| E-mail Netiquette: How to Make Certain Your Messages Are Welcome |
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Netiquette. It sounds like a badminton term, but it
is actually a set of understood guidelines for how to conduct yourself on the
Web. Many people restrict its applicability to online chat rooms and discussion
groups, but it should also be applied to your e-mail. Following are some tips on
using appropriate netiquette in your e-mail messages. These tips will not only
keep you safe from complaints, several of them are good public relations
practices. Don’t send attachments unless the recipient knows they’re coming. Many viruses are sent by attachment. Several e-mail software programs now screen out messages sent with attachments if they're from an unknown source. Don’t send broadcast e-mails unless you have permission to include everyone on your mailing list, then personalize your e-mail by using the bcc feature on your e-mail program, or better yet, an e-mail contact management program that puts each individual’s name (separately) in the recipient column. Don’t make your recipients wade through a dozen or more “To” names before they can read your message. It doesn’t make them feel special. Don’t send e-mail that has been forwarded two hundred times, and includes the list of forwards. I make it a practice of deleting without reading all e-mails with an FW: in the subject line. I haven’t missed anything important yet.Don’t send one-line e-mails “thanks.” For someone who receives a lot of e-mail, these are annoyances, especially if the recipient can’t figure out who’s thanking them or why. Which brings up another point:Always sign your e-mail. Include a sig file in your e-mail template and you won't have to think about it. What’s a sig file? An electronic signature block that includes your name, your company name, tag line and contact information. Make sure you include your e-mail address in this signature block. Many times e-mail programs will not display the address on the “sender” line, but instead will give the person’s name or nickname, depending on how their e-mail is configured. Test your own by e-mailing yourself. If your e-mail address does not show up in your heading (the part above the body of the e-mail), you should definitely add it to your signature block. Yes, your recipients can find your address by jumping through a few e-mail hoops, but why make them? Don’t use the “reply” feature for long e-mails. Just cut and paste the section that you’re responding to.Don’t type in all caps. It feels like you’re SHOUTING. Use appropriate capitalization and punctuation. Avoid excessive abbreviation, and leaving out vowels like this: avd xsv abbr & lvng out vwls lk ths. Your recipient may not be as clever as you and may translate this as “avid x-server abracadabra and loving out Volkswagens like this.” And use the spell check feature if you have one on your e-mail program. Yes, it’s a pain; yes, it stops at every odd name spelling, even the word “e-mail,” but it will save you from embarrassing mistakes. Avoid at all costs passing on anything that smacks of a chain letter, especially the bleeding heart chain letters. Most of them are hoaxes, anyway. If you receive such a chain letter, delete it. You don’t have to make an issue of it with the sender; just delete it. I promise. You won’t be run over by a garbage truck the next day.E-mail netiquette just takes a little forethought. If it helps, think of e-mail as an electronic way of sending a personal note. Your recipients will notice your thoughtfulness, and will appreciate it. Yvonne Buchanan, Real-World PRwww.realworldpr.com Need help implementing a new sales or marketing program? We've got two suggestions:
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