E-mail Has Its Own Etiquette
Sunday, May 13, 2007

Here is a confession: I sometimes write e-mails entirely in lowercase.

I reserve these e-mails for my wife, my brother and certain friends.

E-mails written in lowercase automatically convey a sense of informality; it is like tossing the word "dude" into conversation. You had better know the person very, very well before you do it.

E-mail is confusing terrain, even for people who have been using it for years. What makes sense for an e-mail to your best buddy doesn't make sense in an e-mail to your boss.

Yet "the rules," to the extent they exist, aren't quite as amorphous as they were 10 years ago. E-mail has become an essential tool for business and pleasure, and a code of behavior -- yes, an etiquette -- has evolved.

Here's a list of my top 15 rules for e-mail, roughly in order of their importance. I've compiled these from my own experiences, as well as various online sources and books, such Emailreplies.com and "Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home" by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe (Knopf, $19.95). If you break these rules, do so sparingly, and with good reason.

1. Always use a subject line. An e-mail without a subject may be routed automatically to a spam folder. Even if it's not, the recipient may delete the message without reading it. That's what I do, unless it's from someone I know.

2. Write meaningful subject lines. Say "Let's get together Tuesday" rather than "Hi." Say "Memo for your review" rather than "Information." Be specific and concise, and you will be more likely to draw someone's attention. You will also make it easy for the recipient to retrieve the message at a later date.

3. Never write an e-mail entirely in ALL CAPS, no matter how much you want someone's attention. I can't help thinking people who send e-mails in all capital letters have never mastered the basics of the English language. Either that, or they haven't mastered the use of the "caps lock" key.

4. Do not send attachments unless you know the recipient wants what you're sending. That goes for PDFs of news releases, vacation photos and other documents. If you have very cute children, share your photos by storing them at a photo-sharing site, like Shutterfly, and sending friends a Web address to view them.

5. Check your spelling. E-mail programs can help with this task. Many programs will flag misspelled words as you type.

6. Be brief. Remember, e-mail inboxes are crowded with messages, many of them as important as your own. Rambling e-mails often sit inside an inbox or get trashed.

7. Use short paragraphs, separating each paragraph with a blank line. E-mails constructed in this style can be easily scanned on the computer screen.

8. Send mass e-mails only when necessary. By placing multiple addresses in the "To:" line, you are sharing other people's e-mail addresses. That's a no-no. Instead, use your e-mail program to create a special e-mail list to send out a message to multiple recipients and hide recipients' e-mail addresses.

9. Do not use colors, graphics and unusual fonts. These display differently on various computers and e-mail programs. You will never know whether someone will see what you intended, or ugly, indecipherable gibberish.

10. Think before you send. The wrong words can get you in trouble. Reread your e-mails, including recipients' e-mail addresses; you want to make sure you're sending the e-mail to the right person.

11. Avoid excessive informality. E-mail exchanges may quickly become informal, but they often don't start out that way. If you do not know someone, do not address her by first name in your initial e-mail, unless you are certain that is her preference.

12. Don't use e-mail when a phone call would be preferable. Sensitive matters, in particular, are often better expressed with a phone call.

13. Be wary of the "Reply all" option. Don't reply to everyone when you really want to direct the e-mail to one individual.

14. Respond in a timely fashion. If you can't respond in a day or two, and the matter requires your attention, a quick e-mail to the sender will be appreciated ("Thanks -- I'll work on this next week").

15. Avoid composing e-mails entirely in lowercase. (Yes, rules get broken.)