Email Etiquette in the Workplace

With practically every single working professional using email for a large portion of business correspondence, the idea of proper email etiquette is becoming more prevalent. Nothing irks me more than after sending a professional email to a colleague regarding some sort of business, getting a reply such as "sure"----no greeting, no capitalization, no punctuation. Would you send out a letter with that sort of text? Would you talk with someone via the phone with an answer like that? Of course not. But email has somehow flown under the radar of professionalism. I would like to start turning the tide. Here are some tips for keeping your business email professional and respectful.

Always greet the recipient. Just as in a letter, you should always greet the recipient in an email. This does not mean that you have to start your email with "dear so and so." You may choose to start with the person's name, or you could just begin with a simple greeting such as "hi." Just make sure your email has some sort of greeting to begin with instead of starting right into the information itself.

Use proper English skills. Of course the occasional typo or grammar mistake may make its way into your email, which is no big deal. Blatant disregard for punctuation and capitalization is a different story, however. This not only looks completely unprofessional, it also shows the recipient that you used very little care when writing your email. Use the same punctuation and capitalization that you would in a printer letter.

Avoid internet jargon and abbreviations. When writing to someone in a professional setting, ending a sentence with "LOL" simply isn't acceptable. Unless you know the recipient very well, avoid using any sort of jargon or abbreviations.

Use a signature. Set up your email account settings so that you have signature at the end of your message. Getting a message from someone that isn't "signed" is unprofessional and makes it more difficult for the recipient to locate your information if he or she needs to contact you in the future without simply replying to your email.

Close your email. Again, just like in a letter or phone conversation, take the time to write a simple closing for your email. Simply saying, "thanks for your time," "I appreciate your response," or "I hope you find this information useful," makes your email a thousand times more inviting than one that just stops with no warning.

Email has made office correspondence quicker and easier than ever before. Unfortunately too many people are taking the quickness and ease to mean that professionalism is no longer needed. On the contrary, email in the workplace should be considered just as formal as any other type of correspondence and I hope that you will begin treating your colleagues with the respect they deserve whether you are talking with them via phone, letter, or email.