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Email Etiquettes

Importance of Email Etiquettes

In today’s corporate world, a majority of our communication happens through emails. And our conversations have a personality of their own, where the choice of words can make a lot of difference.

Unlike verbal conversation, our tone cannot be deduced in written communication and neither can one receive immediate feedback, which can lead to misinterpretation of your words by the reader. Thus, it is essential to follow all the basic rules of written communication.

The Elements of Email Etiquette

General Format	Long Email Format	Attachment
Flaming	Sharing Information	Sharing Bad Information
Mailing List

The Basic

A new salutation must be written for each new subject email.
Keep your emails brief (one screen length).
Respond to emails within the same time as you would respond to a missed call.
Check for punctuation, spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Use case sensitive writing pattern.
Use a font that has a professional look.

Lists and Bullets

While sharing directions for doing a task or to lay emphasis on important points; always use numbers or bullet points.

For example

Login to the TBO Holidays portal.
Go to the ‘Make Payment’ option.
Improve customer delight.
Empower travel agents globally.

Tone

Use Positive Tonality

“When you complete the report” instead of “If you complete the report”
“What we can do for you today…” instead of “We will not be able to…”

Avoid Negative Verbiage like “un, non, ex” or that end with “less” (useless, non-existent, ex-employee, undecided).
Use contractions to add a friendly tone. (don’t, can’t, won’t)

Addresses

Avoid addressing more than four individuals in the ‘To’ option.
Instead, create a mailing list so that the reader doesn’t have to scroll too much before getting to the actual message.
To: maillist1@travelboutiqueonline.com

Attachments

Only send attachments if the content can’t fit into the mail body. This way you increase the chances of the content being viewed.
Name the attachments according to the content in it. It should be self explanatory to the reader.
“Transaction Details of TBO in Q3 .”

Elevator Summary and Table of Content

Create an “Elevator Summary”.
Provide a Table of Content in the beginning of your email.
If you require a response from the receiver, then request for a response in the first paragraph of the email.
Create headings for each major section.

Elevator Summary and Table of Content

Elevator Summary	Table of Content
An elevator summary should have all the main components of the email.	Table of content “This email contains:
“Our profit margin for the last quarter went down 12%. As a result I am proposing budget adjustment for the following areas…”	Budget projection for the last quarter.
	Actual performance for the last quarter.
	Adjustment proposal.
	Projected profitability.”

Ways to break Bad News

Deliver the news upfront and with no uncertain words.
Avoid blaming others.
Avoid words that sound ambiguous/unclear.
Maintain a positive tonality.
Deliver the News upfront:
“We have put the hiring on hold this quarter due to budget cuts.” Avoid Blaming:
“I think it will be hard to recover from this, however what can I do to help.”
Avoid using ambiguous words: “Our pricing structure is outdated.”
More examples of ambiguous words are:
Possibly, most likely, Perhaps, maybe

Procedures to be followed for a Complaint

One should state the history of the problem to provide context to the reader.
Explain the attempts made previously to resolve the problem.
Explain why it is critical for the problem to be resolved by your reader.
Offer suggestions/alternatives on the way you think it can be resolved or how you are willing to help in the matter.

State the history	Explain attempts made by you so far to resolve the issue
“The current way we choose employees for our organization is not democratic. As a result, we have a popularity contest that does not always get us the best candidates.”	“I have offered two alternatives for employee hiring that still involves the votes of all the hiring committee members, however both have been rejected by the hiring committee.”

Explain why it is important for your readers to get involved:
“This is a problem for two reasons. First, I am concerned that the hiring committee no longer protects the interest of the organization and that their actions are not in keeping with the constitution of the organization.
Secondly, there have been a number of complaints from the departments who feel that their concerns and preferences are not being addressed by the hiring committee, which decreases morale and productivity.”
Ask for help and offer alternatives:
“Please let me know what other options I may have overlooked. I am willing to meet with the hiring committee head and its board members to seek out a solution that is fair to the departments and is good for the business of the organization.”

Do not take your reader by Surprise

Do not bombard your reader
Don’t wait till the end of the day to introduce a problem or concern through an email.
Avoid writing a litany of concerns that you have been harboring for a long period of time.

Keep flaming under control

Flaming is a term used for virtually venting or sending inflammatory messages in emails.
Avoid flaming because it tends to create a huge conflict that spirals out of control.
Flame fights are absolutely unprofessional and tend to affect other readers in a very negative way.
What you say cannot be taken back and it is in black and white. So, think twice before sending a flame email as it would be with the reader forever.

Before you send an email message, ask yourself:

“Would I say this to my manager?”
Calm down before responding to a message that upsets you. Once you send the message it is gone, and a flaming email won’t help resolve the situation. Hence, distract yourself first and once the urge to respond aggressively passes away. Then go about responding to the email; and remain professional throughout.
Read your message twice before you send it and presume that you may be misinterpreted when editing.

Responding to a flame

Empathize with the sender’s frustration and tell them they are correct, if that is true.
If you feel that you are correct, thank them for bringing the matter to your attention.
Clarify what lead to the problem in question.
Avoid getting mired by details and arguments.
If you are aware that the resolution is in progress, then let the reader know at the beginning of the response.
Apologize if required.

When Email is not enough

The limitation of emails is that you can’t receive immediate feedback, without which the receiver is free to assume. Most of the times, one’s intent is not to create conflict however the receiver can misunderstand the words and the situation can spiral out of control.

The Set and Setting of the receiver are also factors. Their mind-set and the situation in the current setting can also influence them. Thus, sometimes it is just a wiser decision to move to a telephonic or an in-person discussion, before the conflict escalates any further.

Tips for Email Etiquette

Avoid discussing private concerns and issues.
It is acceptable to address someone directly on the list. Ex: “Hi Adam, regarding your question….”
Change the subject to match the content of the mail.
When conflict happens, speak to the person you are in conflict with, separately.

12 Rules for better Email Etiquette

Always remain professional and polite.
KISS – Keep it short and simple!
Use case sensitive writing.
Use courtesy copy and blind copy appropriately.
Remember that email is not private.
Don’t use email as an justification to evade personal interaction.
Be cautious with group email.
Use the subject field to indicate content and purpose.
Don’t send chain mails and junk mails.
Remember that your tone can’t be heard in the email.
Use a signature that comprises contact information.
Summarize long discussions.

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Importance of Email Etiquettes

The Elements of Email Etiquette

The Basic

Lists and Bullets

Tone

Addresses

Attachments

Elevator Summary and Table of Content

Elevator Summary and Table of Content

Ways to break Bad News

Procedures to be followed for a Complaint

Do not take your reader by Surprise

Keep flaming under control

Responding to a flame

When Email is not enough

Tips for Email Etiquette

12 Rules for better Email Etiquette

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