Email Etiquette

by Ashley Drake Gephart on October 21, 2009

Kimberly recently tweeted this out:

Don't email spam

This brings up a very important point about e-mail usage. There seems to be a worsening trend as of late that not only involves personal e-mails between family and friends, but business professionals as well.

The first part of this trend is sending out spam, junk, and chain e-mails to your business colleagues. The second part is sending out e-mails containing so many grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and acronyms that even a text-savvy teenager would have a difficult time deciphering them. It only takes a few minutes to proof your e-mails and treat your readers with respect. Limited acronyms, particularly industry-based, are fine. But the emphasis here is “limited.” If you do need to send an e-mail to a diverse group of people, protect the privacy of e-mail addresses by sending the e-mails out as blind carbon copies (BCC’s).

Finally, as Kimberly pointed out, there is no need to forward spam out to friends and colleagues. Before you blast an e-mail to your address book and perpetuate the problem, do a quick Google search to verify the legitimacy of the e-mail.

These few simple steps will allow you to maintain your e-mail professionalism.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Patsy October 22, 2009 at 1:09 am

I would like to send this to my whole address book.

Reply

AshDHart October 22, 2009 at 1:13 am

Please do. Just remember to use the BCC feature!

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