Executive Summary
It is good to observe business etiquette in the workplace due to several reasons. First of all observing email etiquette minimises the organisation’s liability. Refraining from the use of rude messages or replying messages in anger assists the individual not to use defamatory messages. Replying the message when calm prevents one from misrepresenting the company and the services it offers to the public and other companies. It also helps the company comply with the privacy laws. An organization should not expose confidential information or one’s email and contact addresses to strangers. It prevents unauthorized access to emails. Organising the emails helps in retrieving emails. This is a paper highlighting the business email etiquette that the employees of an organization should adhere to in order to protect their reputation.
Business Email Etiquette
Sending Emails
There are certain guidelines that should be adhered to when it comes to sending emails. When it comes to initiating an email statement, it is good to ensure that one puts a descriptive subject line. It is not good for someone to leave the subject line blank. It may determine whether the email message will be read by the recipient or not. It also helps the recipient to prioritise the email since he or she could be receiving over a hundred emails at a particular point in time. The subject headings also assist in organising the email messages or in retrieving certain information later in the inbox. The subject heading should be appropriate1. It should summarise the major points in the email message. If the message is a forward or a reply to a previous email ensure that the subject heading is still appropriate for the new message.
At times it may have to be amended. It is not good to overstate the urgency of the communication just to get the recipient’s attention. It is good to address the person appropriately. Ensure that the spelling of their name is correct to avoid irritating them. Avoid the use of nicknames in business emails. The nicknames are best used in personal or informal messages. There should be a greeting and closing which is courteous. It makes the email not to seem highly demanding of the recipient’s action. All the relevant information should be included in the message clearly. Generalities should be avoided as the message may be ambiguous causing the recipient to ask several questions before responding to the message. It is also good to use polite language and expressions such as “thank” you and “please”.
The language in the email message should be formal and respectful. The message should not be rude or make untrue claims since the officer or the company may face defamatory charges. The sender should be friendly and cordial however one should avoid the use of jokes and witty remarks as they may not be appreciated in a business mail. Although it is rare for humour and sarcasm to be included in a business email, both parties should be in a position to appreciate what the communication is all about. Otherwise it should be avoided. One man’s humour may be another person’s humiliation which could end up destroying his or her reputation
and career. The sender could find himself facing defamation charges. The email should be brief and not too wordy. In fact long emails or explanations should be reserved for the traditional
telephone conversations.
It is rude for an individual to write the email using ALL CAPS. It distracts the recipient when he or she is reading the message and it is also similar to SHOUTING a message. At the same time when an entire email message is written in small caps it gives the impression that the sender is either uneducated or simply lazy.
Avoid the use of slang and jargon in business email to avoid incidences where the message will be misunderstood2. One should proof read the message once they are through writing the email. It helps to remove punctuation and grammar errors that may distract the recipient or irritate them3. The punctuation should be appropriate since the multiple uses of question marks and exclamation marks may be perceived as rude or impolite. The use of bolding or italicising certain phrases or words should also be used appropriately. The recipient will not the bold words and understand that that is where the sender is placing emphasis in the message. In business, it is not appropriate to use patterned backgrounds. They are best used for personal emails. They may be distracting to the recipient and may interfere with the seriousness of the message.
Fancy and calligraphic fonts should also be avoided unless it is a business advert or magazine. The standard fonts are sufficient for business emails. Emoticons are also used
sparingly in business emails depending on the type of email message and the relationship between the sender and the recipient. There are those recipients who may feel that the use of smiley means that they are not being taking seriously. On the use of abbreviations one should also be careful. The sender should be sure that the recipients understand what the abbreviations mean otherwise it will just cause confusion. The email message should be arranged in paragraphs appropriately and be presentable. The sentences should also be complete. Avoid the use of cryptic sentences and phrases as they tend to be confusing and ambiguous.
The overall tone of the email should also be evaluated. It should not be patronizing or condescending. It should be polite message full of courtesy with a very clear message. One can even read the email out loud in order to ascertain the general tone of the email.
It is also good for the company officer to include a signature at the end of the email message. The information provided should include the telephone number, position in the company, the physical and postal address and the email address. An individual can have different signatures for different recipients. A shorter signature can be used when a person sends a formal communication to the co-workers or the colleagues.
If one has sent an urgent email message, there should be a follow up with a telephone or fax. There are those individuals who may not be checking their emails frequently. There are also those who may be out of the office. It is therefore great etiquette for an individual to regularly check their email to avoid taking long to respond to people’s emails. It is also good for an individual to have an auto reply message when out of the office. The auto reply should inform the sender that the recipient is out of the office and for how long he or she will not be in. It is
also wise to give a person’s email to the sender who can be contacted when the message is urgent. This gives the sender an alternative course of action.
There are times when there are other people who are given carbon copies (cc) of the messages. They are just being informed of the communication. No action is required from them. It is good for the sender to inform the people who are being given the carbon copies why they are in the cc category and what is expected from them to avoid confusion. It is important for the carbon messages to be sent only to the people who require the message. Avoid sending the messages to many people as it only clogs up their email inbox which is very irritating4.
There are also instances where an individual blind copies someone in the email message. The recipient does not see the recipient who has been given the blind copy. It may be perceived as going behind someone’s back. The blind copies should rarely be used. The recipients can be given carbon copies or not given copies at all instead of blind copying them. It is important to cool down after receiving a hostile or impolite email message.
There are times than an individual wants a Return Receipt from the recipient to confirm that they have received the message. This tool should be used appropriately and sparingly. Overuse may not be taken well as it may be deemed to be intrusive and annoying. The recipient may also choose to decline to send the confirmation receipt.
Replying Emails
There are times in the business set up one needs to forward an email to another person. It
is polite to add a personal comment in the forward. It builds goodwill from the recipient. It is also good to inform the recipient why the email is being forwarded to them. Is any action required from them? Is it just for information processes? It is good to inform them in order to avoid confusion and ambiguity. It is also wise or prudent to inform colleagues before using their quotes or words that they have used in previous emails.
While forwarding emails, all the unnecessary information should be removed. This includes information such as other email addresses, comments and headings. It is also not good to expose another person’s email address to strangers without permission. Someone’s contacts are personal and confidential information. Since emails are usually forwarded to others, it is advisable to avoid emotional or controversial subjects.
Sending a reply in the heat of the message may put the individual or company in legal liability. When an individual sends a message when angry it may contain insults or defamatory remarks. It is also good to reread the email after a few moments of calming down. This helps the recipient to confirm the details of the message and ensure he or she does not see what is not there.
Keep the email message short; People generally have a lot of email messages to read and limited time to read the emails. Avoid lengthy emails or using too many words to say the same thing. Do not get into the habit of giving delayed responses to the email addresses. If the request in the email will take quite a bit of time, one should write a short reply to the sender telling her or him that he has received the email and that he is working on giving the response.
An estimation of the time it will take to give the response may also be given to the recipient for planning purposes. An individual should then flag the email so that he or she remembers to attend to the email later and avoid disappointing the sender of the email. Even if the email does not require a response it is good to acknowledge that it has been received. It is not courteous to ignore email messages.
Caution should also be taken when replying to messages. Make sure that the response is sent to the intended person. It is not good to use Reply-To-All when the message is only meant for the sender and not all the recipients of the original message. There should also be no reply given to the Bulletin Board or an automatic address since the message will go to many people yet the message may be confidential in nature. It is also good to include the original email message when replying to an email. It provides a good information trail in the future when there is need for clarification or follow-up. It also makes things easier for the sender since he or she does not need to spend time searching for the original message in the inbox.
If the original message is quite lengthy, one might consider excerpting only the relevant message to reply to the sender. It makes it easier for the sender to read and respond to the message. On the use of attachments in the messages, certain guidelines should be followed. If the message in the attachment can be written in the actual message then there is no need to send an
attachment.
Opening attachments is quite lengthy and the receiver may get bored to open them. It may also be polite in certain cases to ask the recipient first before sending the attachment. It would also be advisable to ensure that both computers are using the same software so that the recipient does not waste time and energy trying to open the attachments.
Where the software is incompatible the sender may use the PDF format. The size of the attachment should also be reasonable. Large attachments may cause the recipient’s inbox to hang or other subsequent emails to bounce. It would be advisable to compress the large attachments and send them in a zip folder. The large attachments can be spread over several emails to avoid clogging the recipients’ inbox.
One should ensure that the anti-virus of the computer is up to date before opening an attachment. All the incoming and outgoing should be scanned all the time. Attachments may contain viruses that will end up attacking and harming the company’s network and information. It is unwise to open attachments from a person that one does not know. It is good to save emails or archive them for a certain period of time before deleting them. The records may be required for information purposes.
Those emails that have attachments are usually sensitive in nature due to the bulk information contained. The employee should ensure these emails are saved and details such as who it was sent to and when it was sent are retained. At the same time the emails which are not formal in nature should be deleted to avoid clogging the inbox.
There are certain kinds of information that should not be sent over email. They may not
be as private as one would like them to be5. Sensitive and confidential information that may be damaging to one’s career and reputation if it lands in the wrong hands should not be sent via email. One may accidently hit the forward button or the Reply-To-All or leave the computer unattended and the information in the email is used maliciously by a certain person.
The organization should therefore ensure that there are passwords which are used appropriately. Passwords should not be shared even between two people. Email messages which are specific to an individual in nature will be read by other persons breaking confidentiality. In order to ensure privacy, whenever an individual is away from the computer, he or she should lock the computer to prevent unauthorised persons viewing the emails.
Summary
Business Etiquette assists the organization to be effective and efficient since no time is wasted. There are no unnecessary delays in responding to emails. In the event that clarification is sought on previous emails, email guidelines assist in getting information trails. The loss of information is also minimised. The management is also able to control the electronic traffic in the company.
The employees should ensure they follow the mentioned guidelines when it comes to sending, forwarding and responding to emails. It also reduces their legal liability when it comes to defamation and protecting confidential information6. There are no fines and damages that the company will pay in court cases. It is not good for a company to be known as the organization that cannot protect the privacy or the confidentiality of its clients. It is for the good of the employees and the company when business etiquette is observed.
Appendix
Example of an email signature
Categorising the message as normal or urgent
Bibliography
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http://www.helium.com/items/151852-email-etiquette-for-internal-business-communication
Nefer, Barb. “Mail and Email Business Etiquete”. Ehow. 1999.
http://www.ehow.com/about_6459923_mail-email-business-etiquette.html
Summerfield, Morgan. “How to Use Proper Email Etiquette for Business
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