Guidelines

Tone in Business Email Communications

1. It is considered very impolite to type the email in capital letters – it is the email equivalent of shouting at someone.
2. Emails demand a prompt response. As with phone calls and faxes, if it is not possible to provide the right response in that time, email the other party to let them know that the matter is being attended to.
3. Even if a direct question is not asked in an email, a response to the sender that the email was understood or received is appropriate.
4. An email reply must answer all questions and pre-empt further questions.
5. Remember that business email is not a private form of communication – don’t use it for private correspondence or gossip.

Format in Business Email Communication

1. Do not Blind Send or bcc: people, rather include the names of all individual recipients. This averts the question of whether or not someone else received the same email or if it were just sent to you.
2. Format a standard ‘signature’ for emails which includes: full name, title, department, telephone numbers and email address. This helps those that need to call you about the email.
3. In business communications, it is better not to play around with fonts and background colors or borders for your email. Keep it Simple.
4. Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation. This is really important because bad spelling, grammar and punctuation give a bad impression of the company.
5. Write a meaningful subject line that will be helpful to the recipient.
6. Upon voluntarily terminating from MLS, do not delete emails or word documents. This creates a gap in communication for the new employee.
7. Do not overuse Reply to All or cc:. Only use Reply to All if you really need your message to be seen by each person who received the original message. Try not to use the cc: field unless the recipient in the cc: field knows why they are receiving a copy of the message.

Style in Business Email Communication

1. Be concise and to the point. Do not make an email longer than it needs to be. Remember that reading an email is harder than reading printed communications and a long email can be very discouraging to read.
2. Large attachments can annoy recipients and even bring down their email system. Avoid them.
3. Do not forward chain letters. Delete them.
4. An email that comes from an unknown source and asks for an attachment to be opened, should be deleted– it may be a virus.