Perfect Your Email Etiquette to Make a Great Impression
Posted on Tuesday, April 4th, 2017
Email. It’s a ubiquitous tool that we use for everything from subscribing to newsletters, to paying bills, to applying for jobs. For many students, email has been around their whole life and has become second nature. There’s a good chance that it’s only when entering college, university, or the workforce that email has become a tool for professional communication.
No matter what field you’re in, email has become the way of communication in business. And to succeed as an employee in today’s world, it’s important to have an understanding of proper email etiquette. Today, we talk about helpful tips and pointers to make sure that your emails are always clear, concise, and polite.
Make it Easy
When writing an email, it’s very easy to get carried away and write a thousand words to make sure you get your point across. It’s tempting, but email is not the appropriate place for this.
Remember: everyone is busy. In an email, you want to be as clear and concise as possible. This means short sentences that clearly state what it is you’re emailing about.
It also means keeping it strictly professional. Never talk about personal things in a business email, never use slang or abbreviations, and be careful about using humour. Remember, it’s easy to misconstrue things through email, and sometimes your joke doesn’t translate very well in writing.
You also want to ensure that your subject line gets your message across. Clearly state exactly what the email is about, and be precise. Instead of saying just, ‘Meeting’, say ‘Friday meeting time change to 1 p.m.’. Remember, you want to make sure that what you need to say is received as quickly as possible by the person you’re sending the email to.
Keeping it professional has another benefit, beyond impressing all your co-workers and bosses. You also avoid spam filters, which at some organizations can be crazy strict. Things like the use of multiple exclamation points, slangy language, all caps, fancy formatting, swearing (obviously), and unnecessarily long email signatures can all trip those blockers. Make sure your message doesn’t get lost in the infinity of the internet by keeping your message nice and clean.
Proofread
How often have we talked about proofreading on this blog? We know it’s repetitive, but we’ll keep saying it: proofreading is the number one most important thing you can do to be perceived as a mature, professional person.
The problem with sending an email (yes, even a simple email) with typos is that it affects your professional reputation. Your reputation can follow you for years, so you want to make sure you keep yours as positive as possible.
When you send an error-filled email, you show the recipient that they didn’t matter enough for you to ensure the email was correct and error-free. You show that you are disorganized and don’t take the time to create quality work. It may not be a fair assessment, but that doesn’t matter. Whether consciously or not, your recipient will judge you for it.
So proofread! If you’ve followed the advice above and written a nice and short email, it will only take you a minute to make sure your email looks great.
Know When to Not Email
Email, honestly, is the best. It has completely changed the playing field for just about every industry in the world. It has made our lives easier, faster, and more open.
But, great as it is, it is important to know when you shouldn’t use it. Sometimes, you still need to pick up the phone.
The first of these situations has to do with keeping your email short. If you have something complicated to communicate, it’s probably best to call the person. Talking things through often clarifies things more than an email would.
Same goes for topics that are urgent. Even in our super-connected world, it’s dangerous to assume that people are always right on top of their inbox. If you have something time-sensitive or urgent to talk about, calling is probably your best bet.
You also want to keep bad news to a phone call. If you need to cancel plans or deliver something negative, it should always be done in person or as a last resort, through a phone call. Email is still perceived as impersonal, and that’s not the way to tell someone something they don’t want to hear. Intimidating as it is, picking up the phone will show your responsibility and commitment.
With great power…
Email is a tool, and like all tools you can learn how to use it properly. When you consider your audience and focus on making your email as clear and understandable as possible, email becomes an important professional skill for you to possess.
Are you an Algonquin College co-op student in need of some guidance? Contact your co-op consultant for help with resume and cover letter writing, job hunting, and more.
If you would like to learn more about the co-op program, please visit our website at https://www.algonquincollege.com/coop/, connect with us at coop@algonquincollege.com or call us at 613-727-4723 Ext.7623.
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