Professionals communicate in a professional manner regardless of the mode of communication. If you are a consummate professional you know that putting your best foot forward at all times is just what you do.
There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it.
– Dale Carnegie (1888-1955)
American Educator
When it comes to your business email communications, you need to make an impression that can lend to the determination that you are a credible professional enterprise and someone who will be easy and a pleasure to do business with. You only have one chance to make that first impression which will be invaluable to building trust and confidence.
The Business E-mail Etiquette Basics You Need to Know
Below are the key Business Email Etiquette issues that need to be considered with every commercial email sent. These are the issues business owners, their employees and Netrepreneurs need to be aware of in their day-to-day online communications to ensure the best possible results.
- Professional Behavior on the Job: Know that how you use your email, company email address and employer’s technology is a serious issue! Sending non-business related emails, jokes, forwards or chain letters on company time to friends or coworkers reflects on your lack of professionalism. Visiting Websites that are questionable or not necessary to your job responsibilities will reflect poorly on your ability to be trusted. Never assume that these activities are not being monitored. While on company time do not assume you have any privacy when using company resources and equipment.
- SUBJECT: Field: The SUBJECT: field is the window into your email and can many times determine if your email will even be opened. If this is an initial contact with a customer based on their request through your site or otherwise, be sure to have a short SUBJECT: that indicates clearly what the topic of the email is. Typos, all caps or all small case can lend to an unprofessional impression or that you may be spammer.
- Level of Formality: Try to avoid the prevailing assumption that email by its very nature allows you to be informal in your business email communications. Only time and relationship building efforts can guide when you can formalize your business relationships and your email’s tone. One should communicate at all times as if your email is on your company letterhead. This means black text and standard fonts too! No abbreviations — type full words and sentences too! (Not do “u” get it! Do you get it?) This is your business’s image you are branding!
- Addressing: How do you address your new contacts? I would suggest initially that you assume the highest level of courtesy: Hello, Mr. Anderson, Dear Ms. Jones, Dr. Osborne, etc. Until your new contact states, “call me Andy” or “you can call me Diane”. You will also be able pick up clues on when you can have a more relaxed tone by how contacts approach you as well as how they sign off. Most business people do not mind being called by their first name, however, in a global economy that can be perceived as taking premature liberties in the relationship if used too soon.
- TO:, From:, BCc, Cc fields can make or break you:…In the TO: field make sure you have your contact’s name formally typed. John B. Doe – not john b doe or JOHN B DOE. In the FROM: field make sure you have your full name formally typed. Example: Jane A. Jones. Not: jane a jones or JANE A JONES. The latter two give the perception of lack of education or limited experience with technology. By only including your first name or email address you are giving the perception you may have something to hide or do not know the basics of configuring your email program.
…BCc: use this field when emailing a group of contacts who do not personally know each other. By listing an arms length list of email addresses in the Cc or TO fields of contacts who do not know each other or who have never met is conducive to publishing their email address to strangers. This is a privacy issue! With those you are forging partnerships with, visibly listing their email address in with a group of strangers will make one wonder what other privacy issues you may not respect or understand.
…Cc: Use this field when there are a handful of associates involved in a discussion that requires all be on the same page. These business people know each other or have been introduced and have no problem having their email address exposed to the parties involved. If you are not sure if a business associate would mind their address being made public, ask! - Reply to All: Use this button with discretion! You need to carefully think about whether “all” really need to be aware of your reply to conduct business. Never use this button to CYA or e-Tattle on a coworker or colleague — doing so will just make you look petty while increasing others email volume unnecessarily.
- Formatting: Refrain from using any formatting in your day-to-day business email communications. Unless you would type something in bold crimson letters on business letterhead, don’t do it when emailing for commercial gain. With all the spam filtering going on today; the more formatting or embedded images that higher the chance that your email could be blocked as spammy.
Even something as simple as using a different font makes your email display contingent upon the recipient having that specific font on their system or it defaults to their designated default font. Keep in mind the recipient may not have their email program configured in such a way as to display your formatting the way it appears on your system – if at all. - Attachments: How do you think your relationship with a potential new customer/contact is enhanced when you send them that 10M Power Point presentation they didn’t request and you fill up their inbox causing subsequent business correspondence to bounce as undeliverable? And, if they do not have Power Point, they wouldn’t be able open the file anyway! Never assume your potential customers have the software you do to open any file you may arbitrarily send.
If you need to send a file (or combination of files) over 500,000 in size, business courtesy dictates you ask the recipient first if it is okay to send a large file. Next, confirm they have the same software and version you do and what is the best time of day to sent it to them to ensure they are available to download the large file and keep their email flowing. Never send large attachments without warning, on weekends or after business hours when the recipient may not be there to keep their inbox clear. - Using Previous E-mail for New Correspondence: If you want to give the perception of lazy, find a previous email from the party you want to communicate with, hit reply and start typing about something completely irrelevant to the old email’s subject. Always start a new email and add your contacts to your address book so you can add them to a new email with one click. Do not hesitate to change the subject field to reflect a different topic when an ongoing conversation takes a new direction.
- Down Edit Your Replies: Do not just hit reply and start typing — that’s called top posting. Editing is a skill those you communicate with will appreciate as it lends to reflecting a respect for their time and clarity in your communications. Removing parts of the previous email that no longer apply to your response including email headers and signature files removes the clutter. By making the effort to reply point by point keeps the conversation on track with fewer misunderstandings.
- Common Courtesy: Hello, Hi, Good Day, Thank You, Sincerely, Best Regards. All those intros and sign offs that are a staple of professional business communications should also be used in your business email communications. Not doing so could have your messages be misinterpreted as demanding or terse. Always include a salutation and sign off that includes your name with every email. Here again – think business letterhead.
Courtesy also includes that you make the effort to communicate as an educated adult. Type in full sentences with proper sentence structure. Not all caps; not all small case. Proper capitalization and punctuation are a must! You are an educated professional and need to communicate as such. All caps or all small case smacks of either lack of education, tech/business savvy — or laziness. None of which is positive for instilling confidence or encouraging others to want to do business with you. - Signature files: Keep your signature files to no more than 5-6 lines to avoid being viewed as egocentric. Limit your signature to your name, Website link, company name, and slogan/offer or phone number. Include a link to your Website where the recipient can get all your contact information from A-Z – that is what your site is for. Do not forget to include the “https://” when including your Website address within emails and your signature file to ensure the URL is recognized as a clickable URL regardless of the user’s software or platform.
- Respond Promptly: You should do your best to respond to your business communications as quickly as possible. This is a customer service issue that should not be underestimated. By not responding promptly you seem unorganized, uncaring or worse yet, risk being outperformed by your competitors who understand the importance of appearing efficient and on the ball.
There you have it! These very important issues will certainly allow your business communications to rise above the majority who do not take the time to understand and master these issues. While texting isn’t really email, I do have an article for you to review since more and more business folks are using texting in their business communications. READ: Business Texting Etiquette: 10 Tips for Professionals
When forging new business relationships and solidifying established partnerships, the level of professionalism and courtesy you relay in your business email communications will always gain clients over the competition that may be anemic, uninformed or just plain lazy in this area.
When it comes to business, regardless of mode of communication used, professionalism and courtesy never go out of style!