Nowadays writing an email is a little difficult task for novice, so it is very important that whether for business or personal us what we should follow the basics of email etiquettes.
Following lines enlist some important email etiquette that everyone needs to be aware of and follow :
1. Be concise and to the points :
Your email should not be longer than it needs to be. A long e-mail can be very discouraging and monotonous to read. Make sure to write your email to the point as short as possible.
2. Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation :
It is most important for conveying the messages properly. Writing improper spellings, improper punctuation and grammatical errors gives a bad impression, which leads to lose interest in your email.
3. Use proper structure and layout :
We all know that reading from a screen is more difficult than reading from paper, the structure and layout is very important for e-mail messages. Use short paragraphs and blank line between each paragraph. While making points, number them or mark each points as separated to keep the overview.
4. Do not write in CAPITALS (Case Sensitive) :
If you write an e-mail in capital letters then it seems to be like you are shouting which gives a bad impression. e.g., HERE IF YOU WRITE IT IN CAPITALS IT SEEMS TO BE LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING. This can be highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response. Therefore, try not to use the sentence using capital letters.
5. Add an e-mail disclaimer :
If you inadvertently forward a virus by e-mail, a disclaimer in your internal and external mail can help protect you from liability.
6. Handle abbreviations and emoticons with care :
In business e-mails, use of abbreviations (such as BTW for by the way) and emoticons (smiley faces) is generally inappropriate.
Some abbreviations are given below :
- EOM – End Of Message
- LET – Leaving Early Today
- HTH – Hope That Helps
- Y/N – Yes or No
- EOD – End Of Day
- EOW – End Of Week
- LMK – Let Me Know
- IDK – I Don’t Know, etc.
7. Gender Sensitivity :
If you are writing an email to a person unknown to you, your email should be gender neutral, it means you should carefully not write or replace the gendered nouns with gender-neutral nouns. e.g., as shown in some sample below :
|
Gendered Noun |
Gender-Neutral noun |
|---|---|
| man, woman | Instead of this you can use: person, individual |
| man-made | Instead of this you can use: machine-made, synthetic |
| mankind | Instead of this you can use: people, human beings, humanity |
| the common man | Instead of this you can use: the average (or ordinary) person |
| mailman | Instead of this you can use: mail carrier, letter carrier, postal worker |
| policeman | Instead of this you can use: police officer |
| congressman | Instead of this you can use: congress person, legislator, representative |
| chairman | Instead of this you can use: chair, chairperson, coordinator |
| steward, stewardess | Instead of this you can use: flight attendant |
| Dear sir: | Instead of this you can use: Dear Sir or Madam:, Dear Editor:, Dear Service Representative:, To Whom it May Concern: |
It is not mandatory to use only these things these are only the example of what you have to use. It gives some formal impression.
