E-mail Etiquette

• Pay attention to the tone of your emails. If it is of a sensitive nature, consider asking someone to proof-read it before sending it out.

• Proof-read your emails, including the distribution list before you send them out

• If you cc: another person’s manager, you should also cc: your own manager

• Set the sequence of recipients deliberately, in order or rank or importance

• Avoid emails in ALL CAPS – they can be interpreted as “SHOUTING”. Instead, you may emphasize words using italics or underline.

• Avoid over-use of abbreviations to ensure clear communications

• Choose your email subject deliberately to accurately reflect the contents of the email. This subject will probably be used later to identify the contents of the email, so make sure it is relevant.

• Anyone who is to take action based on your email should be placed in the TO: field and not in the CC: field

• If you are expecting a response, action, or deliverable, consider that you provide a deadline or expectation of when you are looking for the response or, if you can afford to, ask them to provide an expected delivery timeframe

• Follow up in a timely manner – if you give a deadline, but don’t follow right away if it is missed, then it gives the impression that there is no urgency.

• Pay attention to the distribution list and what is being asked before deciding between using Reply-to-all vs. Reply. For example, if someone is asking for information or confirmation from a group of people, others may not want to receive copies of everyone’s reply.

• If you are upset, don’t vent your frustrations or retort by email. Emails have a way of getting around. Take time to cool off first, and then try to work through it by phone or in-person rather than email. It helps to be able to read body language and hear intonations to understand the intent behind the words.

• If an email request sent to you needs to go to someone else, you still need to send a reply. Ideally, you may want to contact the “correct” party first to ensure that they’ll be able to handle the request. Then, in your response to the requester, explain what you’ve done and introduce them to the party that will service their request, copying that party on the response. This provides a clear email trail for the hand-off.

• Once your email leaves your Outbox, you can’t get it back. However, you have the option to configure Outlook to send your emails out immediately upon hitting send or for your emails to sit in your Outbox first, and then get sent out according to regular intervals. The latter would allow you a chance to stop an email and edit it again before it goes out, provided you do so within the specified cycle.

• When sending emails to individuals or small groups within a project team, in order to avoid sensitivities around “who gets copied on what”, if you want to create more visibility, then you can create a distribution list for the project and send to the list instead. This way, you’ll avoid questions about “why did you copy my manager/MD/this other group/etc.”, while still giving visibility to the whole project team.

• Salutations beginning with “Dear” can create a very formal tone, unless used in “Dear All,” or similar circumstances.

• When sending to a list of people, you can use a greeting that helps to indicate how that particular group of recipients was identified. Examples include: “ITD Managing Directors,” “Symphony Reps,” “PowerPad PM Team,” etc.

• Generally, it is a good idea to address the party/parties to whom the email is directed (to have a salutation), rather than leaving it implicit. This is especially true if you have people on the CC: list, to help avoid confusion about who the email is directed to. Omitting the salutation altogether gives the email a more informal, “quick reply” feel which may be better suited to individual 1-1 email chains that flow like a conversation.

• Email isn’t the only communication channel available. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone to call someone if a discussion is warranted, the topic is sensitive, the issue is urgent, or the person isn’t responding. You can also consider sending an email first, then following it up with a phone call so that the other party has a chance to look at the email for context/reference.