Bad e-mail etiquette can hurt you

SALT LAKE CITY -- Out of all the bad things a business owner, employee or hopeful job applicant can do, sending out a bad e-mail can be one of the most damaging. Some instructors say proper e-mail etiquette can keep you from making many glaring mistakes.

Before hitting the "send" button, many of us aren't proofreading the e-mail we're about to send out.

"They don't check their grammar and spelling and they just expect that everyone will understand what they're trying to say even though they're just spewing out gobbledygook," said Patrick Tracy, who teaches classes regarding e-mail etiquette at the Salt Lake City Public Library.

One thing many people aren't sure of when they write an e-mail is how formal it is supposed to be.

"If you don't know someone well or they're a business contact, try to write as formal an e-mail as possible," Tracy said.

Tracy says other people make the mistake of leaving the subject line blank, which makes your message less clear. Plus, he says a lot of people still use all capital letters, which makes the reader think you're yelling at them.

"They feel like they're bad typists and they don't want to capitalize the first word of the sentence, so they think it's better to go ahead and go to all caps," Tracy said.

What about responding to an e-mail? Do you have to send a response for every single e-mail you ever get?

"Not necessarily," Tracy says, but if someone asks you a direct question, e-mail etiquette requires a response.

"A surprising number of people don't actually answer e-mails that are asking them a direct question like, ‘Can you make it to dinner on Thursday?'" he said. "That can be really difficult when people don't answer those questions."

Here are some other e-mail etiquette tips. Some of these may seem like common knowledge, but Tracy says you would be surprised at how many of these simple mistakes are made every day.

Creating the e-mail:

• Be brief. Tracy says people don't want to read a dissertation that's in their inbox. If you have to make several points in your e-mail, Tracy says it's best to break those points into different e-mails.

• Read over your e-mail. Don't count on your spell checking software to get everything. Many times, people will confuse ‘to' and ‘too,' or ‘there,' ‘their' and ‘they're.' Spell check won't catch that all the time.

• Do not type in all capital letters. Remember to capitalize the first letter in each sentence as well as the word "I" and other proper nouns where necessary.

• Try not to write anything sarcastic or ironic. The humor doesn't always come through and the reader may think you're serious when you're not.

Responding to other e-mails:

• If you're asked direct question, you need to reply.

• Do not reply with anything rude or uncivil. This is especially true when you're writing about a boss or a co-worker. You never know who has been sent a blind carbon copy or "BCC" of the e-mail, or if your reply will be forwarded to someone else.

• Using a signature is fine, but try not to have a large message or a flashing banner on your signature. Keep it simple.

• If you don't check a particular e-mail account often, let your friends know that. They may spend a lot of time waiting for a response to an e-mail that you haven't read yet.

Forwarding e-mails:

• Keep the forwarding of funny e-mails to a minimum. People don't want to be swamped with stories and your friends don't want to be slowed down at work.

• If it's a chain letter, break the chain. Very few people will admit they had four years of bad luck because they didn't forward a chain letter to 10 people they love.

• If you're sent a news story, verify it before you forward it. The internet is full of fake stories about corporations that supposedly hate the military or celebrities that have died when they really haven't. Tracy says you may feel pretty bad finding out that you forwarded inaccurate information.

E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com

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