Making sense

By Bridget Gourlay

… the top 10 tips about business
email etiquette …

1. Err on the side of formality. For example, begin an email with ‘Good morning’ instead of ‘Hi’ and titles and last names instead of first names unless you know the person fairly well. Better to be known as polite than forward.
 
2. Put an introductory sentence at the start of an email, reminding the recipient of who you are and why you are emailing. Even if you just spoke with them a few hours ago, they may receive a hundred emails a day and will appreciate the quick reminder. Or they might need clarification when re-reading it a week or so later.
 
3. If you want to be taken seriously, ensure the email has no grammatical and spelling errors. This simply means you run the spell check and read over it before it is sent. It’s really easy to accidently forget a punctuation mark or for the autocorrect to change an error into a different word.
 
4. Your email must make sense. Write clearly, to the point, and re-read it before you send it. This saves a lot of guesswork at the recipient’s end and nips any miscommunications in the bud.  
 
5. Make sure there is nothing that could be read inappropriately, ie a comment that could be seen as sexist or racist. Save the jokes for your friends and keep it polite.
 
6. Make sure your full contact numbers are beneath your email address so you can be reached.
 
7. Use paragraphs for a longer email. A massive single block of text can be overwhelming and vital information or key points can get lost in the crowd.
 
8. Always check the recipient. Sending the wrong email to the wrong person has sunk plenty of careers. Always check who’s receiving it, whether it is one person or many.
 
9. Make sure you have attached the document. It’s easy to forget but for the person urgently waiting for it at the other end, it can be very frustrating if you forget to send it.
 
10. Don’t send enormous files that clog up an inbox unless the recipient really needs it.