Effective Email Communication : Business Email Etiquittes
Email or electronic mail is one of the most popular Internet activities. The Internet – specifically, e-mail—has done wonders to increase our capacity to communicate. It is widely used means of communication now a day. 90% of people rely on emails for communication because of its speed and reliability. It is cheaper and faster than letters. Children to aged people, everybody extensively use emails for communication. Emails have their own significance. One should know how to use emails for effective communication.
Types of Emails :
- Personal emails : Emails written for personal purpose. Emails written to a friend, to lover, to parents, to wife, to children, to uncle, aunt, to sister, brother etc are considered as personal emails.
- Business Emails : Emails written for business purpose. Ex : Emails written to employer, to colleague, to college principal, to Govt departments, etc for business purpose.
How to write an effective business emails? Business emails etiquettes:
What is etiquette?
It is a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good etiquette.
- Business emails should be simple, formal and short. It should convey the message very clearly. Do not make an email longer than it needs to be. Long emails can be very discouraging to read.
- Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation.
This is very important for conveying the message properly. Mistakes will distract the readers and also can change the meaning of the text.
3. Do not attach unnecessary files. By sending large attachments you may clog the Recipient’s email system. Only send attachments when they are essential. Ensure that documents are scanned for viruses before sending.
4. Use a meaningful subject line. Try to use a subject line that is meaningful and conveys the purpose of the mail.
As I am working as HR in a company, I will get hundreds of mails daily. Mails with meaningful subject lines attract me immediately. Freshers need to be trained on email writing. Because I will get mails from freshers with subject line “What happened to my interview?” This type of subject line shows that they don’t have email etiquette skills and also sometimes embraces the HR. There are possibilities that mails without proper subject line will be deleted or moved to junk folder. They can write the subject line as “Regarding the feedback of my interview “. This subject line gets attention quickly and prompts us to write a reply for it.
5. Avoid using two words ; “Urgent” and “Important”.
You must at all times try to avoid these two words in subject line or in an e mail.Only use this if it is a really, really urgent or an important message.
For ex, many employees, mostly junior employees write mails to me asking permission for leave. They write subject line as “Urgent!!! I need leave”. This is not the way of asking leaves to an HR. IT doesn’t make any sense instead it gives bad impression on employee. They can write as “Regarding the leave application” or simply they can write as “My Leave application”.
6. Avoid long sentences. Try to use your sentences a maximum of 15-20 words as far as possible.
7. Do not write in capitals. IF YOU WRITE IN CAPITALS, IT SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. This can be highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response. Therefore, try not to send an email text in capitals.
8. Limit the use of read receipts. Don’t write read receipts in all mails. Recipient might get irritated every time if he/she sees the read receipt. Use it if really necessary.
9. Never write personal emails from office id. Office id is meant for office communication. If you write personal emails from office ids then it is considered as unprofessional. Don’t chat with colleagues through mail. You can send a motivational email or a formal good morning emails to colleagues to boost their morale.
10. Have the practice of sending reply to mails, which are addressed, to you.
11. If you are sending mails to many people which are unknown to each other, then it is advised to use BCC ( Blank Carbon Copy).
Never write an email when you are angry or upset :
Whenever you are angry or upset, you may feel tempted to write an email. But never do that. Because it may break the precious relationship and it may lead to unnecessary conflicts. .
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