10 Rules of Business Email Etiquette

For all the readers of this blog, I wish you a wonderful and productive new year!

I thought it would be appropriate to begin the year with a return to basic business Netiquette core values. Good Netiquette, like any other practice or discipline, begins with a set of core ethics and principals. The following are  guidelines which represent a basis of learning, maintaining and improving these methods. Once put into practice by anyone, no matter the demographic or circumstance, these will assist in delivering the best possible, clearest and most accurate communication possible through electronic media.

It is my hope that you will subscribe or check in often to this blog . . . and offer any comments or suggestions

 

10 Rules of Business Email

1.    Keep the subject line pertinent – Make the reader want to open the email! After the sender address, the subject line is the first thing  email recipients will see.

2.    Stay succinct – Do not assume your email will be given more than ten seconds!

3.    Be clear. Check for bad grammar, formats, tone and weak, overused words

4.    Be ethical and genuine – Tone usually comes across and can be a deciding factor in your connection and goals.

5.    Speak to the addressee – Do all you can to assure you are not speaking under or over the business language of your recipient

6.    Watch out for a "knowledge gap." Don’t assume recipients have the same knowledge about your product or service you do. After you’ve captured their interest and have reached the "additional information" stage, try offering a step-by-step walkthrough of whatever you’re marketing to help them understand what you’re trying to say.

7.    Write business emails as letters, not as ads. In the B2B world, a forthright communication in letter format is much more effective than an email that looks and smells like an ad.

8.    Assume your email will be read by others – Do not be critical, be positive and praiseworthy. Include important information to assist others not as knowledgeable, especially about costs.

9.    Have a complete signature block – Include title, company, phones, fax, email and URL links. Do not limit how to contact you for more information.

10. Select good times to send your email – Do not send during late hours, weekends, holidays or prime business times of the recipient.

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 About Netiquette IQ:

My book, "Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to

Your Email" and the Kindle version are now available on Amazon. Please visit my profile at:

 www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki

My other sites of Netiquette resources include:

www.netiquetteiq.com - website

www.blogtalkradio.com/netiquetteiq - radio show
 

www.tabularosa.net Internet products and services website

      Paul Babicki and Frank Kovacs are co-authoring a new book on Netiquette IQ for jobseekers, recruiters and employers (no official title as yet!). This book is a follow up to Paul’s current release. This book will be a part of the forthcoming Netiquette IQ compendium featuring a series of books on specific areas of Netiquette; education, sales, social media, etc. We would desire and encourage feedback from anyone who would like to contribute their thought ideas, even a segment to include in the book. We want the book to cover as many pertinent topics as possible for the job seeker, recruiter and employer. There will be an acknowledgement page in the book listing those whose ideas or suggestions are used. The persons with the five top ideas will be sent a complimentary signed copy of my current book and a copy of the new one. Comments will be closed on 1/31/2014.

      Kindly submit your suggestion(s) to my blog post of 12/26/2013 in the comment field.