Best Email Etiquette: Avoid These Five Email Faux Pas

You want your email messages to be well-received.

That is why it is so important to maintain excellent email etiquette. Here are ten mistakes to avoid in order to ensure that your email etiquette is in top form:

1. Don't begin your emails with “Hey”. While that greeting might work for your friends, it will seem unprofessional and even annoying to many others.

2. Don't use all caps. Whether or not you intend it to be the case, all cap text makes it look like you are screaming at the recipient. Unless you are screaming at the recipient, employ the normal rules of capitalization.

3. Avoid typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors. Treat an email like you would a letter. Emails are now used as such; they are not texts or IMs. Misspelled and misused words are not only annoying to the recipient, but make the sender look careless and unprofessional. There are many spellcheck programs for emails such as Grammarly. If it helps, use one.

4. Sign the email with either the use of a signature block or an end-of-email salutation. Again, emails are now used interchangeably with letter correspondence and should be treated with the same level or formality and professionalism.

5. Avoid being a never-ender, someone who feel the need to keep the email chain going unnecessarily by emailing “OK” or something similar back to a recipient who has already acknowledged receipt of your email. For example, you ask the person to do something in your opening email. They then say “will do.”  You should then resist the temptation to say “OK” which only serves to clutter further the recipient's inbox. You can thank the person later once they have completed the assigned task.

The bottom line is that we now all use emails (often with attached PDFs) instead of snail mail for all types of business related activities. Use these tips to keep your emails professional and well-presented in order to obtain the best results.