Tuesday, January 19, 2016

3 Email Etiquette Tips for Business

(This article originally appeared on my LinkedIn profile.)
This is gonna be a soap box kinda post, because somebody needs to teach some email etiquette. 


1. Ssspppeeellliiinnnggg 
I know the squiggly line isn't always an indicator of correct spelling, sometimes it gets it wrong. But if you have a lot of them it may be a sign you are in a hurry or just don't care, which means you don't care about me, which means I'm not going to take you seriously. There are usually multiple features that catch misspelled words or offer alternate spelling suggestions, and they don't cost extra.
And if you like to drop the vowels from all your words, save it for a text message or your corporate chat app. 
2. Signature w/ Contact Information
Paragraphs and large images of yourself (or your cats) are not necessary in your business email signature. Keep it short and sweet; Name, Title, and Contact Info should do the trick. This isn't rocket science, unless you are actually a rocket scientist, in which case you should know how to craft an email signature.
I specifically titled this tip "Signature w/ Contact Information" because if you don't include contact information then how are we going to contact you? Of course we could reply to the email, but after 2 or 3 email exchanges on the same topic its time to pick up the phone. Sending yet another email to ask for your phone number is infuriating. I get it though, there are instances when you don't want a pushy sales rep to call you, so use your judgment.
3. Send with Care
I spend an ungodly amount of time in Cc hell, where I try to determine if the email string I've been forwarded has anything to do with me or my job. I receive anywhere from 20-80 emails each day, many of which are completely irrelevant to my daily tasks. Some are corporate email blasts, others are just informational but don't require action, and then there are those where the sender just added me cause they know me, or maybe they don't but added me anyways.My first task on any job is to create an automatic "send-this-trash-to-the-trash" rule. Inconsiderate senders quickly become members.
Happy Sending!

- Dragon's Lair Security


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