E-mail Etiquettes

Well, i read & reply lot's of mail's and i wonder, that people still need to understand how to write a "PERFECT SIMPLE MAIL."

So my search on E-mail Etiquettes started and here it goes,follow the rules.........;

E-mails have become an important part of our lives and how!

Snail mails are passé. E-mails have revolutionised the communication process. How many times have you received an email and felt a little put off by the message even though it was from a good friend? Have you ever sent an email that upset or confused someone? What was it like to be in that situation and what did you do to clear up the misunderstanding? It is because of these uncomfortable situations that some ground rules on email etiquette were established and why email writers should be mindful of them.

A few pointers to help you use e- mails safely and effectively:

Use correct email address- E-mail addresses are often complex and usually illogical. Poor memory or even a slight typing mistake and your message bounces back. Solution: Use your electronic address book for people you write frequently. And double-check every address that you key in manually. The most common mistake is doing‘reply all’ that sends a mail to a group of receivers instead of‘reply’.

Avoid misleading subject lines- With abundance of Spam (junk mails) clogging most mailboxes, make sure your subject line is relevant and helpful. Generic tags like‘Hello’ and‘Great Deal’ may lead your message to the bin before it is opened. E-mail subject lines are particularly important. Good subject lines are specific, eye-catching, and talking.

Help the reader- Don’t burden readers with unnecessary information. Organize your ideas tightly. Messages over two scrolls should be very compelling to keep reader’s interest. For a long message, help the reader with headings, bulleted listings, side headings, and perhaps an introductory summary that describes what will follow. Although these techniques lengthen a message, they shorten reading time.

Don’t send anything you wouldn’t want published -E-mails are like telephone call or person-to person conversation. Do not send sensitive, confidential, inflammatory, or potentially embarrassing messages. Beware! E-mail creates a permanent record. Your message can be used against you or your employer.

Don’t use e-mail to avoid contact -E-mail is inappropriate for breaking bad news or for resolving arguments. It’s also not a good channel for dealing with conflict with supervisors, subordinates, or others. Better pick up the telephone or pay the person a visit. Also, allow some time to cool off before shooting off a response to an upsetting message.

Care about correctness -When writing for official communication, do not be careless about spelling, grammar, and punctuation. People are judged by their writing style, sloppy e-mail messages (with missing apostrophes, haphazard spelling, incorrect English) can tarnish your image. They resent not only the information but also the writer.
Restrict forward mails- Humour can easily be misunderstood. Don’t send uncountable forward mails to busy people. Send copies only to people who really need to see a message.

Double-check before hitting the‘Send’ button -Have you included everything? Avoid the necessity of sending a second message, which makes you look pretty stupid. Use spell-check and re-read for fluency before sending.

Inputs by Maurya Amarkant