Top 5 e-mail etiquette goofs

June 9, 2008 by
Filed under: Employee computer use, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views 

Everybody makes them every now and then. But keeping these etiquette mistakes in check can boost your standing with employees and execs.

When it comes to communication, it’s often the little things that matter. Here are 5 small mistakes that can have a big negative impact:

  1. Trying to be sarcastic. Written messages almost always come off as more insulting than they would orally — and can misinterpreted in a myriad of other ways.
  2. Trusting the spam filter. You should check your garbage can regularly — no filters are perfect, and odds are yours has thrown away something important that needs a reply.
  3. Blank subject lines. It’s easy to forgot when you’re trying to send a quick e-mail, but leaving the subject line empty can be bothersome for receivers — and your message might not get read at all.
  4. Misusing the “reply all” button. This one’s tricky. Some people use “reply all” when they all need to respond to one person. Others just hit “reply” when they’ve got something to tell everyone.
  5. Overusing high-tech shorthand. Things like BTW, IMO and LOL have become standard in e-mail conversations, but not everyone is quite so savvy and tech literate. These acronyms should be used only if you’re sure the audience knows them.

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Comments

10 Comments on Top 5 e-mail etiquette goofs

  1. K. Hamm on Tue, 10th Jun 2008 6:01 pm

    2. And – for anyone applying for a job – remember that the e-mail you send (or online application) is as much a sample of the quality of your work as any paper application or resume. That means proof read it and use punctuation and capitalization where appropriate. I have started getting a lot of apps that don’t use any capital letters or punctuation. Maybe this is a result of people texting too much. They go into the “do not hire” pile as soon as they come in.

  2. Brian on Fri, 13th Jun 2008 2:28 pm

    3. And to add to what K said, make sure your email address sounds somewhat professional. “sassy_lady4U at dot com” probably won’t get an interview for a Corporate Trainer.

  3. K. Hamm on Mon, 16th Jun 2008 3:52 pm

    4. Depends on the kind of training you need, I guess…. ;-)

  4. Charla on Tue, 19th Aug 2008 3:35 pm

    5. So would it be an etiquette goof to use high tech shorthand in an etiquette article and not tell the readers what the acronyms mean? To use your own words, “These acronyms should be used only if you’re sure the audience knows them.” Call me not quite “so savvy” and/or “tech literate”.. but I don’t know what BTW or IMO stand for. Can someone EMN?
    (enlighten me now) I seriously don’t know and would like to. So I can be so savvy! :o )

  5. Robin on Tue, 19th Aug 2008 3:46 pm

    6. You caught him on that one, Charla.

    IMO = In my opinion

    BTW = By the way

  6. Charla on Tue, 19th Aug 2008 3:48 pm

    7. TYK Robin!
    TYK = Thank you kindly

    Charla

  7. add1ct on Fri, 19th Dec 2008 3:36 pm

    8. Great stuff. I was too sure about this story. But this helped a lot so thanks

  8. Seshaya on Thu, 12th Mar 2009 1:49 am

    9. Don’t you hate spam to?

  9. Bob on Thu, 12th Mar 2009 12:50 pm

    10. RTFM or LART, LOL. BTW, JMHO

  10. Bob on Thu, 12th Mar 2009 1:07 pm

    11. Ok, just to soften my previous comment a bit….

    I’ve known programmers that express themselves in e-mail using code:

    !HAPPY?QUIT || +=RAISE

    Which you are expected to interpret as:

    If I’m not happy, I’ll quit! Or, I need a raise!

    A good response to this would be:

    QUIT?SALARY&=0x00000FFF

    “If you quit, you’ll be working [somewhere else] for peanuts”

    There is nothing in this world as unique as working with a group of well-tuned nerds.