Nora Brown Design

Email Etiquette

More and more business today is conducted over email, which can have a very different feel from a letter or a phone conversation. Though email can be more casual, it’s important to keep some guidelines in mind for business emails (including your email newsletters):

• As mentioned in a previous post, keep email signatures brief and simple
• Put some thought into the subject line. Enter 2-5 words describing the subject of your email. This helps the recipient organize and retrieve emails in the future. Do not leave it blank.
• Avoid use of all caps and too many exclamation points. Would you be shouting at the recipient if you were on the phone or face-to-face? If not, stick to normal case.
• Consolidate many small ideas into one organized email. Instead of sending 5 one-sentence emails, hold on to your thoughts and list them in one email at the end of the day.
• If you find yourself composing an email while you’re upset, save it as a draft, then come back to it later to re-read and send.
• If you’re replying to a list, make sure you want the reply to go to the whole list.

• Proofreed. PRoofread. Proofread.

That last one cannot be overemphasized. Use spellcheck and give your email a quick read to make sure its intended meaning is clear.