Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Proper Email Etiquette


One of the most used communication forms in today’s time is electronic mail, also known as email. Email has replaced written letters and even most phone calls. Along with emails, technology advancements now affect how people communicate through messages like emails. One of the common errors many make is not having appropriate email etiquette or messages that relate to the sender. This blog post will explain and give advice tips to those seeking additional information on how to write an email to family, friends, colleagues, supervisors, and strangers.
Writing an email to family
The object of a written letter was to communicate to others close to you. For the most part, letters were commonly written to family members. This is still the same for emails. Emails to family members show affection, emotions, and an individual caring about another. Most families use email to catch up with one another. Parents write stories to grandparents about their children and all their new accomplishments. Emails could also be about vacations or an e-card to wish someone birthday wishes. For family emails, it is important not to be formal. This email is not to your boss; it is to a loved one. This does not mean that the email cannot be mannerly and respectful. It is appropriate to use pet names and use words of endearment.
Writing an email to friends
For most of us, communicating with friends can now be done through text messaging, instant messaging, and social media. However, email is still a popular and effective form of communication for friends. Like family relationships and communicating through emails, emails with friends are also less formal. These are friends that you are catching up with and have probably known for a few years. They could be old fraternity or sorority members, school kid friends that are now reconnecting, or your best friend that lives on the other side of the country. No matter who it is, there is a personal connection with the person. Emails that are directed towards friends are less formal than one you would send to a colleague.
Writing an email to Colleagues
Colleagues are people that you associate with at your place of work or even college. These are people that are on the same level as you are. They are co-workers at the same firm or students you share classes with. Although a relationship may be established during business hours and school hours, a relationship outside of work may not. In this case, all email communication should be semi-formal. For example, one may be friends with another colleague at work, but not outside of work. It is important to be respectful. The email should be well written. Emails written to colleagues should be work-related,  especially if they are written through company emails. There is no reason an email about the neighborhood barbeque should be found and corresponded through a work email account.  Work related emails could include information about business meetings, memos, and mail outs that are important towards the task and future tasks of the company.
Writing an email to Supervisors
This is possibly the most important email communication one may have. It does matter how the email is written, especially to a supervisor.  For most, supervisors are in charge of hiring and firing, pay raises, and recommendation letters. Their opinions can affect a future hiring process, raise or promotion. It would be upsetting to learn that you did not get a job or promotion because your boss found you to be unprofessional. Unprofessional emails can cause this unprofessionalism one may see that you have. Emails written to supervisors should be formal. They should pertain to work related subjects like business meetings, schedules, policy and procedures, and any topic related towards work subjects. A simple way to decide whether an email to a supervisor is appropriate or not is if someone else were to read it, would they get a different impression? Emails with supervisors do not need to reflect on any inappropriate relationships. Even through email, supervisors should be respected and language should reflect that. For example, emails to your supervisor should not be about upcoming events at the local bar. Emails to your supervisor should be professional about upcoming deadlines. 
Writing an email to Strangers
Who is on the other end of the computer reading the email you just sent about buying an item they have recently listed on a popular buy, sale, and trade site?  First impressions matter. When writing to strangers, it is important to state facts. These facts include who you are, how you came in contact with them, your interest, and how they can help you or you can help them. An email to a stranger should be formal. When writing the first email, one will probably be overly formal. However, this is not a negative or downside to writing an email to a stranger. When communicating with a stranger, one needs to have clear communication. There is a reason for the communication contact. Although the first initial email communication could have been about an antique chair, it could open doors for the future. It is important to note this when dealing with anyone over email.

Tips for all email users
It is very important to address the email recipient. This needs to be done within the first line. This address can be a different variety, depending on the recipient of the email and relationship between users. For example, family emails may be addressed as, “Hi Grandma”. This address is appropriate due to the email being less formal and affectionate. However an email going to a supervisor should be addressed along the lines of, “Dear Dr. Smith”. This address shows formality and respect towards the recipient. According to Keri Stephens, Marian Housser, and Renee Cowen (2009), studies show that some supervisors and college instructors found that students communicated inappropriately over email.For example, students would communicate with professors as if they were friends rather than a superior. This could very well have started from a student being too casual when addressing the mail recipient. Starting with a strong and appropriate address will set the email up for success.
No one wants to read an email they don’t understand. State the reason of your email in the first paragraph. Are you asking about an assignment, business plan, or family reunion? Whatever the reason for the email, the recipient needs to know it immediately. This will help both parties get what they desire.  According to Michael Hyatt, recipients do not tend to like to read long messages and most of the time the message goes forgotten (Hyatt, 2007). If the email was not important, it would not have been sent in the first place. Make the email worth reading by stating the reason first.
            Everyone wants to be seen as credible. This is very important when sending an email. The term credible does not mean your background and education, but more on the lines of the message one is receiving from you. According to Stephens, Houser, and Cowen (2009), the level of a source’s credibility plays a powerful role. Writing an email that has correct spelling and grammar can be the difference between a recipient seeing you as credible or not. According to Stephens et al (2009),  studies show that those that edited a message before sending are viewed more positively than those that have messages full of errors. No matter who the recipient is, use correct grammar and spelling.
            One of the most skipped over steps in writing an email could possibly be the most important. Rereading an email is very important before sending the email. For most of us, we tend to write an email, look at it once and press send. But how much are we missing? Since the email is fresh on our minds and we know how we want it to sound, we could be reading what we want to see, not what is actually there. According to Michael Hyatt our brains may get ahead of what our fingers can type (Hyatt, 2007). Rereading the article can help save common errors that would later discredit you and your ability to perform a task.
            Using email as a form of communication is very common in today’s fast paced world. As users, it is important to know and understand the factors involved with writing and sending an email to other users. What and how you write an email is very important, especially because of who is being addressed. Email etiquette is one of the most common topics of discussion that most people just glance at and move on. Use appropriate email communication to help fulfill your work and school related goals.



Works Cited
Stephens, K., Housser, M., & Cowan, R. (2009). R u able to meat me: The impact of students. Communication Education, 58(3), 303-326.Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03634520802582598

Hyatt, M. (2007). Email etiquette 101. Retrieved from http://michaelhyatt.com/e-mail-etiquette-101.html

2 comments:

  1. Response to Proper Email Etiquette
    Emails are so popular today. As a student, teachers tell you to email them for questions or concerns. As a customer, you are told to email someone about a product or purchase. Email is used every day and it is becoming more convenient for the reason that you can now email someone straight from your cell phone. Mobile email is on the rise, as more and more people own a smartphone or a mobile device like a tablet (emailmonday.com). I personally know that with my job, I email more often from my cell phone than I do from a computer. More email is read mobile than on a desktop email client or via webmail (emailmonday.com). Mobile email will account for 15 to 65% of email opens, depending on your target audience, product and email type (emailmonday.com). 90% of smartphone owners access the same email account on mobile and desktop (emailmonday.com). It is almost as if the mobile devices replace the computer in most areas. Email is so convenient for most of us, especially if we have to travel with work or live far away from our families. But is email and communicating over the internet hurting our communication skills face-to-face?
    In a Duke University study, researchers found that from 1985 to 2004, the percentage of people who said there was no one with whom they discussed important matters with tripled to 25%; the same study found that overall, Americans had one-third fewer friends and confidants than they did two decades ago (Luscombe). Through social media and technology advances, such as email, we are able to have friends and communicate with them without ever coming into contact. Another recent study, by researchers at the University of Michigan, found that college students today have significantly less empathy-the ability to understand and share feelings of another-than students of generations past did (Luscombe). Communicating over email can sometimes be hard because one is not able to tell the tone of how the writer wrote the email. This can be a problem once people start to communicate in person; they are unsure of how to read body language and face expressions. The reason for students having less empathy, psychologists speculate, may have something to do with our increasing reliance on digital communication and other forms of new media (Luscombe). It’s possible that instead of fostering real friendships off-line, e-mail and social networking may take the place of them – and the distance inherent in screen-only interactions may breed feelings of isolation or a tendency to take care less about other people (Luscombe). After all, if you don’t feel like dealing with a friend’s problem online, all you have to do is log off (Luscombe).
    In conclusion, I believe email etiquette is very important, but also is communicating in person. Being able to have personal skills to communicate face-to-face, and professional skills that you can use in areas, such as writing the proper email, is the best way to be


    Works Cited
    The Ultimate Mobile Statistics Overview. Emailmonday. Retrieved from: http://www.emailmonday.com/mobile-email-usage-statistics
    Luscombe, Belinda. (2010). Why Email may be hurting off-line relationships? TIME: Science and Space. Retrieved from: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1998396,00.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Zack Crawford
    E-mail has transformed into a vital source of communication. E-mails are sent everyday to inboxes across the globe and you must be cognitive of what you are saying and how you are saying it. So many times people miss correct etiquette in e-mails simply because they type out their e-mail as if they were talking to that person. This is incorrect etiquette. Each recipient of your e-mail must be handled differently based upon your relationship with that person. Friends, family, co-workers, supervisors, and strangers, all have their own style and etiquette when it comes to sending e-mails. Would you talk to your boss with poor grammar and slurred annunciation? Of course not! However, sending a poorly composed e-mail is the equivalent. Here are a few more tips to help you communicate wisely, efficiently, and correctly with your superiors.
    The first tip, and probably most important, is the subject line. The subject line in your e-mail can be the deciding factor on whether your supervisor does or does not open it and read what you have to say. Would you open an e-mail with a subject that looked similar to this, “sport idea for the fall”? I sure wouldn’t! Your subject should be loud and attention grabbing. A helpful rule is to treat the subject line like the headline of a newspaper. Capitalize words and use explosive terminology. For example, “Bathroom Issues in Liberal Arts Building”. The reader will know immediately that the bathroom in the Liberal Arts Building is having issues and that they need to open your e-mail to address the problem. Short. Concise. Explosive.
    The final tip to proper etiquette when e-mailing your supervisor is to be brief and concise with your message. Most supervisors receive countless e-mails daily and do not need to read a novel on how the bathroom in the liberal arts building imploded. An e-mail to your supervisor is also not the place for you to show off your creative writing skills. Your message should be direct and easily read. Stray away from humor or wittiness in these e-mails and get straight to the point. If you are requesting assistance or instruction, be sure to state that clearly so you get the information you need to solve the problem.
    As we discussed, the subject line is a crucial tool that, if utilized correctly, can be the difference between a read and deleted e-mail. We also learned that messages in the e-mail need to be concise and direct with requests made clear. E-mailing can become difficult at times. However, the more you practice, the better you will get. Hang in there, and always remember to smile!

    Works Cited:
    Unknown. (n.d.). Tips on e-mail etiquette. Retrieved from http://computer.howstuffworks.com/e-mail-messaging/email7.htm

    ReplyDelete