Despite the growing prevalence of texting, instant messenging apps and social networks in the business world, e-mail remains one of the most popular high-tech ways for modern professionals to communicate. Although over 300 billion e-mails are estimated to be sent every day, however, a surprising number of executives and entrepreneurs still struggle to grasp fundamental rules of netiquette. In the interest of enhancing interactions with clients, colleagues and customers, following are several e-mail etiquette hints, tips and strategies to follow, all of which can help you better connect and interact with others we encounter in corporate or commercial environs. For more netiquette and high-tech business etiquette tips, you can also see our upcoming book Netiquette Essentials: New Rules for Minding Your Manners in a Digital World:
General Business E-mail Tips
- Tone, context and subtle nuances are easily lost in translation when sending business e-mails. Before mailing, consider if your commentary could be misconstrued and/or misinterpreted, and if a phone call might be better advised.
Copying Others on Professional Communications
- Be careful (and be careful to double-check recipients) when copying and blind carbon copying: A slip of the keyboard, finger or auto-completing contact form may inadvertently send messages to the wrong party, or result in dozens of parties' contact information accidentally being shared with one another.
Email Subjects and Response Times
- For courtesy's sake, subject lines should be short, sweet and directly relate to e-mail contents: Misleading or false statements, or needlessly open-ended or misleading questions ("Did you hear about...?") will be poorly received.
When to Send and Share
- Business e-mails should, wherever possible, be confined to working hours -- unless you're working in different time zones and/or continents, recipients may be understandably perplexed to receive emails from you at 2:00 a.m.
Sending Mass E-mails
- Don't automatically add users to mass e-mail lists without requesting their advance permission.