Email has become the most widely used medium of communication within the business world and is becoming increasingly critical to the success and productivity at work. Hence, it is essential to ensure that every email is purposeful and meaningful to both the sender and the receiver.
We are pleased to share with you some simple and useful tips that you need to keep in mind regarding professional e-mail conduct. We have categorised the tips into two broad sections for your ready reference.
Composing Email
1. Use the subject field to indicate content and purpose, this helps to clarify what your message is about and may help the recipient prioritize reading your email.
2. Just like a written letter, be sure to start your email with a greeting. (e.g. Dear, Hello, Hi, Sir, Madam).
3. Your e-mail message reflects you and your company, so traditional spelling, grammar, and punctuation rules apply.
4. Write clear, short paragraphs and be direct and to the point, professional alike see their email accounts as business. Clearly identify the recipients, need. to be mark in ‘To’ and ‘CC’. Include the address in ‘TO’ for those you would like a response from. Include the address in ‘CC’ for those whom you need to inform.
5. Don't use BCC to keep others from seeing who you copied; it shows confidence when you directly CC anyone receiving a copy.
6. Do use BCC, however, when sending to a large distribution list, so recipients will not have to see a huge list of names.
7. Try to use one recipient in ‘TO’, multiple recipient may create confusion among all.
8. Use Bold/Underline sparingly and only when on the matter that needs to be highlighted, avoid using Capital Letters. Use brackets to explain the topic with Italic font format, e.g. Tomorrow (1 January 2012).
9. Include Name, Department, Company, Address and official contact number in your email signature.
Responding/Replying of Email
1. Use ‘Reply to All’ carefully, only if it is very important to use.
2. Remove the recipient not require in your reply.
3. Try to respond within a reasonable period, though "reasonable" will depend on the recipient's expectations and the subject being discussed.
4. Make sure your reply contains all responses requested in an email, to avoid multiple emails.
Some final tips
Remember that e-mail is not private. E-mail is considered company property and can be retrieved, examined, and used in a court of law. You might also inadvertently send something to the wrong party, so always keep the content professional to avoid embarrassment.
Finally do not forget the value of face-to-face or even voice-to-voice communication. E-mail communication is not appropriate when sending confusing or emotional messages. Please feel free to post your comments on this page if you require any clarification.
