Email etiquette is really a matter of common sense.
As the age old adage goes "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".
And when it comes to business, it can make all the difference in landing a sale with potential customers and forming lasting business alliances.
There are practical steps which can be taken to ensure satisfactory communication with other businesses and clients; in addition to exercising old-fashioned good manners.
1.
Answer emails in a reasonable amount of time.
If this cannot be done, it may be wise to delegate personnel to perform such tasks; or if you are a very small operation, employ the use of an autoresponder.
There are many free and cost-effective autoresponders available today.
You may well have guessed free auto-responders have a catch-that is the company's own ads will typically appear at the bottom of each email you send out using their system.
It pays to do a number of test runs to see what type of advertising this is, and if it is something contrary to your business or personal philosophy.
2.
Use a good email account with spam filtering.
This will considerably reduce your workload, and help identify legitimate emails in your inbox.
Wave goodbye to human growth hormone, pharmaceuticals, and Internet mortgage loans to free up some time and space.
3.
If possible, address the person or company by name when replying to an email.
This has more impact and exhibits more respect than just simply, "Hello, yada...
yada...
".
4.
This should be a no-brainer, but avoid politics, unless of course, your organization is political in nature.
5.
Here is another no-brainer, and I am always amazed at this one.
Avoid using coarse speech, slurs, and bad language in your emails.
"Hey Mister Pendleton, we'll have those stats for you as soon as I can find the "blankety-blank" time to do them...
don't worry.
"Uh, not too wise and not too cool.
6.
At least give off the impression you are interested in their inquiry, and you should be; as this may prove beneficial to yourself as well as for the person who initiated the email.
If it's something you don't have an answer for, offer to make an attempt to investigate and get back to them.
At least you have acknowledged the person's concern in a timely and professional fashion.
7.
Close by thanking the inquirer, and perhaps offering to be available to assist further should he or she need more information or help.
8.
Sign off with at least your name, url, or company name.
Not doing so gives the impression of being inconvenienced, sloppy, or just plain rude.
It goes without saying, how one writes and responds to email depends on the relationship between the two parties.
However, simply exhibiting good manners and an atmosphere of respect is something which should never go out of style in exercising good communication.
Publishing Date:01/2008