Email Etiquette

TekResults emailed Miss Manners and asked her, very politely, for some tips on how to be a good citizen when communicating electronically.  Unfortunately she did not return our email so we will have to improvise.  Email is the predominant way that some people communicate.  However these communications are sometimes, ineffective, inefficient and rude. 

• First remember that you are communicating with a person so don’t type anything you would not say to them face to face.  In fact it is always worth reading your message before you hit the send button since the other person will not see your facial expressions and intonations  and may be more easily offended. 
• Secondly put yourself in the reader’s shoes and make sure that your message is understandable and complete without being wordy.  In all cases include a subject line that adequately describes the content. 
• Another important tip is to never email in all caps – it is interpreted as SHOUTING by some.  Don’t attach Word, Excel or other documents unless the recipient will need to edit. 
• When emailing to a group of people, you will usually want to BCC the recipients unless you think that it is important that everyone sees the recipients.  Large groups should very rarely be included in the “To”.  When responding to an email that is sent to a group, do not “spray” the response to everyone unless you think that the response absolutely pertains to all.   You should very rarely request a delivery or read receipt. 
• Do not send large emails with included pictures to people unless you know the person well and never send emails with questionable content to work addresses.  If you manage other people, email policies should be detailed in your acceptable use document and employees should abide by them.