E-Fresher Course

Every so often clients ask about the protocol or etiquette with regard to email correspondence. Like the words we speak, electronic mail is an incredibly powerful and effective means of communication. The rules are constantly evolving. So it's time for a refresher course. Or more precisely, an "e-fresher" course in "netiquette."

We love the ease and comfort of using email, but an overwhelming number of you find the comfort level a bit disconcerting. In an informal survey, I asked people how they felt about email correspondence in general and what, specifically, was really bothersome to them. There were many concerns and complaints, and overall there was a consistent desire for courtesy. Here, in no particular order are some of their responses.

1) Not thinking before writing. Because email is such an instant form of communication, often people don't take the time to think before they respond. The result is a tendency to say things that they would never say over the phone or in a face-to-face meeting.

2) PEOPLE WHO INSIST ON USING UPPER CASE LETTERS, WHICH COMES ACROSS LIKE YELLING AND IS DIFFICULT TO READ. Conversely, there are those people who think they are e e cummings. too cute for words. all lower case. The rules of writing and correspondence tend to fly out the window. Organization, spelling and grammar become optional, to the detriment of the message.

3) Helpful subject lines. People are busy in the workplace, and could be receiving hundreds of messages daily. Make your message and your subject lines easy for the recipient to identify and follow.

4) Copying and forwarding messages. Make sure that you are not forwarding and copying messages and responses to people without the writer's permission. Be careful not to send messages that were not meant for the whole world to see. Keep personal emails personal. And, if very personal, perhaps email is not the best method of communication. Rumors can spread at lightning speed via email. Try not to contribute to this nightmare.

5) Downloading Attachments. Be aware of sending files that are very large and might take a lot of time to download. Is this something the recipient wants or has requested? Do they have the software to download the attachment?

6) Legibility. Not all computers have the same fonts. Your "creativity" may not be translating to your recipients. Additionally, many fonts have special characters which may not translate to different email programs and cutting and pasting from word processing programs into email. Some of these include bullets, hyphens, fractions, curly quotations and ampersands. When in doubt, it's best to limit your use of these characters and stick with fonts that are common.

I have touched on a few of the more common responses gleaned from the survey, but there are many more issues to address.

Remember, email is about communicating with other people. Read your messages over before you send them. If you dedicate the time to ensure that your message is clear, meaningful and effective, you won't be kicking yourself for hitting the "send" button too soon!