Email etiquette - Part 2
Published:Wednesday | June 1, 2011 | 12:00 AM
- 7 more fatal faux pas that could hurt you
Your job-hunting prospects, career progress, income, reputation and business relationships are too important to take chances with.
That's why you'll find this revealing follow-up column on email etiquette highly valuable.
By avoiding the following seven common email mistakes, you'll save yourself from hurting your career. You'll enjoy all the amazing benefits of email while suffering none of the downsides.
1. Sending an unfinished email: This could happen by inadvertently pressing SEND prematurely, or by recalling something important after the fact, and having to send a quick follow-up mail. Either way, you'll create the impression of someone who is not thorough. To prevent this, form the habit of manually typing in the address when you're sure it's ready to be sent.
2. Inattention to the subject line: Your subject will determine how the recipient responds to your email. Forget being clever. Instead, write a subject in terms of your recipient's interest. Remember, people pay attention to what will benefit themselves.
3. Carelessness in using cc and bcc: Cc means 'carbon copy'; bcc means 'blind carbon copy'. Use cc when you want everyone to see all the addresses to which you've sent the email. Use bcc when you're sending email to several persons but you want to hide the email addresses of the other recipients. Some people may resent your sending their email addresses to others using cc.
4. Sending email to the wrong recipient: Need I say anything about this? I think not! To avoid this poten-tially most fatal mistake, use 'reply' sparingly. Form the habit of manually typing in the email when you're ready to send.
5. Delaying your response or promised follow-up: A long-accepted time-management maxim says: 'Handle each piece of paper only once'. In the digital age, we can adapt this to say: 'Respond immediately to emails'.
In other words, acknowledge the email immediately rather than noting it with the intention of getting back to it. Then, if you promise to get back to people, do as you promised.
From painful experience, I've learned that people don't take it well when their emails are ignored. You don't have to meet people's obligations, but they rightly expect a respectful and courteous response.
6. Sending very large attachments: Try avoiding attachments if possible. Instead, include everything in the body of your email. Slow downloads of large emails will result in your email not getting read. Also, many people access their emails using mobile phones which may not always have the necessary app for downloading your attachment.
7. Using your company email inappropriately: Create a personal email account for communicating with your friends, family and associates about matters unrelated to your job. You should restrict your use of your company email account to communicate with others about job-related matters. Be aware that your company-assigned email account may be subject to monitoring by your company for various security and management purposes.
Glenford Smith is a motivational speaker and success strategist.