Read this article about email etiquette by a professional career planning consultant at http://careerplanning.about.com/lr/email_etiquette/57869/1/ (note that it is four pages long, so be sure to click on each page number when you are done with each screen).
Think about emails you have received and that you have sent. Does one stand out as being an example of good email etiquette? If so, describe the email and what made it good. Now, does another email you have received or sent serve as a bad example? If so, describe it and what should have been done differently.
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I receive many emails, and can attest to the fact that some people really don’t care about the image they present of themselves through writing. Even if is simply a personal email, you are still telling people about yourself through how you do or do not write.
ReplyDeleteFor example, a friend of mine sent me a personal ‘how are you doing?’ type of email. It was almost impossible to read. I really don’t want to sound arrogant, or give myself false airs, but it was very annoying trying to decipher all the internet slang. Even if I WAS familiar with the various slang words (which I am NOT), it was still hard to read and understand what she was trying to say. Also, I totally understand an occasional misspelling, but to have half a dozen mistakes not only makes it harder to read…it is very easy to get confused when you are trying to guess what the person was trying to write. It also sends a negative message about how that person thinks about themselves.
On the other hand, if a person can communicate clearly, concisely, and with few spelling/grammatical errors, it really heightens my opinion of them. I received an email from a ‘new’ friend of mine, and was very much impressed with the wording and format of their email. It really makes a huge difference.
I received an e-mail regarding a job offer a few weeks ago that was terribly written. It was even from a reputable institution but they weren’t very professional at all. In fact the e-mail had no greeting and actually had several spelling errors. Other than that specific e-mail I haven’t had any problems recently. Actually most of my e-mails from companies or even family members are very well written and polite. I occasionally stumble across text lingo from friends or family. I had one e-mail I received from another job company in town telling me they had filled the position but they were so nice about the way they said it that it felt like they were generally sorry to let me down.
ReplyDeleteI have many email accounts that I use for various reasons; with this I receive many emails in a day. I have to say that I have received some interesting ones, and have probably sent some myself. I have one that is primarily for jokes and family members to go and forth on that I don’t really pay as close of attention as I should to the grammar, lingo and spelling. I do have one that I use for job applications and more professional type emails. Before I came to Globe I spent many months job searching, it was my daily task. I would get email replies to some of the jobs that I had applied to on-line as they had requested. Some of the replies where automated. There was an automated one from one company that had had a couple of job openings in my area of work that I had applied to both on-line and in hard copy. I had gotten the automated reply back for both of them. Although it was a “friendly” decline, it was full of misspellings and the layout was improper. I was torn as to whether I should let the company know of the errors, or just let it go. I decided to reply back and just let them know they may want to proofread this copy again, and thanked them for taking the time to reply back to me. I actually got a phone call from the company thanking my for pointing the errors out to them, but no job.
ReplyDeleteIn this day and age, email etiquette has a big impact on how I perceive the sender. I cannot think of very many examples where electronic communication isn’t involved one way or another. Children are being taught how to work on computers at a very young age and I’ve seen children in elementary school carrying cell phones! Text messaging has it’s own style of writing, however, emails should be composed in a way as if we were speaking face to face. I wouldn’t be too concerned about an email sent by a personal friend, but I agree with Jessica B. when it comes to the expectations of the email received by a business or company. If it’s full of spelling errors and missing a subject, I wouldn’t feel like it came from a professional company and might not even finish reading through it. I once received an email from a district manager that came in all capital letters which I took as rude because it appeared to me that she was screaming. In the business world, I feel very strongly about professionalism and put a lot of emphasis on customer service. If that district manager with the locked cap button has a vision problem or is new to the new wave of computers, I hope she gets the proper training to ensure that her mannerisms don’t offend the wrong person some day. I was a simple employee. I wonder how HER manager would feel if he or she received that same email? I utilize what I have been trained to do when it comes to correctly writing an email. Electronic communication is used so often, I want to make sure I’m taken seriously and I do not want to offend anyone by making a mistake that can easily be avoided.
ReplyDeleteWell as I must confess I'm a virgin when it comes to the Internet. My daughters boyfriend just opened an account on Hotmail for me, when I took Keyboarding 101 last quarter at Globe. I have yet to send an e-mail and the only thing that I have received is a few quick notes from friends. But as so as I get an e-mail that is of a business nature I'll be sure to look forward to comparing it to something. So far I have received 23 messages (no spam) my daughter says wait they will find you.
ReplyDeleteLast year, my wife and I took a trip to Laos. On the plane to Laos, I met a Thai man who was currently a professor at the University of Bangkok in Thailand. During our flight to the Southeast Asian countries, he and I struck up a long conversation. After the flight, we exchanged email addresses to keep in touch. Recently, I received an email from him asking me for pictures of the city where I live. In his email, I saw that about all of these email rules have been were broken. Two of the biggest problem was wording and the tone of the email. There was some sarcasm in the email, but I understood it because I knew his language. I know that if any one else would have read this email, they would not have understood what he was talking about. I also realize that there are different ways you email friends and people at the work place.
ReplyDeleteI have never used my personal email account for communicating with people because I find it simpler to use a cell phone. However, I get well written messages from my teachers and adivsors here at Globe and I think it shows a lot of respect for themselves and the students they send it out too. I appreciate that they take the time to respond in a professional way instead of slang or not explaining an issue out thoroughly. I had never taken an online class until this year and so I had plenty of questions for that teacher and she was more then willing to help me out on multiple levels with all the things I was unsure of how to do. It really made me feel comfortable and sure that she was really wanting to help me accomplish more. I, in reply, also try to make sure to check my spelling and end with thanks.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI think e-mails are very important in businesses. But I receive so many from people who send them from their place of employment and I think this is totally wrong. They may be sending them on their breaks, but I don't think they should be sending them from their place of employment. Many of them are very offensive in nature. I can't believe that their boss does not look at these accounts. When I send an e-mail I get to the point and that's it. I don't need to send e-mails form work. My emails are all personal in nature so I send them from my personal computer. I think people really need to proof read all of their e-mails because I find so many with errors.
I don’t really deal with e-mail to much; other than with school. I always try to be polite and direct, without coming off as rude. I haven’t really gotten any “bad” e-mails just do to the fact most are from school. My experience thus far has been very good and I hope that it continues to be this way. I think I will find myself using e-mail more once graduation becomes closer, but for now my boss is my mother, and she has a very hard time trying to figure anything out that has to do with a computer. The most recent e-mail I have sent was to get information on a dog that I was interested in purchasing. I addressed him as Mr. Kruger and went on to tell him that I had gotten some information from my cousin. She had told me that she was very pleased with her new dog, and that she would recommend him as a place to get a dog from. I asked him the age, price, and history of the parents. I explained that I have a dog and a child; as well as the fact that I have owned a boxer before and that she died of old age. I thought it might be good to put that bit of information in there to ease his mind a little, since this is the breed of dog he is selling.
ReplyDeleteEvery day I receive multiple emails both personal and business. At work only business emails are sent and received. I have seen some very professional emails come across my computer where I have actually sat back and stated “that was a well written email”. The writing is so good that I read the email again to look more closely at how it was written. The email was written very clear, concise, and error free. When I am done reading the email I have gained the knowledge that was supposed to have been presented. The emails could be corporate changes in the company or a change to a procedure regarding when the change will effective and where I will be able to access the information for future use.
ReplyDeleteNow for the emails that are poorly written. I have seen where an email has simple words misspelled. The email is written so poorly that I have to read the email twice. The first time all I see is the misspelling and grammar errors. Then the second time I have to focus on the content.
What I can write at this point is that I want to be in the well written professional part of the world. I want to have my writing be considered the well written document or email. My goal is to learn, practice and improve my writing skills.
A few months ago, I placed an ad on craigslist stating that I was looking for an apartment or room to rent and how much I was looking to pay. After a few hours, I started to receive many e-mails about the post. Some of the e-mails that I had received immediately made me form impressions of who I did and did not want to contact. One of the e-mails that I had received had no greeting, but just opened with “so I saw ur looking for a room to rent…holla back at me when you get this and maybe you can come check out the crib, PEACE”….I immediately knew that if someone was going to portray themselves in this matter when trying to communicate with somebody with whom they have never met, I knew that it was probably going to reflect the way that they lived. Needless to say, I filtered through the “good” e-mails and the “bad” and ultimately found a good place to live. E-mail etiquette is very important because it is often times the first (and sometimes) last impression that you will leave with somebody.
ReplyDeleteIn my line of work I conduct a lot of communication via email. Most co-workers write correctly with few or no errors. None of those really stand out, but the bad emails I do remember. I have one man that will write one big long sentence with no puncutation and no heading to the letter, misspelled words, etc. Also this employee never starts the letter with my name, and never has a proper conclusion. If I did not know him I would think he was some untrained, uneducated person. Actually he is a chemist and a brilliant man. I think he just would prefer to never communicate in this way so by replying to me in one word or writing so sloppy he does send a wrong message. I guess it worked though, because when I need to see him I usually walk over to his office now!
ReplyDeleteI,like some of you,don't really email that much unless it is related to school.The only emails I receive are from solicitors,which can be very annoying.However,I have noticed that some of their messages or attempts to get you to buy something can be very misleading.
ReplyDeleteWhat I do know is that when I do start to use email on a regular basis,I will pay very close attention to my grammer,punctuation,and tone,of my message.I hope to have a position where someone else will do my emailing,and I will be able to concentrate on face to face contact meetings.
The job that I currently have is the first time I've had to worry about professional e-mails. Most of the e-mails that come from other people in the office have been very professional. Some of the employees from in the field don't seem to have to best etiquette, especially when they are writing to agents in the call center. I do make sure to keep person e-mails out of my work e-mail account because that is a big no no there. Plus, when I get to work on Monday I have 100 e-mails there waiting for me. On my personal e-mail, I am thankful for bad grammer because it helps weed out the spam mail.
ReplyDeleteMost of the emails that I receive do not have good email etiquette but some have outstanding etiquette. When I am sending out an email to either friends or family members it will not always be formal but all other email that I send will have great email etiquette. The emails with good etiquette will have good language, names, and proper formats. It is important to always think about the person that you are sending the email to and put yourself in their position, will they think this email has good etiquette. The emails that I send to family and friends are usually short and to the point. They normally will have personal information and will not have been read over more than once. You have to think about emails as being words said to a large group of people, so it needs to have meaning but also needs to be professional. Emails are a great way to communicate with others, but there are many rules that you have to fallow to make sure that you have good email etiquette.
ReplyDeleteI also mostly use e-mail at school. I think alll of the e-mails I have recieved through my school account have been very well written. In my personal e-mail I do end up with a lot of e-mails from solicitors. I have noticed those to sometimes not be written well. I do notice a lot with recieving e-mails from friends and also even with messages on facebook and such they all could use some help especially with spelling. I have seen where people dont even use the correct word in a sentence. That is very frustrating and makes it very hard to understand what they are trying to say. Sometimes it is just that is misspelling changed a word into something totally different, ex. plan-plane. I think if everyone just took the time writing their messages, and re-read them to make sure everything is correct it could fix these problems.
ReplyDeleteI receive many emails with good etiquette. Most of them are from instructors and school advisors. They are all very professional, respectful, and contain correct spelling and grammar. Unfortunately, I also receive many emails with bad etiquette; especially from scammers. They try to “fish” for information claiming to be from a particular business or company. It is easy to identify these scams because all of the emails I received contained many grammatical and spelling errors. They also don’t contain any contact information other than a link they want you to enter. I once received five emails from five different email addresses that contained the exact scam letter. Obviously what these people should have done differently is to go get a life and make an honest living.
ReplyDeleteAt my place of employment, I go through each store to find an issue that needs attention. If it needs immediate attention, my manager will call the store. If the problem doesn’t require immediate attention but still needs to be addressed, I would send an email. In the email, I would state the issue along with a picture to support my reasoning. Occasionally, the general managers will respond. Not all, but some of the responses would contain spelling and grammatical errors. I don’t know if they are busy, or if they just don’t care, but to me it sends a message of incompetence. Mistakes that the general managers made are usually small, and could have been avoided if time was taken to proofread it.
ReplyDeleteAt a job I used to have I probably recieved about 75 to 100 emails a day. The problem was that the company that I worked for was a small business with only 12 employees. The "management" of the company would constantly sent me angry emails asking why things weren't done yet or what was going on with this project, rather than walking the ten feet from their office to the service area to see what we were doing with the projects to get them done. To me it seemed pretty poor to use email rather than talking to someone and it really created an arrogant culture or image of them to the rest of the company. All you would would hear from them were angry or snotty emails about why projects weren't done or done right. They used it as a supplement to actually talking to their employees face to face. They would also sent out emails when a customer would call and complain, that were very angry and would belittle the entire team. They were a very hard company to work for.
ReplyDeleteI did, however, learn a valuable lesson from them. I used my company email to complain about my boss, only to find out latter that he read everyones emails. So I learned to becareful what you say and what email system you use to say it.
Let me start by saying I have 3 seperate email accounts, but 2 that I mainly use. The one email account from my old school is my everyday account I use to communicate with people from that school and I have various subscriptions sent to that email. The other account I mainly use is here at Globe. I find it to be very polite when teachers and other professional figures use correct grammar, and puntcuation in their emails, because it shows they care about the message they want to convey. On the flip side I have recieved emails before when I was looking for a subleaser that were just aweful. A couple of them were just one sentence asking, "have you found a subleaser yet," or something along those lines, no introduction, or background information at all. Just because of the rudeness and unprofessionalism I immediately deleted those emails. I felt bad doing it, but I thought to myself if they can't take the extra 5 minutes to communicate effectively and construct a nice email message I might have considered them.
ReplyDeleteI have received e-mails from people/places that I would expect excellent etiquette from yet it was very poor. I received an email a while ago regarding a job application that I had filled out and the person that responded seemed as if it was there first time typing on a computer, it was so horrible. I think that with the technology that we have today such as facebook, cell phones, etc. is the reason why some people have bad habits while writing these things. While texting or writing on facebook many people use slang words or will use abbreviations for things. I know that I am guilty of this myself. Therefore, I try to be more conscious about how I am making myself look when writing to people via email because it can say a lot about you.
ReplyDeleteI think e-mail does say A LOT about you. I don't think many people realize that but they should start. I have started to use e-mail for professional use and I am aware of good and bad e-mails that I have sent. I have learned to type my documents in word first and then read it over before sending it. However I do remember an e-mail I sent to an instructor that had the subject line spelled wrong! I noticed it after I sent it...go figure! I felt like an idiot after that.
ReplyDelete