EMAIL SPECIAL - Five email rules every professional should know

EMAIL SPECIAL - Five email rules every professional should know





Most of us, on an average, comb through hundreds of emails during a workweek. Despite the fact that we are glued to our reply buttons, career coach Barbara Pachter says plenty of professionals still don't know how to use email appropriately. Because of the sheer volume of messages we are reading and writing, we may be more prone to making embarrassing errors, and those mistakes can have serious consequences. Here are five basics of modern email etiquette every professional should know:

Avoid putting words in ALL CAPS

ARE YOU YELLING?! Because that's what using all caps looks like. Unless you want to give your email recipient a heart attack, turn your caps lock off.

Nothing is confidential -so write accordingly

As the endless string of email hacks prove, every electronic message leaves a trail. “A basic guideline is to assume that others will see what you write,“ Pachter says. “So don't write anything you wouldn't want everyone to see.“

A more liberal interpretation: Don't write anything that would be ruinous to you or hurtful to others. Email is dangerously easy to forward, and it's better to be safe than sorry.

Proofread every message

Your mistakes won't go unnoticed by the recipients of your email.“And, depending upon the recipient, you may be judged for making them,“ Pachter says. Don't rely on spell-check. Read and reread your email a few times, preferably aloud, before sending it off. “One supervisor intended to write `Sorry for the inconvenience',“ Pachter says. “But he relied on his spellcheck and ended up writing `Sorry for the incontinence'.“

Reply to your emails -even if the email wasn't intended for you

It's difficult to reply to every email message ever sent to you, but you should try to, Pachter says. This includes when the email was accidentally sent to you, especially if the sender is expecting a reply.

A reply isn't necessary but serves as good email etiquette, especially if this person works in the same company or industry as you. Here's an example reply: “I know you're busy, but I don't think you meant to send this email to me. And I wanted to let you know so you can send it to the correct person.“

Never start an email with `I'

“My boss told me that whenever you are writing a letter -and now it applies to emails today -never start a paragraph with the word `I', because that immediately sends a message that you are more important than the person that you are communicating with,“ Loews executive Jonathan M Tisch tells The New York Times. He says that having to think about how to start a sentence without `I' helps you become a better writer and teaches you how to really think through an issue

businessinsider in