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Introduction
Electronic mail or email is one of the most popular ways of communication in recent times. It allows for almost instantaneous communication with anyone online. Due to the rapid speed with which information is transferred through email, it is possible for users to make mistakes or violate the societal norms of the electronic world. Many times emails are often susceptible to misinterpretation as feelings such as humor sarcasm and anger are not always properly conveyed through email. A decade ago, Barbara Pachter, an etiquette expert and author of New Rules @ Work told students, E-mail is a word document that can and will come back to haunt you (Robinson, 2008, p. 85). The possibilities for error via e-mail are endless, though if properly executed, email can lead to better communication and responses. Thus it is very important to know about email etiquette in order to communicate efficiently and speedily in tune with the changing times.
Tips for writing emails
According to the tips given by Grand Valley State University, it is important that the email address is professional sounding for professional emails (GVSU, 2008). Odd formatting and excessive letters or numbers should be avoided as they can confuse readers. Using funny nicknames can backfire and embarrass the sender. The best way to design an email address is to incorporate the name or initials in an easily identifiable way. Apart from having a professional-sounding email address, it is also important to have a dependable email service where there will be no change to email address frequently (GVSU, 2008).
The subject line of the email is very important from the readers point of view and often helps the reader to decide whether the email should be opened immediately or not. Howard Feiertag (2004) says: Two things tell me a lot and help me determine if I want to read the message: I want to know who the mail is from and what the subject is (p. 1). In addition, the subject line will help in filing and retrieving the mail after a long time. The subject line should be very specific and concise. It should provide a brief description of the contents of the email. Informal subject lines such as Hey, Whats up? or How ya doin? may be mistaken to contain a virus, spotted by antivirus software and deleted or flagged (Feiertag, 2004). Some examples of professional-sounding and specific subject lines are: Job enquiry for director post; Discussion about seminar; Doubts about the assignment; etc.
The body of the message should be carefully written like any normal letter, drafter, reread and spell checked before sending out the email. The message should be written as concisely as possible but it must include all necessary information including the name in full. To improve ease of reading, it is best to skip a line between paragraphs rather than indenting (Miller, 2002). If the email is about inviting someone to a meeting it is important that the purpose of the meeting is mentioned clearly. If the matter to be conveyed is lengthy it must be typed in a Word Document and sent as an attachment. Feiertag says that sales proposals are best sent as attachments whereas an announcement or a promotion piece can be included within the body of the message (Feiertag, 2004). However, it must be ensured that the attachments are in a form that can be easily opened and the right documents are attached (Kline, 2006).
If the sender does not have frequent access to check emails, then he or she should provide an alternate source of communication such as a phone number. John A. Kline suggests that if the sender is in doubt, he should never forward or copy messages sent to him without asking permission from the original sender. Such etiquette as seeking permission will communicate respect for the persons asked (Kline, 2006). Moreover, harmful, defamatory emails should never be sent.
Signature lines are important and business people can have signature reference that includes name, title, company, address, phone number, Web site, and even a promotional message. However, automatic signatures with excessive quotations or inside jokes must be avoided and generally, the information included in the signature must be appropriate to the recipient (Feiertag, 2004).
Email etiquette
Email etiquette demands that the sender should avoid writing in all capital letters as it is equivalent to yelling at the reader. Moreover, its hard to read text that is written using all capital letters. However, the first letters of proper nouns and the first word over every sentence should be capitalized as in normal essay writing. It is best to avoid informal abbreviations such as IMHO, LOL, b/c, or emoticons as it gives the email a very unprofessional look and these short forms are not comprehensible to all readers.
There are many people who regularly send email jokes or a newsletter to a large number of people at the same time. In such cases, it is important to hide the recipient list to avoid clutter and also to ensure privacy (Kline, 2006). Some E-mail programs have an option for hiding recipients in the Cc field, but people do it in different ways, depending on the software used. One interesting event in this context took place in 1997 when John Perry Barlow, a person with wide celebrity contacts accidentally forgot to hide the recipients on his BarlowFriendz list when sending one of his periodic dispatches. As a result, several hundred private E-mail addresses, including those of John F. Kennedy Jr. and the actress Darryl Hannah, were exposed to every person on the list. Barlow had to apologize to each one of them separately (Hafner, 1998).
Features of using email
Frequent E-mail users distinguish between being included in the To field and being included in the Cc field. It is commonly perceived that the sender considers the person important if he includes his name in the To field and as bystanders if name is in the Cc field. I feel obliged to get into the fray if Im part of the To field, said Daphne Kis, president, and chief executive of Edventure Holdings, an information services and venture-capital firm in New York (Hafner, 1998). The Bcc feature for sending blind copies that is hidden from the view of the recipient in the To field is very misleading. Guy Hoffman, chief executive of Deja News says that it is equivalent to recording a call without informing the other party and hence illegal.
The Reply function also has its drawbacks. When the reply function is used, the text of the previous message and all messages preceding it is included. The result is a long message with history. Sometimes, this history is essential to add more meaning to the message. When someone is following up and enquiry through email, including the message history, helps the recipient to understand what had happened earlier. But including it, every time can be irritating to the reader. The Reply to All function can create a lot of hostility within groups and hence it is best avoided. When the Redirect function is used, it leaves the original senders name in the From field, and hence when recipients reply to the message, the reply makes a beeline for the original sender, not for the person who redirected the message. When someone uses Forward to send a message, it is possible to reply directly back to the sender and not to the original creator of the email.
It is important to send important emails only when the sender is in a stable mood. If emails are written in a foul mood, it is better to save them for proofreading and sending later. Such messages may be composed in Word or Notepad or in some other format where they wont be sent by mistake (Kline, 2006).
According to Stacy Brice, president and chief visionary officer of AssistU, it is best to avoid dealing with conflicts or criticism via e-mail as they can cause hard feelings, decrease morale and create a poor team environment within a company (Miller, 2002, p. 1). Brice also holds that using email to discuss conflicts is a very one-sided way of dealing as the sender alone gets the chance to voice his or her side of an issue, and carbon-copying other superiors when dealing with conflict is also an unprofessional act and should be avoided (Miller, 2002, p. 1). Illysa Izenberg, managing principal of Strategy Training Partners LLC, points to the fact that the message can be distorted and felt to be harsh, if the email is written in a curt manner. Izenberg says, in the context of emails from employers to employees, praise can be done over email but not criticism. She also says that emails give a false sense of privacy as most of the emails are monitored by the companies.
Conclusion
Emails are today the most popular and easiest way of communication and can be used effectively for all types of communication purposes. However, communication can be said to be effective only if the appropriate response to the message is received and such a response to an email can be had only if email etiquette is followed. If simple rules are ignored, emails can be misinterpreted, can lead to hard feelings, and can cause emotional turmoil and needless embarrassment. However, by following simple rules of email etiquette, people can fully exploit the advantages of email communication.
Bibliography
GVSU (2008). Email Etiquette. Grand Valley State University. Web.
Hafner, Kate (1998). Tracking the Evolution of E-Mail Etiquette. The New York Times. 2008. Web.
Feiertag, Howard (2004). Proper e-mail etiquette can make or break sales efforts. Hotel & Motel Management.
Robinson, M. Tennille (2008). Before You Hit Send: Crafting Workplace E-Mails to Avoid Mishaps. Black Enterprise. Volume: 38. Issue: 6.
Kline, A. John (2006). E-mail Etiquette. Armed Forces Comptroller.
Miller, Bruce (2002). Learning the etiquette of e-mail before hitting send. Daily Record. The Baltimore. Web.
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