I find it amusing that in this day and age, some companies and individuals who hold well respected positions within their field have still not realized how important sending professional e-mails are. If you or your company is able to professionally handle e-mail, it will be recognized. E-mail is an essential part of modern day communication. A company should implement etiquette rules for: professionalism, efficiency, and protection. The list of dos and don’ts when sending e-mails has grown further than avoiding caps lock. Below are four essential tips for contemporary e-mail etiquette.
1. Keep Signatures Simple
Make sure to not get overly complex when formatting your e-mail signature. Complex signature formatting including logos and graphics often end up getting lost in translation, which can result in error messages or an attachment that may or may not show up for the recipient. Your e-mail signature should be left-aligned, plain text, clean, and simple.
2. Be concise
Get to the point! Do not make an e-mail longer than it needs to be. Always remember that reading an e-mail is harder than reading printed communications and a long e-mail can be very discouraging for many recipients to read. You can still write in a professional manner while being grammatically correct without making your e-mail too lengthy. Concentrate on the main point that you wish to make, and your overall goal in writing the e-mail.
3. Include an Intro and Conclusion
“Dear” is fine when sending an e-mail to your aunt or have been instructed to write a formal e-mail letter in the case of a job application. Otherwise, it really does not have place in a regular/everyday e-mail. You can easily begin an e-mail with “Hello,” “Hi,” or even “Hey” in a more casual e-mail. Also, don’t add an auto-generated sign-off greeting to your signature, because it will not fit into all situations. If you are signing off e-mails to colleagues, a nice sign-off greeting to use can be: “Cheers,” “Best,” or “Thanks.”
4. Set Up Custom Signatures for Mobile Devices
Since we live in a mobile world, it is a great idea to set up specific signatures for any e-mail accounts that you access on Smartphone’s and tablets. Creating custom signatures on your mobile devices will inform users that you’re mailing from a mobile. It is also a great opportunity to apologize for the brevity of responses, or even the odd grammar error or typo, without having to explain yourself within the body of the message. For example: "Please excuse my spelling errors, I’m on my smartphone."
Creating a written e-mail policy will enforce your employees to follow the professional guidelines when writing e-mails at work. By providing your employees with the information they require will provide double benefits to the reputation of your company and employees will have the opportunity to improve their e-mail etiquette skills as well. If you are not a company, and just so happen to be an industry professional who wants to better your e-mail skills, these tips can be to your advantage also.