Professional Email Etiquette for Students, Freelancers and Employees

Texting is gradually overtaking personal emails. Even so, email etiquette rules for the business world still apply. Sending a professional email comes with a few rules, which apply to students as much as they cover freelancers and employees. Do you know what they are?

Address capitalization matters (sometimes)

The Yahoo! Style Guide explains that proper email etiquette but also functionality concerns dictate the use of proper capitalization before the asperand (aka "at sign" or "@"). Even though these addresses are not usually case-sensitive, it is possible for Internet service providers to enforce this aspect at any time.

Subject lines are not optional

Business email etiquette urges senders to include an evocative subject line. Consider that managers, supervisors, entrepreneurs and teachers receive sometimes hundreds of emails in a day. If the subject line is left blank or does not carry a meaningful clarification about the missive's topic, there is a good chance that it will not be treated with a lot of urgency.

Take the time to say hello

"Be sure to open your email with a greeting like Dear Dr. Jones, or Ms. Smith," says Purdue University's online writing lab. Remember that there is a difference between texting a friend or family member, and sending a professional email to a business contact. The level of familiarity that a missing greeting intimates usually does not sit well with others.

Don't SCREAM or ramble

Never send an all-caps message. Internet-speak considers this to be akin to screaming. Email etiquette rules also suggest that an email should be apportioned like a letter. It needs to have easy to scan paragraphs and be short and snappy. This is not the time for tangents and unnecessary asides.

There is such a thing as email signatures etiquette

A professional email should include a more formal signature. Plenty of users have decided to set up standardized signatures, which occasionally carry whimsical designs, color fonts, images, funny sayings or self-promoting links. While these are all good and well in personal email exchanges, your professor most likely does not want to know that you are "Tom, the Beer Ambassador" or "Jane from Party Girl Central."

Use humor sparingly

Jokes do not come across very well in an email exchange, especially when it involves virtual strangers. One person's joke can be another's snide comment or snarky remark. If you must include some levity, use a sideways smiley face -- :-) -- or an explanatory remark, such as

Never send attachments during a first contact

Nothing gets your missive deleted quicker than an unsolicited and unanticipated attachment. Proper email etiquette demands that the sender alerts the recipient of the intention to send the attachment. This allows the recipient to judiciously choose which messages to consider safe and which to delete unopened.

Do not click "forward"

Although email etiquette rules do not usually cover the forwarding of emails, it should go without saying that your business contacts and professors should not be on your chain email recipient lists. Nothing destroys a professional reputation faster than sending on chain mails -- which frequently contain half-baked bits and pieces of information.

Sources

Yahoo! Style Guide: "Email addresses and fields"

Purdue University: "Email Etiquette"