The Truth About “i” in Business Emails
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To be viewed as a proper business professional, you must reflect that you want to be taken seriously. When forming new business relationships of any kind or level, every little detail between contacts will be viewed through the lens of trust and credibility.
When you type “i” where it should be “I,” you appear uneducated and lazy. The same goes for “u” vs. “you” or “ur”. You know what I mean — you’ve seen this with other people you communicate with. But that doesn’t mean it is okay—in business.
Perception is the Only Reality
I receive inquiries in which the person on the other side of the screen didn’t feel it was worth the effort to press the caps key to capitalize “i.” Like most businesspeople, I am involved in many email conversations daily and need to determine whom I can offer my limited time to. It’s called time management.
When I receive an inquiry without proper capitalization or sentence structure (I’ve talked about this before here), I hesitate. I think twice.
What would make someone hesitate?
You get the idea… When you email professionals, you also want to email as though you are one.
Use the Shift Key
Don’t cut corners or try to “save time” by not hitting the shift key. (What minuscule amount of time is saved?) I have never even considered not using the shift key when appropriate, most likely because I learned to type in high school. It was actually a couple of classes.
Besides proper sentence structure, punctuation, and grammar, capitalizing “I” shouldn’t be underestimated. Perception is the only reality online, and how you type will reflect on you — good, bad, or indifferent.
