7 Habits of Highly Annoying Emailers…

Here is a great post by Dudley Dawson… enjoy!

Taking a phone call? Close your inbox down.

We’ve all been on the wrong end of a phone call when the other party was clacking away at his or her computer. Probably doing email, right? Or maybe that culprit is ourselves? Maybe WE’VE been the ones doing email while the other party is trying to discuss something with us.People can’t do two things at once. We try, but it is physically impossible, just like we can’t be in two places at the same time.

When that inbox is open, it stares us in the face as a temptation. Truth? It IS a temptation!

Here’s a strategy you can try. Minimize or close down your inbox. Simple. Just do it! Then truly focus on the discussion at hand.

The benefits outweigh the milliseconds of productivity you fool yourself into thinking you’ve gained. Your discussion will be more fruitful because you’re fully engaged. It most likely will be shorter because you weren’t distracted causing repeats of information or the other party correcting our “misunderstanding” of dialogue. And, oh yeah, you won’t offend the caller.

You think they can’t hear that clacking? Think again.

Thirty Quick Email Etiquette Tips

Hey – don’t just read these, rate them 0-5 on how well you follow them, 0 being stinky, and 5 being fabulous.

1.    Be concise. ‘Nuff said.

2.    Get to the point. Place your main point, request, or question in the very first sentence of your message.

3.    Spell check. Proofread. Make sense.

4.    Use proper layout.

5.    Use a readable font in a size that is easy to see.

6.    Avoid stationery that takes a large amount of megabytes

7.    Use the person’s name, either in the greeting, or in the body of the message.

8.    Keep language gender neutral.

9.    Avoid text lingo (oops, I mean language.)

10.   Use only abbreviations that are well known.

11.   Avoid emoticons and smiley faces.

12.   Avoid long sentences.

13.   Use active vs. passive voice.

14.   Answer all questions, and anticipate future questions.

15.   Include the important points of the message thread.

16.   Clean up forwarded emails. Either delete unnecessary verbiage or highlight the important points.

17.   Use detailed subject lines to help your recipient quickly understand the focus of your message.

18.   For very short messages, use the subject line as the message, ending in EOM (End Of Message) to let them know not to open the message.

19.   Avoid writing in ALL CAPS. It is viewed as “shouting.”

20.   Use the high priority option only when it is truly high priority.

21.   Use the words “URGENT” and “IMPORTANT” sparingly, and only when it is true.

22.   Use ‘Reply all’ only when every person in the distribution really needs to receive the message.

23.   Avoid sending email messages when you are emotional. Regardless of how you try to mask it, people will “feel it.”

24.   Never forward messages that are off color, offensive, racist, or obscene.

25.   Don’t forward chain emails, or emails threatening you if you “don’t forward in 24 hours.”

26.   Copy ONLY the persons who really need to receive the email.

27.   Avoid using email to provide “constructive criticism.” It is never taken positively. Those conversations should be done in person.

28.   Avoid using BCC to rat out your co-workers. It turns YOU into the rat.

29.   Avoid using email to “discuss” issues among several people – the threads become diffused, and the content is difficult to follow. Call a meeting instead.

30.   Avoid sending urgent emails. If you need a response in under 3 hours, visit or call.

Three Reasons Businesses Should Promote Proper Email Etiquette

And it ain’t cuz Emily Post wants you to.Businesses will benefit from promoting proper email etiquette for three great reasons.

1. Protection from liability. Here’s the no brainer. Certain rules need to be followed to avoid problems for the business. Email messages can and will be reproduced, and employees can, knowingly or unknowingly, put their employers at risk.

2. Efficiency and effectiveness. Many etiquette guidelines promote efficiency and effectiveness, for the sender and the recipient. Following etiquette guidelines will contribute to the overall efficiency of the organization

3. Professionalism. A professional image is important to a business’s success. Proper email etiquette and professionalism go hand in hand.

Please feel free to peruse the category, email etiquette for some great hands on tips.

Email Etiquette: The Best Question to Ask to Determine Whether Emily Post Would Approve

When traditional etiquette books were written, email did not exist. The absence of guidelines or rules therefore allowed people to create their own ways of doing things, some of which are downright poor etiquette. All these new technologies – email, voicemail, smart phones, cell phones – have opened the door for some horrific etiquette blunders.

Let’s remember that the basis of all etiquette is RESPECT – not just politeness, but consideration for people’s time and energy and emotions.

When in doubt, ask yourself, “am I being as respectful of the recipient’s) as I can be?”

That’s the key question. That’s the one Emily would have asked you.

Todd Zwillich posts about Congressional Technological Rudeness

Check out this post by Todd Zwillich on his blog, The Takeaway, on congressional rudeness – hey it’s bi-partisan!

http://www.thetakeaway.org/stories/2009/nov/04/web-special-congress-rudeness-bipartisan/

Thirty Quick Email Etiquette Tips

Hey – don’t just read these, rate them 0-5 on how well you follow them, 0 being stinky, and 5 being fabulous.

1. Be concise. ‘Nuff said.
2. Get to the point. Place your main point, request, or question in the very first sentence of your message.
3. Spell check. Proofread. Make sense.
4. Use proper layout.
5. Use a readable font in a size that is easy to see.
6. Avoid stationery that takes a large amount of megabytes
7. Use the person’s name, either in the greeting, or in the body of the message.
8. Keep language gender neutral.
9. Avoid text lingo (oops, I mean language.)
10. Use only abbreviations that are well known.
11. Avoid emoticons and smiley faces.
12. Avoid long sentences.
13. Use active vs. passive voice.
14. Answer all questions, and anticipate future questions.
15. Include the important points of the message thread.
16. Clean up forwarded emails. Either delete unnecessary verbiage or highlight the important points.
17. Use detailed subject lines to help your recipient quickly understand the focus of your message.
18. For very short messages, use the subject line as the message, ending in EOM (End Of Message) to let them know not to open the message.
19. Avoid writing in ALL CAPS. It is viewed as “shouting.”
20. Use the high priority option only when it is truly high priority.
21. Use the words “URGENT” and “IMPORTANT” sparingly, and only when it is true.
22. Use ‘Reply all’ only when every person in the distribution really needs to receive the message.
23. Avoid sending email messages when you are emotional. Regardless of how you try to mask it, people will “feel it.”
24. Never forward messages that are off color, offensive, racist, or obscene.
25. Don’t forward chain emails, or emails threatening you if you “don’t forward in 24 hours.”
26. Copy ONLY the persons who really need to receive the email.
27. Avoid using email to provide “constructive criticism.” It is never taken positively. Those conversations should be done in person.
28. Avoid using BCC to rat out your co-workers. It turns YOU into the rat.
29. Avoid using email to “discuss” issues among several people – the threads become diffused, and the content is difficult to follow. Call a meeting instead.
30. Avoid sending urgent emails. If you need a response in under 3 hours, visit or call.

How You Can Use Email to Hold Back Your Career

Email is here to stay.  It is very quickly becoming the primary communication tool in business. And if you want to hold back your career with your email practices, here are a few hints that can help you:

1.  Waste peoples’ time.  The more you annoy people by creating extra work through a myriad of bonehead maneuvers like sending unnecessary emails, forgetting attachments, and inserting HUGE graphics, the less they will think of your business communications skills.

2.  Send poorly written emails.  Use improper grammar, spelling and punctuation.  Use run on sentences. 

3.  Make sure you don’t use spell check.

4.  Bury the point of your communication in the middle of the message.  By making it very hard for people to know what it is you are trying to convey, you will be sure to make a name for yourself in business circles.

5.  Forward lengthy chain emails, saying “see below.”  A great way to call attention to your lack of respect for the receiver is to forward an email that has at least 10 previously forwarded emails contained in it.  This forces the recipient to have to read through all 10 to try to figure out what is important.

6.  Copy as many people as you can.  This one is more subtle.  By adding many extra recipients, you might think you’re communicating, but what you’re really doing is adding more work to peoples’ already full plates.  They may not catch on to this one right away, but over time, you won’t be able to hide.

7.  Gossip via email.  Even though you think that your friend won’t rat you out over the gossip you sent – hey, it is a permanent record, and that “friend” could be as catty as you!

8.  Put  several names in the “To:” line

9.  Write long and rambling emails.

10. Send emails between 1am and 5am.

In the Job Market?

In the job market? Set up a separate email address for contact with prospective employers.

Managing your first impressions is critical to your job hunt. With all the free email services out there, there’s no excuse for you to have an email address that could hurt your prospects.

Many times there is great comptetion for an open position. Everything about you and your application is fair game for pass or fail to the next step.

I’ve actually seen email addresses such as partygirl@aol, baseballmom@yahoo or vodka1@gmail.

Instead, create one such as susansmithresume@gmail or susansmith@yahoo or ssmithMBA@aol. Make it professional.

The added benefit all is that you’ll be able to keep of your career related correspondence in one place.

Is Sending E-mail after Midnight a Good Idea?

NO!  A resounding no!

Some corporate emailers may think they’re impressing their bosses, peers or subordinates by sending emails in the middle of the night. And while an occasional 3:00 AM e-mail may be “forgivin,” think again.

 It doesn’t take much to understand why.  Just turn the tables and note how you feel when you see the time stamp as some ungodly hour!

 So, from the boss’s perspective, consider these perceptions:

• Why is Jim up at 4:00AM, regularly? Is he getting enough sleep? Is he in control? Is he stressed out? Is he out of balance?
• Is Rebecca just trying to impress me? Does she think that I value this behavior? Doesn’t she know how to delay the sending of the email to a “normal” hour?
• What part of “have a balanced life” didn’t he understand?

 And, from the employee’s perspective:

• Yikes.  My boss is emailing me at 3:00 AM! I wonder if he expects me to do that too?!
• I better check my email first thing in the morning; the boss may have sent me something again in the middle of the night. How’s that for wake up stress?
• Whasssamatter with her? Is she losing it? Why can’t my boss get a good night’s sleep?
• Since he’s working 24/7, I assume he wants me to also. Gad, I hate my job.

 In addition to these unhealthy perceptions, you’re taking a real risk emailing when you haven’t had a full night’s sleep, or woke up in anger because of an issue at work.

Give it a rest.  Or at least-don’t send it till you’ve had a chance to review it with the light of day.