ETIQUETTE TIPS. Traci Kasten. Executive Assistant Chief Operations Office x179

Transcription

1 ETIQUETTE TIPS Traci Kasten Executive Assistant Chief Operations Office x179

2 SENDING S Make sure your contains a courteous greeting and closing. Address your contact with the appropriate level of formality. Use spell check. Read your s out loud before you send them to make sure the tone is appropriate. A few words like please and thank you go a long way! Be sure to include relevant information don t be too general. Use proper sentence structure. Multiple instances of!!! Or??? can be perceived as rude or condescending.

3 Don t send s when you are angry or emotional. Walk away for a while. Refrain from using the Reply to All button unless necessary. Some people may not be interested in your opinion. Type in complete sentences. Always respond to an , even if the sender didn t ask for a reply. Be timely in your response. Always fill in the Subject line and be accurate in your description. Keep s brief and too the point. Save long conversations for the telephone. Always end your s with Thank You, Sincerely, SOMETHING.

4 FORMATTING S Don t type in all caps in speak, that is YELLING! Don t use bold type. Don t use patterned backgrounds. Use only standard fonts. Use emoticons sparingly. Don t type s in all lower case it gives the perception of laziness or lack of education.

5 ATTACHMENTS Never send large attachments without notice. Never open an attachment from someone you don t know. Be sure your virus, adware and spyware programs are up to date before sending or opening attachments. Use PDF format when possible for attachments. Using other formats may mean that the recipient cannot open what you send.

6 TO, FROM, CC, BCC, RR, SUBJECT: Only use Cc: when it s important for those you copy to know about the contents of the . Overuse can lead to your s being ignored. Don t use Return Receipt on every . It s often viewed as intrusive or annoying and can be declined by the other side anyway. Those in the To field are those you want a response from. Those in the Cc field are for those who need an FYI only. Always fill in the Subject line or your could get tagged as spam. Use your discretion when adding addresses to the To:, Cc:, BCc: fields. Never expose your friend s or contact s address to strangers by listing them in the To field. Use BCc! Make sure your intentions are proper when using BCc: It can be seen as talking behind someone s back.

7 FORWARDING Don t forward chain s.most are hoaxes. If someone asks you not to forward their , respect their wishes. When forwarding an , take the time to type a personal comment to the person you are forwarding it to. If you are forwarding an to more than one person, put your address in to To: line and their addresses in the BCc: line. This will protect the recipients addresses from being published by someone they don t know. This is a serious privacy issue! Be very careful when forwarding s on political or controversial issues. The recipient may not appreciate your point of view.

8 PERCEPTION, PRIVACY & COPYRIGHT Try not to make assumptions when it comes to ask for clarification if necessary. Posting or forwarding of private is copyright infringement. You must get permission from the author. When there is a misunderstanding by , pick up the phone to work things out. Know that when you type, and the efforts you make (or don t make) will indicate what is important to you and if you are an educated, courteous person. If you forward an that turns out to be a hoax, send an apology follow-up to those you send the misinformation to.

9 BUSINESS Think of your work as though it was on your business letterhead and you ll never go wrong! If you cannot respond to an promptly, at least send a quick back to the sender letting him/her know when they can expect a response from you. Be formal when responding to a business . It reflects courtesy & respect. Be very careful when replying to all in a business setting. Doing so as a CYA can backfire and be seen as petty. Never send business attachments outside the business day and always confirm the format it should be sent in. Use PDF whenever possible.

10 THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: Before getting upset because someone didn t respond to an .check with them to see if it went to a junk or spam folder. Never assume! Wait until the next day to respond to an if you are angry/emotional. Feel free to modify the subject line to accurately reflect the topic of the if the conversation s direction has changed. When it comes to communications know who you can trust.

11 Take the time to review each before clicking send. This will allow you to check to make sure you re being clear and that your tone is appropriate. Never hit Reply to an old when discussing a new topic. Always add addresses of new contacts to your approved senders list so they don t get sent to a Junk folder. Review your Trash file before you permanently delete them just to make sure. If any states that you should forward it to 5 friends, do everyone a favor and hit the delete button. Don t mass people who didn t ask to be on your mailing list. And finally..

12 SOMETIMES OLD SCHOOL IS A GOOD THING! Use appropriately. Sometimes a telephone or face-to-face conversation is fitting. This is especially true when an issue or problem isn t getting resolved over after several attempts.