Business Workplace Email EtiquettePage Summary: Business or Workplace email etiquette is an email etiquette guide not limited to business email, but email etiquette tips for all. As with everything else, the moment you are in contact with people, etiquette rules apply.  Sometimes I think that email manners are more important because reading text with no sound, no physical expression or tone of voice, in the context of a 2D presentation can sometimes miscommunicate, misrepresent your real message. I've had countless of times where emails to me by my readers come off as rude and demanding but later they will write me a heartwarming email after I've replied to them. Thus, we need to apply extra politeness, respect and courtesies in email. Business / Workplace email etiquetteProper Email EtiquetteBasic courtesy and respect should always be employed. Proper email etiquette, as with letter writing etiquette, it should start off addressing the recipient. To: John Parker or Dear John Parker, If you do not know "who" you are emailing to... To: Customer Service 
This quickly helps your recipient identify your email and can respond to it quickly. It is rude to leave it blank and let the other person figure it out what is it that you require or need or want. As for personal email, it's often nice to do so as well, but it need not be serious "We Need To Catch Up" which can come off rude, instead, a happy "Hello" or "Hi from Leia" will do. This comes in various forms, depending on the formality of the message. This is known as the "Email Signature" where you can customize in most email programs, certainly Gmail and Yahoo mail if you choose to read your emails there. This is so to provide the recipient easy access to contact you in more ways than more, i.e. phone, should they wish to. It is not necessary to do this for personal email though you may, if you wish to. Business / Workplace email etiquetteBusiness Email Etiquette Email is basically instant communication, so there are some who abuse this privilege. Because it is instant, not enough thought are put into using email and most emails are sent off with a blast. Often times, the recipient is left wasting time deleting useless emails, jokes they are not interested to hear, pictures that offend them, or figuring out what are you trying to say with spelling errors and short forms for actual words. These are not good email manners especially in a business setting. Email may not be 100% confidential or private so avoid distributing important information like credit card phone numbers. In some business workplaces, in the fine print of the employee contract, it reserves the right for your boss and superiors to monitor your email from time to time. The minute you are asked to leave the company, all contacts and information contained in those emails rightfully belong to theirs. With this knowledge in mind, you might want to employ discretion with your email. And definitely not providing them with grounds to fire you because of business email abuse. Abusive conduct of email includes, mass forwarding of emails not related to work, questionable pictures and material on emails, offensive language used in an email, chain letters, in order words spamming and creating a nuisance with email. Therefore, always be professional and careful and remember that business email should not be used for frivolous correspondence. You might also be interested in: Proper Business Card Etiquette  Return to the top of Workplace email etiquette Go back to homepage Tags: Workplace email etiquette, proper email etiquette, email etiquette tips, business email etiquette, email manners, email etiquette guide “A truly elegant taste is generally accompanied with excellency of heart.” Have A Great Story About This Topic?Do you have a great story about this? Share it!
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