As a communications professional who is constantly communicating with people throughout several time zones, e-mail is critical to my business.  Like many of you, I personally write and respond to more e-mails a day than make phone calls or meet people in person.  According to The Radicati Group, Inc Marketing Research Firm, the average number of emails sent and received per day is 192 (for the record, today I received 317 e-mails and probably responded to about 60% of those). It’s a job on its own.

With so much of our daily communication dependent on the magic of e-mail, I started thinking about what makes a good e-mail and why some e-mails just don’t receive the intended responses and reactions. After all, I see e-mails that run the gamut from short, sweet, brief, very specific, disorganized, unclear, exciting, disheartening, happy, “winky” and sometime downright rude.  Could a little e-mail etiquette be in order?  

Here are some general guidelines to keep in mind from a person who certainly sends and receives plenty of e-mails on a daily basis.

To start off, I think it’s okay to splash an email with a little personality.  After all, if I’m reading about 300 of these a day, I want at least some of them to entertain me or make me smile. But you do have use your judgment and decide whether it’s the appropriate time and audience. If you are not sure, err on the side of caution and keep it on the straight and narrow.

Before you get started, ask yourself why you're sending this email. What's the purpose? What’s the intended response from the recipient? Sounds simple enough, but if you really think about it this way, it should help you organize your thoughts.

At minimum, all e-mails should always have:

• A subject line that is relevant to what you are addressing in the e-mail
  • Make it easy for the person you are emailing to be able to reference this e-mail
    later. Chances are the message will get lost if you combine a separate request into
    another topic’s email chain.
• A greeting
  • Consider the formality of the greeting based on who you are communicating with. For those who also work with international clients, keep in mind which country this person is from. Avoid any slang or informal greetings to maintain a professional tone.
  • A simple “hello”, “hi”, or “hola” will help set a positive tone

• A purpose and full description of why you are writing

  • If you are forwarding a document or email, don’t make the recipient work to figure
    out what you are trying to say or request.
  • Be nice.  Use “please” and “thank you” and avoid any negative innuendos or accusations.If you have a gripe with someone, take it offline. Chances are that if
    you send an email with a negative tone, you will receive negative response, and
    things can escalate from there.

• A gracious response for any information that may have been sent to you

  • Even if you did not receive exactly what you wanted, always be sure to be
    appreciative of that person’s time and efforts. And, yes, go ahead and ask
    again for what you really want (but nicely).
  • When asking someone for something, you should also always include a due date (specify time zones, if necessary) and include as much information as possible about what you are requesting so that it is easier for that person to the complete the task in the quickest and most efficient way possible.

• A courteous sign off

  • If there is something to be thankful about, make sure to include a “thanks!” Some of my personal favorite sign offs include “Best” and “Regards.”

Just remember that the majority of the people who you make contact with on a daily basis will respond to you in either a positive or negative way based on a written piece of electronic communication, so be nice, be clear about what you need, say thank you, give a deadline, and of course always spell check.

Now, hit SEND!

I’d love to hear about your best and worst e-mails.  Please comment below or Tweet me
@lourdesmateo