Best Impressions are Lasting Impressions

Netiquette, or network etiquette, is the term for the proper way we communicate and interact with each other using email over the Internet.

Even with the best of intentions, misunderstandings are likely to occur in almost any type of communication. Nevertheless, it is possible to repair glitches in a face-to-face dialog or a telephone conversation before any lasting damage occurs.

In a face-to-face situation or telephone conversation, you are able to change your tone of voice, to rephrase comments and to present body language that welcomes further communication and thus promotes understanding. Email messages do not offer you the benefit of these signals.

There are many different etiquette guides. Below is a list of important email etiquette tips that may help you to communicate what is intended and avoid misunderstanding.

1. Answer quickly.
2. Avoid attaching unnecessary files.
3. Use the cc: field sparingly.
4. Use the bcc: field or do a mail merge.
5. Delivery and read receipts may annoy.
6. Do not use email to discuss confidential information.
7. Delete chain letters and virus hoaxes.
8. Delete spam.
9. Identify yourself and the Company.
10. Use a meaningful subject.
11. Be concise and to the point.
12. Separate opinion from facts or other content in the message.
13. Answer all questions and preempt further questions.
14. Ask for an action.
15. Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.
16. Use templates for frequently used responses.
17. Use proper structure and layout.
18. Avoid long sentences.
19. Use upper and lower sentence case. Do not write in CAPITALS.
20. Avoid misinterpretation of dates.
21. Include the message thread.
22. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons.
23. Be careful with formatting.
24. Take care with rich text and HTML messages.
25. Create single subject messages whenever possible.
26. Use active instead of passive voice.
27. Don't send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks.
28. Keep language gender neutral.
29. Reread the email before you send it.
30. Email responses are permanent.
31. Be responsive not reactive.
32. Break the cycle of message and response.

1. Answer quickly.
Customers send an email because they wish to receive a quick response. If they did not want a quick response, they would send a letter or a fax. Therefore, reply to each email within at least 24 hours, and preferably within the same working day. If the email requires action before a response can be sent, send an email back saying that you have received it and you will get back to them. This will put the customer's mind at rest and usually customers will then be very patient!

2. Avoid attaching unnecessary files.
By sending large attachments you can annoy customers and even bring down their email system. Wherever possible try to compress attachments and only send attachments when they are productive. Moreover, you need to have a good virus scanner in place since your customers will not be very happy if you send them documents full of viruses! Use the Public Folder to share files in-house.

3. Use the cc: field sparingly.
Limit the list of recipients and cc:'s only to the people who are directly involved with the subject. Use the cc: field when the recipient in the cc: field knows why they are receiving a copy of the message. Use the To: field to the recipients who are supposed to act on the message. Also, when responding to a cc: message, should you include the other recipient in the cc: field as well? This will depend on the situation. In general, do not include the person in the cc: field unless you have a particular reason for wanting this person to see your response. Again, make sure that this person will know why they are receiving a copy.

4. Use the bcc: field or do a mail merge.
When sending an email mailing, some people place all the email addresses in the To: field. There are two drawbacks to this practice: (1) the recipient knows that you have sent the same message to a large number of recipients, and (2) you are publicizing someone else's email address without their permission. One way to get around this is to place all addresses in the bcc: field. However, the recipient will only see the address from the To: field in their email, so if the To: field is blank, this might look like spamming. You could include the mailing list email address or your own address in the To: field. Even better, you can use Word to do a mail merge and create one message for each recipient. For more information on how to do a Word mail merge, consult Help in Word.

5. Delivery and read receipts may annoy.
Your recipient may become annoyed before he or she has read your message. Ask the recipient to let you know if it was received.

6. Do not use email to discuss confidential information.
Sending an email is like sending a postcard. If you don't want your email to be displayed on a bulletin board, don't send it. Moreover, never make any libelous, sexist or racially discriminating comments in emails, even if they are meant to be a joke.

7. Delete chain letters and virus hoaxes.
If you receive chain letters that promise incredible riches or ask your help for a charitable cause and even if the content seems to be bona fide, the senders are usually not. Since it is impossible to find out whether a chain letter is real or not, the best place for it is the recycle bin. This goes for an email message warning you of a new unstoppable virus that will immediately delete everything from your computer. This is most probably a hoax. By forwarding chain letters and hoaxes, you use valuable bandwidth and sometimes virus hoaxes contain viruses themselves, by attaching a so-called file that will stop the dangerous virus.

8. Delete spam.
By replying to spam or by unsubscribing, you are confirming that your email address is 'live'. Confirming this will only generate even more spam. Therefore, just hit the delete button or use email software to remove spam automatically.

9. Identify yourself and the Company. Use the Signature feature to create a standard file.

10. Use a meaningful subject.
Try to use a subject that is meaningful to the recipient as well as yourself. Descriptive subject lines get attention and enable your reader to file and retrieve your message easily. For instance, when you send an email to a company requesting information about a product, it is better to mention the actual name of the product, e.g. 'Product A information' than to say 'product information' or the company's name in the subject. Use clear and meaningful subject lines that your reader will understand.

11. Be concise and to the point.
Do not make an email longer than it needs to be. Remember that reading an email is harder than reading printed communications and a long email can be very discouraging to read.

12. Separate opinion from facts or other content in the message. Keeping the focus on facts and substance and away from opinion promotes clear understanding. Respond to opinion with evidence or facts that are relevant.

13. Answer all questions and preempt further questions.
An email reply must answer all questions, and preempt further questions. If you do not answer all the questions in the original email, you will receive further emails regarding the unanswered questions, which will not only waste your time and your customer’s time but also cause considerable frustration. Moreover, if you are able to preempt relevant questions, your customer will be grateful and impressed with your efficient and thoughtful customer service.

14. Ask for an action. For example, let your recipient know what you need in order to complete a task.

15. Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.
This is not only important because improper spelling, grammar and punctuation give a bad impression of you and the Company, it is also important for conveying the message properly. Emails with spelling errors and no full stops or commas are difficult to read and can sometimes even change the meaning of the text. When in doubt, check it out. Use the spell check or consult grammar and style manuals.

16. Use templates for frequently used responses.
For questions you get repeatedly, create response templates and paste these into your message when you need them. You can save your templates in a Word document, or use pre-formatted emails. This saves time and provides consistency of response.

17. Use proper structure and layout.
Since reading from a screen is more difficult than reading from paper, the structure and layout is very important. Place your most important information in the first paragraph. Readers will often scan the first paragraph and make a judgment about the entire message based upon the first few lines. Use short paragraphs, blank lines between each paragraph, bullets or numbers whenever possible. This allows your reader to scan your message quickly. The more succinct your message is, the more likely your email will be read, understood and acted upon.

18. Avoid long sentences.
Try to limit your sentences to a maximum of 15-20 words.

19. Use upper and lower sentence case. Do not write in CAPITALS.
Capitalizing is generally interpreted as SHOUTING to your reader. This can be highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response.

20. Avoid misinterpretation of dates by spelling out the month. Example: January 24, 2007.

21. Include the message thread.
When you reply to an email, you must include the original email in your reply to provide background information.

22. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons.
In business emails, try not to use abbreviations such as BTW (by the way) and LOL (laugh out loud). The recipient might not be aware of the meanings of the abbreviations; and in business emails, these are generally not appropriate. The same goes for emoticons. Emoticons are combinations of keyboard characters that convey emotion when viewed sideways...smiley face = :-) = pleasant emotion. Emoticons are no substitute for clear and concise writing. They are not appropriate for business communications.

23. Be careful with formatting.
Remember that when you use formatting in your emails, the sender might not be able to view formatting or might see different fonts than you had intended. When using colors, use a color that is easy to read on the background.

24. Take care with rich text and HTML messages.
Be aware that when you send an email in rich text or HTML format, the sender might only be able to receive plain text emails. If this is the case, the recipient will receive your message as a .txt attachment. However, most email clients, including Microsoft Outlook, are able to receive HTML and rich text messages.

25. Create single subject messages whenever possible. Write single subject email messages whenever possible. Stick to the subject of your message.

26. Use active instead of passive voice.
Try to use the active voice of a verb wherever possible. For instance, 'We will process your order today', sounds better than 'Your order will be processed today'. The first sounds more personal, whereas the latter, especially when used frequently, sounds unnecessarily formal.

27. Don't send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks.
By sending or even just forwarding one libelous, or offensive remark in an email, you and your company can face court cases resulting in multi-million dollar penalties.

28. Keep your language gender neutral.
In this day and age, avoid using sexist language such as, “The user should add a signature by configuring his email program.” Apart from using he/she, you can also use the neutral gender, ''The user should add a signature by configuring the email program.”
29. Reread the email before you send it.
A lot of people don't bother to read an email before they send it out, as can be seen from the many spelling and grammar mistakes contained in emails. Apart from this, reading your email through the eyes of the recipient will help you send a more effective message and avoid misunderstandings and inappropriate comments.

30. Email responses are permanent.
Watch the send button. A hasty email response can remain permanently in sharp focus. Resist the temptation to fire off a response. Read the original message again. You might be misinterpreting the message by the sender. Draft a response and let it cool off for a time before sending it. Reconsider your response again after setting it aside for a while. Never insult or criticize via email. Choose to work out differences face-to-face.

31. Be responsive not reactive
If you have a strong emotion when composing or responding to an email, pause.
Consider another medium of communication.
Plan a face-to-face conversation, pick up the telephone or re-read your response before you hit the send button. Assume the good intentions and competence of the sender.
Think three times: before you write, after you write and before you send your message.
Carefully compose all responses.
If you receive a message intended for another person, forward it with a brief explanation. Do not ignore it.
Avoid the expression of extreme emotion or opinion in an email message.
Separate opinion from facts while reading a message, so you can respond appropriately.

32. Break the cycle of message and response.
A telephone call or personal conversation can do wonders in resolving difficulties.

Email is not always the best communication

Sometimes communication may be of a sensitive or confidential nature and using email may be inappropriate or cause unnecessary hard feelings. Keep the following in mind when determining the best method of communication.

Communicate complex information through other means. A telephone call or face-to-face conversation may reduce any misunderstandings.

Negotiations usually need back-and-forth communication. If you find yourself responding more than three times on the same topic, choose an alternate form of communication.