Email Etiquette:



Email Etiquette:

Keeping Your Foot Out of Your Virtual Mouth

Cecelia Munzenmaier

Presented to IABC–Iowa Chapter

November 1, 2006

Notes

|I. Email has unique features: | |

|A. Etiquette is still evolving. | |

|B. Nonverbal cues are missing. | |

|1. Nonverbals communicate 65–93 percent of meaning. | |

|2. Mild displeasure can seem like an attack. | |

|3. Short messages can seem curt. | |

|C. Tone becomes crucial. | |

|1. Avoid terseness, which can be misinterpreted. | |

|2. Use face-to-face communication for sensitive issues. | |

|3. Read your emails aloud, looking for ambiguities. | |

|4. Avoid humor and sarcasm. | |

|a. People “were able to accurately communicate humor | |

|and sarcasm in barely half—56 percent— | |

|of the emails they sent” (Dobson, 2006)[1]. | |

|b. Limited use of emoticons to signal humor is OK. | |

|D. Email is comparable to business casual dress. | |

|1. Most consider email more formal than a phone call | |

|and less formal than a letter. | |

|2. When in doubt, err toward formality. | |

|E. Email is electronic. | |

|1. Hit Send and it’s gone. | |

|2. Hit Reply All and your career may be gone. | |

|3. Deleted emails live on. | |

|4. Emails can be forwarded without your knowledge | |

|or consent. | |

|5. “Electronic” does not mean “instant.” | |

| | |

|F. Email encourages rudeness. | |

|1. We forget that real people read our messages. | |

|2. Its format encourages abruptness. | |

|II. Understand how to use each part of an email. | |

|A. In the Address lines: | |

|1. Send the message only to those who need to know. | |

|2. If you’re furious, leave the To: line blank. | |

|3. If doing a mass mailing, paste addresses in the BCC line | |

|to keep them private. | |

|4. Be aware that BCCs within an organization can | |

|create distrust. | |

|5. Choose a professional screen name. | |

|B. In the Subject line: | |

|1. Be specific. | |

|2. Put most important words first. | |

|3. Create a new email for each topic. | |

|4. Keep track of threads. | |

|C. In the Body: | |

|1. Focus on what you want to happen because of this message. | |

|2. Use a greeting. | |

|3. Structure your message for easy reading by using. | |

|a. headlines | |

|b. bullets | |

|c. numbers | |

|4. If a message is longer than 3 screens, send an attachment. | |

|5. Keep the style “somewhere between stuffed shirt | |

|and T-shirt” (Booher, 2006).[2] | |

|6. Avoid brusqueness. | |

|D. In the Closing: | |

|1. Match the formality of the greeting. | |

|2. Use a signature line with your name and contact information. | |

|3. Remember that a P.S. is easy to miss. | |

|E. Pay attention to the fine points: | |

|1. Use a greeting. | |

|2. Use a closing. | |

|3. Send an email thank-you to interviewers. | |

|4. Communicate bad news or sensitive information | |

|face-to-face. | |

|5. Ask if it’s OK to send attachments. | |

|6. Request permission before forwarding. | |

|7. Be thoughtful. | |

Tone

Example One

To: Female employees

From: H. Honcho

Re: Dress code

Date: 1 July 2006

Clients will be visiting next week. Halter

tops and jeans will not make the right impression. It’s time you started dressing

for the office instead of the beach. Leave your flip-flops at home!

Example Two

To: All staff

From: H. Honcho

Re: Reminder about what to wear to work

Date: 1 July 2006

During the summer, our dress code is business casual. We think “business casual” means clothes that feel comfortable and look professional.

Men Women

•khaki pants •casual pants and skirts

•leather shoes ... •leather or fabric shoes ...

Level of Formality

Example One (Informal)

From: Bob Anderson

Date: 21 Dec 84 11:40:12 PST (Fri)

To: randvax!anderson, randvax!gillogly,

randvax!norm

Subject: meeting ...

we need to setup a meeting bet. jim you and i -- can you arange?

i'm free next wed. thks.

Example Two (Formal)

Subject: MEETING ON FY86 PLANNING, 2PM, 12/28/84, CONFERENCE ROOM 1

There will be a meeting of the FY86 planning task force

in Conference Room 1 on December 28, 1984 at 2pm.

The Agenda for the meeting is:

--------------------------------------------------------

Topic Presenter Time

--------------------------------------------------------

Strategic Business Plan John Fowles 30 min.

Budget Forecast for FY86 Sue Martin 15 "

New Product Announcements Peter Wilson 20 "

Action Items for 1st Qtr FY86 Jane Adamson 25 "

Example Three (correctness still counts)

From: Name withheld to protect the guilty

Date: October 12, 2006

To: Rhonda Abrams

Subject: Purposal

I can beat almost anyones price and almost promise you success and if I don’t reach it,

we wont charge you after the time we say we can achieve it until we do.

Brief vs. Brusque

From: Bob Hopeful

Date: 21 Dec 06 11:40:12 PST (Fri)

To: H. Honcho

Subject: Further training

Henry, your advice has been invaluable

as I launch my career here at Big Corp. Would you recommend that I get an MBA?

Example One (brusque)

From: H. Honcho

Date: 21 Dec 06 11:40:12 PST (Fri)

To: Bob Hopeful

Subject: Re: Further training

No.

Bob Hopeful wrote:

> Henry, your advice has been invaluable

Example Two (brief)

From: H. Honcho

Date: 21 Dec 06 11:40:12 PST (Fri)

To: Bob Hopeful

Subject: Re: Further training

No, Bob. Experience as a line manager would do more for your chances for promotion than an MBA.

Bob Hopeful wrote:

> Henry, your advice has been invaluable

Recommended Resources

A version with links is available at

Email Etiquette

• Netiquette (by Virginia Shea, the “Miss Manners” of the Internet)



• Dianna Booher's “Five Tips for Email Excellence”



• Business E-mail Basics

(an overview from eManners expert Judith Kallos)



• Email Marketing Etiquette: The Good, the Bad, and the Clueless



• Proof It! (advice from permission-based email expert K. Towner)



• Business Email Etiquette: Maintaining a Professional Image (Lydia Ramsey)



Test Yourself

• Test Your Email IQ (can be used as an editing checklist)



• Test Your Netiquette



• Netiquette Quiz (Judith Kallos)



Email Productivity

• Writing Sensible Email Messages (43 folders)



• Email Etiquette (32 most important rules)



• Email Marketing Tutorial



Books/Style Guides

Angell, David and Brent Heslop. Elements of E-mail Style: Communicate Effectively

via Electronic Mail. New York: Addison-Wesley, 2002.

In the spirit of Strunk and White, the authors cover everything from how to structure a long message to sentence rhythm and mechanics. Their treatment

of how to add emphasis to messages without using HTML is especially helpful.

Booher, Dianna. E-Writing: 21st-Century Tools for Effective Communication.

New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.

Booher, also known as “the Miss Manners of memos,” addresses everything

from writing concise, effective emails to managing an overflowing inbox.

Her clear organization and thorough explanations make the book useful both

as a how-to guide and as a reference.

Kallos, Judith. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Business E-Mail Etiquette [ebook]. Available at

Bad netiquette can be a deal-breaker, according to Kallos. Based on the author's coaching practice, this guide covers everything from attachment to corporate e-mail policies.

Lindsell-Roberts, Sheryl. Strategic Business Letters and E-Mail. New York:

Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

Every piece of advice in this comprehensive guide is backed up by examples

and illustrated by models.

O’Conner, Patricia T. and Stewart Kellerman. You Send Me: Getting It Right

When You Write Online. New York: Harcourt, 2002.

“Your typical e-mail is not a pretty sight,” according to the authors. They offer humorous, practical advice on how to adapt basic writing principles to the new medium of email. Approximately half the book is devoted to “Grammar à la Modem: A Crash Course.”

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[1] Dobson, L. (2006). Avoiding email catastrophes. Available at

[2] Booher, D. (2006). Five tips for email excellence. Available at

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