In the absence of a universally accepted code of etiquette, business-related e-mail usage involves both common sense and cautionary tales:
Thou shalt not e-mail sweet nothings (Boeing’s Harry Stonecipher). Thou shalt not e-mail secret financial dealings (Enron). Thou shalt not e-mail what one really thinks about a stock if thou hast publicly stated something else (former analyst Henry Blodget). Thou shalt not send e-mails detailing kickback agreements (Boeing again).
“The No. 1 mistake we continue to see is people putting in writing messages they would never want to appear in public,” said Nancy Flynn, executive director of the ePolicy Institute, which studies e-mail use in the workplace. She said people seem to forget that once they click “send,” they have no control over where that message goes.
The experts advise e-mailers to make sure they proofread their copy and as Joanna Krotz, author of the “Microsoft Small Business Kit” advises, “don’t paste in cutesy cartoons, your toddler’s artwork, your favorite epigram from college, memory-hogging graphics, wacko fonts or all the rest of the endless and poignant attempts to stand out from the crowd.”
Other rules of netiquette:
DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPITALS, as that is considered to be shouting.
If a group e-mail is going outside the company, “it is a huge taboo to do a CC and show everyone else’s e-mail addresses,” said Jennifer Beever, marketing consultant with Woodland Hills-based New Incite. “There is no reason for anyone else to be able to look through that list.” Type everyone’s addresses in the “blind carbon copy” (BCC) line of the message, so the distribution list will be hidden. (For internal communications, it’s OK to put all of the recipients’ addresses in the “CC” line.)
Another overlooked part of e-mailing is subject line. Judith Kallos, author of “Because Netiquette Matters!”, said they should be as short as possible, and clearly state what the e-mail is about. Not only is it a courtesy to the recipient, but in a world of increased spam, a subject-less e-mail often will be filtered out as junk, and never make its way to the recipient’s inbox.
Keeping e-mails short is a rule common to most Top 10 lists. And try to keep each e-mail to one topic. “It’s not a good idea to say, ‘By the way, on this other topic ‘” Beever said. Divide multiple topics into different e-mails it helps with organization, and holds people’s attention. And as hand-held devices like Blackberries and Web-enabled cell phones proliferate, recipients are reading e-mails on smaller and smaller screens.
When composing an e-mail, both Beever and Kallos warn against finding a recent e-mail from the person and just clicking “reply.”
“If you want to give the perception of lazy, find a previous e-mail from the party you want to communicate with, hit reply and start typing,” Kallos said. Often, people forget to change the old subject heading, an indication that you haven’t added the person to your address book.
One of the most vexing questions is how to start and end a business e-mail. There should be a salutation and a closing, but they tend to be more casual than in a business letter. On the other hand, “It’s a little bit extreme to just launch into the text of the message,” Beever said.
Start with the highest level of courtesy in the initial e-mail until it is clear the relationship dictates otherwise. And always sign-off an e-mail with some form of closing. “Best Regards” has become somewhat of a standard, often shortened to “Best.”
Then there is the signature.
Long ones over five or six lines are viewed as egocentric, Kallos said. Company name, phone number and Web site link should be sufficient. “If you’re going back and forth with someone over an afternoon, it’s really not necessary to put in a signature line every time,” Beever said.
As for when to end the stream of “Thank yous,” “Will dos,” “Sounds goods” and “Look forward to seeing yous,” there is no standard. “If there is an action required by you, such as a confirmation, you must reply,” Beever said. “But after that, there is no further action required.”
No one can really object to receiving a “Thank you,” Kallos said, but she admitted she has never seen someone type “You’re welcome.”
