listing an arm’s length list of e-mail addresses in the Cc or TO fields of contacts who do not know each other or who have never met is conducive to publishing their e-mail address to strangers. This is a privacy issue! With those you are forging partnerships with, visibly listing their e-mail address in with a group of strangers will make one wonder what other privacy issues you may not respect or understand.

…Cc: Use this field when there are a handful of associates involved in a discussion that requires all be on the same page. These business people know each other or have been introduced and have no problem having their e-mail address exposed to the parties involved. If you are not sure if a business associate would mind their address being made public, ask!

• Formatting: Refrain from using any formatting in your day-to-day business e-mail communications. Unless you would type something in bold crimson letters on business letterhead, don’t do it when e-mailing for commercial gain. With all the spam filtering going on today; the more formatting or embedded images that higher the chance that your e-mail could be blocked as spammy.

Even something as simple as using a different font makes your e-mail’s display contingent upon the recipient having that specific font on their system or it defaults to their designated default font. Keep in mind the recipient may not have their e-mail program configured in such a way as to display your formatting the way it appears on your system – if at all.

• Attachments: How do you think your relationship with a potential new customer/contact is enhanced when you send them that 10M Power Point presentation they didn’t request and you fill up their inbox causing subsequent business correspondence to bounce as undeliverable? And, if they do not have Power Point, they wouldn’t be able open the file anyway! Never assume your potential customers have the software you do to open any file you may arbitrarily send.

If you need to send a file (or combination of files) over 500,000 in size, business courtesy dictates you ask the recipient first if it is O.K. to send a large file. Next, confirm they have the same software and version you do and what is the best time of day to sent it to them to ensure they are available to download the large file and keep their e-mail flowing. Never send large attachments without warning, on weekends or after business hours when the recipient may not be there to keep their inbox clear.

• Using Previous E-mail for New Correspondence: If you want to give the perception of lazy, find a previous e-mail from the party you want to communicate with, hit reply and start typing about something completely irrelevant to the old e-mail’s subject. Always start a new e-mail and add your contacts to your address book so you can add them to a new e-mail with one click.
• Down Edit Your Replies: Do not just hit reply and start typing — that’s called top posting. Editing is a skill those you communicate with will appreciate as it lends to reflecting a respect for their time and clarity in your communications. Removing parts of the previous e-mail that no longer apply to your response including e-mail headers and signature files removes the clutter. By making the effort to reply point by point keeps the conversation on track with fewer misunderstandings.
• Common Courtesy: Hello, Hi, Good Day, Thank You, Sincerely, Best Regards. All those intros and sign offs that are a staple of professional business communications should also be used in your business e-mail communications. Always have a salutation and sign off with every e-mail. Here again – think business letterhead.

Courtesy also includes that you make the effort to communicate as an educated adult. Type in full sentences with proper sentence structure. Not all caps; not all small case. Proper capitalization and punctuation are a must! You are an educated professional and need to communicate as such. All caps or all small case smacks of either lack of education, tech/business savvy — or laziness. None of which is positive for instilling confidence or encouraging others to want to do business with you.

• Signature files: Keep your signature files to no more than 5-6 lines to avoid being viewed as egocentric. Limit your signature to your Web site link, company name, and slogan/offer or phone number. Include a link to your Web site where the recipient can get all your contact information from A-Z – that is what your site is for. Do not forget to include the “http://” when including your Web site address within e-mails and your signature file to ensure the URL is recognized as a clickable URL regardless of the user’s software or platform.
• Respond Promptly: You should do your best to respond to your business communications as quickly as possible. This is a customer service issue that should not be underestimated. By not responding promptly you appear unorganized, uncaring or worse yet, risk being outperformed by your competitors who understand the importance of appearing efficient and on the ball.

There you have it! These very important issues will certainly allow your business communications to rise above the majority who do not take the time to understand and master these issues.                                                                                 When forging new business relationships and solidifying established partnerships, the level of professionalism and courtesy you relay in your business e-mail communications will always gain clients over the competition that may be anemic, uninformed or just plain lazy in this area.                               When it comes to business, regardless of mode of communication used, professionalism and courtesy never go out of style!

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 a professional 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.

If you work in an office, you probably write emails every day – to colleagues, to your boss, to clients. Even if you’re still at college, you’ll need to email your lecturers once in a while (maybe to plead for an essay extension, or to ask for help) – and many employers now expect resumes and cover letters to be sent by email. So, being able to write a professional, business-like email is a crucial skill. Daily Writing Tips has already covered the email subject line, but the body of your message also matters.

1. Start with a salutation

Your email should open by addressing the person you’re writing to. Sure, you can get away with leaving out the salutation when you’re dashing off an email to your friend, but business-like messages should begin with:

• Dear Mr Jones, or Dear Professor Smith, (for someone you don’t know well, especially if they’re a superior)
• Dear Joe, or Dear Mandy, (if you have a working relationship with the person)

It’s fine to use “Hi Joe”, “Hello Joe” or just the name followed by a comma (“Joe,”) if you know the person well – writing “Dear Joe” to one of your team-mates will look odd!

2. Write in short paragraphs

Get straight to the point – don’t waste time waffling. Split your email into two to four short paragraphs, each one dealing with a single idea. Consider using bullet-points for extra clarity, perhaps if you are:

• Listing several questions for the recipient to answer
• Suggesting a number of alternative options
• Explaining the steps that you’ll be carrying out

Put a double line break, rather than an indent (tab), between paragraphs.

 3. Stick to one topic

If you need to write to someone about several different issues (for example, if you’re giving your boss an update on Project X, asking him for a review meeting to discuss a payrise, and telling him that you’ve got a doctor’s appointment on Friday), then don’t put them all in the same email. It’s hard for people to keep track of different email threads and conversations if topics are jumbled up.

4. Use capitals appropriately

Emails should follow the same rules of punctuation as other writing. Capitals are often misused. In particular, you should:

• Never write a whole sentence (or worse, a whole email) in capitals
• Always capitalise “I” and the first letter of proper nouns (names)
• Capitalise acronymns (USA, BBC, RSPCA)
• Always start sentences with a capital letter.

This makes your email easier to read: try retyping one of the emails you’ve received in ALL CAPS or all lower case, and see how much harder it is to follow!

5. Sign off the email

For short internal company emails, you can get away with just putting a double space after your last paragraph then typing your name. If you’re writing a more formal email, though, it’s essential to close it appropriately.

• Use Yours sincerely, (when you know the name of your addressee) and Yours faithfully, (when you’ve addressed it to “Dear Sir/Madam”) for very formal emails such as job applications.
• Use Best regards, or Kind regards, in most other situations.
• Even when writing to people you know well, it’s polite to sign off with something such as “All the best,” “Take care,” or “Have a nice day,” before typing your name.

6. Use a sensible email signature

Hopefully this is common sense – but don’t cram your email signature with quotes from your favourite TV show, motivational speaker or witty friend. Do include your name, email address, telephone number and postal address (where appropriate) – obviously, your company may have some guidelines on these.                               

It makes it easy for your correspondents to find your contact details: they don’t need to root through for the first message you sent them, but can just look in the footer of any of your emails.

Putting it all together

Compare the following two job applications. The content of the emails are identical – but who would you give the job to?                                                                       

i’ve attached my resume i would be grateful if you could read it and get back to me at your earliest convenience. i have all the experience you are looking for – i’ve worked in a customer-facing environment for three years, i am competent with ms office and i enjoy working as part of a team. thanks for your time

Or

Dear Sir/Madam,

I’ve attached my resume. I would be grateful if you could read it and get back to me at your earliest convenience. I have all the experience you are looking for:

• I’ve worked in a customer-facing environment for three years
• I am competent with MS office
• I enjoy working as part of a team

Thanks for your time.

Yours faithfully,

Joe Bloggs

Have you ever received a really badly written email? Or have you ever been told you need to brush up your own email writing? Share your email etiquette horror stories – and any of your tips – in the comments!