The emergence of e-mail as an important communicating tool has been a boon for people from businessmen to housewives. Still, some treat e-mail as a toy that doesn’t require the same rules as other correspondence. This article will give you some dos and don’ts for e-mailing as well as give you solid concepts on how to get the most from your e-mails.
Know your Audience
One of the great things about e-mail is the ability
it gives one to stay in touch with his or her friends. Don’t want to spend
money on a long-distance phone call to tell your brother about a great date you
had? Well, shoot him an e-mail. There is freedom in sending e-mails to friends
and loved ones, as grammar, spelling and etiquette usually need not apply. It
gets trickier, however, when you use your e-mails for professional purposes.
From the subject line on down, the many of the same rules for writing a letter need to be
adopted for writing e-mail.
Good subject line to your brother: “Hey you crazy
guy, what’s up?”
Bad subject line to potential boss: “Hey you crazy
guy, what’s up?”
Ok, while this seems obvious, you’d be surprised how often people can get
overly friendly with strangers in an e-mail.
Another good idea is to make your greeting line
gender-unspecific. If you are unsure of the name of the person you are
e-mailing, use an opening line like “To Whom it may concern.” Often, companies
will have guidelines on how to begin and end messages. If not, create one for
yourself and use it consistently.
Salutations and farewells in e-mails only important
to the recipient if they are done haphazardly or without professionalism.