Business Email

Emailing for business comes with a certain etiquette that emailing on a personal level does not. When emailing friends and family, using terms such as "LOL," sending forwards, and sending mass emails to everyone from your dentist to your third grade soccer coach are all okay. But, in business, these things aren't very appropriate. Sending something unprofessional in a business email won't leave your boss with the desire to write LOL when he replies.

Luckily, keeping emails professional is relatively easy. By just remembering a few tips, you will be able to hit "send" without worrying about an unwelcome end.

Be Careful of Sarcasm

The bad thing about email, other than the SPAM, is that it takes away nonverbal communication. The recipient isn't able to hear the tone of your voice or see the smile on your face as you send them an email. For this reason, jokes and sarcasm may come across not as intended. You may send an email that is meant to lighten the mood or convey a little laughter, but it might not come across as funny; it might just come across as insulting. Keeping emails free of any sort of joking helps to make sure you aren't misunderstood as being precarious when you are really trying just to be hilarious.

Beware of Brevity

Brevity is typically a good thing in business. Businesspeople are busy people. Brevity in an email, however, can be misunderstood. Replying to an email with the words "Ok" or "Fine" may, to you, seem simple and to the point. To the person on the receiving end, your briefness may be misconstrued as rudeness. You can be brief, but be brief in one or two sentences, instead of one or two words.

Don't Capitalize Everything

Some people may prefer to write with the Caps Lock enabled as a way to save time. This avenue may seem like it saves seconds, keeping someone from having to make sure they capitalized the proper words or names. However, in the wonderful world of email, writing in all caps is equated with yelling, something you certainly don't want to be found doing to your boss. For this reason, no emails should ever be sent in all caps. You may be saving time, but you won't be saving face.

Never Recall a Message

In the world of pointless gestures, the email recall message might take the cake. Recalling an email message is bad for two reasons. First of all, most of the email you are recalling has already been read by the recipient. Most people, especially in a business setting, read their emails promptly. Second of all, recalling an email message makes you look passive and afraid to fess up to making a mistake. Instead of recalling an email message, just simply send out another email apologizing for any wrong doing you may have done.

Be Careful When Replying

We've all been in that situation; our boss sends a pointless or insulting email to a group of employees. We notice that a coworker we really like is also on the list. So, we decide to send them an email making fun of our bosses email. But, instead of simply replying to our beloved coworker, we Reply to All, including our boss. Needless to say, recalling the message won't help get any of us out of this one. Once an email is sent, the damage is done; thus, being careful when replying, and making sure your email only goes to whomever you intend, is essential. Don't hit send until you've double checked.

Email is an important tool for business. It can help you keep in touch with important people when you are one the road and it can help you close important deals, meet important deadlines, and kiss important butt. However, if you're unprofessional, it can also get you in a lot of important hot water.