The document provides guidance on proper business email etiquette. It discusses topics like effective subject lines, email salutations, structuring email content, and email formatting. The overall objective is to help people evaluate and improve their business writing skills for emails and understand concepts like readability to effectively meet business goals and objectives.

1. 1
Business E-mail Etiquette

2.  Participate, get involved in group work
 Phones Off
 Exercise - based class
 Take notes wherever something appeals to you: ‘Action Plan’ it
Ground Rules
Effective Email

3. At the conclusion of the session, you will be able to:
 Evaluate and improve your business writing skills
 Compose Response & Action oriented E-mails
 Understand the concepts and principles of readability
 Match appropriate formats & styles to the goal and reader
 Gain editorial skills
 Meet business goals and objectives
3
Objective

4. 4
Agenda
 E-mail- more than just a communication!
 Introduction to E-mail- Tabs & Navigation
 10 Pointers
 Effective Subject Lines
 E-mail Salutations
 Structuring & Formatting
 Signatures & Sign offs
 Auto Responders
 Meeting Requests & Scheduling Assistant
 Managing Inbox
 Business Vocabulary
 Ready Reckoner

5. 5
E-mail- more than just a communication
 Represents your reflection and understanding of the subject.
 Sharing & documenting information.
 Emails are permanent
 Emails are searchable
 One topic per e-mail

6. 6
Activity
As a Team write down 20 pointers to remember
while drafting any e-mails

7. What is Email Etiquette ?
“The art of appropriate business like language in all
electronic communication which helps improving
the overall effectiveness of the e-mails”

8. Basic Email Rules- 20 point
 Know your internal policies
 Keep responses concise
 Answer all questions asked in the original email
 Use proper punctuation, grammar & spell-check
 Personalize your email
 Use appropriate opening & closing
 Avoid unnecessary attachments

9. Basic Email Rules
 Check for proper layout
 Use the ‘high priority’ option sparingly
 Do not use all CAPITAL letters
 Proof-read before sending emails
 Avoid using abbreviations
 Don’t overuse ‘Reply To All’

10. Basic Email Rules
 Protect confidential information
 Clearly identify the subject
 Avoid unprofessional language
 Minimize the usage of bold font
 Auto-respond when out of office
 Never send / forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene
remarks
Write a salutation for each new subject email.
Try to keep the email brief (one screen length).
Return emails within the same time you would a phone call.
Answer all questions and pre-empt further questions
Use a font that has a professional or neutral look.

11. General Format: Tone
Write in a positive tone
“When you complete the report” instead of “If you complete the report”
Avoid negative words that begin with “un, non, ex” or that end with “less”
(useless, non-existent, ex-employee, undecided).
Use smiles , winks, ;) and other graphical symbols only when appropriate.
:)
:(
;)
:p,
:/

12. General Format: Addresses
To
CC (Carbon Copy)
BCC (Blind Carbon/Courtesy Copy)

13. General Format- Identification
When you send an email to someone who doesn't know you, immediately
answer these questions:
Who are you?
How did you learn of your correspondent?
What do you want from your correspondent?
Why should your correspondent pay attention to you?
If you can't answer the last question, consider whether you should even send
the email.

14. Identification
Here is an ideal message which answers all the questions mentioned
earlier:
Dear Ms. Kulkarni:
I am an editor at Penguin Publishing Company, Inc. I sat next to your
brother at Inox last week, and he mentioned that you are interested in
publishing a book based on Indian recipes. I would be very interested in
receiving a proposal from you.

15. Email Structure
 Subject line
 Salutation
 Structuring of the content
 Closing remarks
 Signature of the sender

16. 16
Effective subject lines
 Clear & specific- Should answer “What”
 Avoid sentences & use phrases
 Avoid special characters
 Change subject lines when necessary
 Re & Fw

17. 17
Subject Lines- Exemplars
We would like to have a
training arranged for circuit
testing as there are
frequent escalations due
to inadequate knowledge
amongst the engineers
I would like to apply for a
cab request as the bus
services do not match my
shift timings.
Please block your
calendar for a team
discussion at 14:00 today.
The name captured on
Prism is incorrect. My
name is spelled as Nita
and it should be Neeta.
I wanted to know the
eligibility criteria for the IJP
as I have internally moved
from TCL to TCTSL.

18. 18
E-mail salutations
Single Recipient
• Hello James
• Hi James
• Dear Sam
• Good morning/afternoon/evening
• Dear Mr Smith
Dual Recipient
• Hi James & Sam
• Hello Sam & James
• Good Morning/afternoon/evening
• Dear Sam & James
Multiple Recipient
• Good Morning/afternoon/evening
• Hi Team
• Dear Colleagues
• Hello marketing team
Please refrain from using the / to
address dual recipients. For e.g. Hi
James/Sam as / represents or.
Remember to always address the person
by their last name when using
Mr./Mrs./Miss and not by their first name

19. Salutations
Do not use "Sir" or "Mr." unless absolutely certain that your correspondent is a male.
It is safer to use "Ms." instead of "Miss" or "Mrs."
Beware of using a diminutive ( Chris, or Bob) if you aren't certain your correspondent
uses it. It might rankle Judith to be called Judy; Robert might hate being called Bob.
If you are addressing a group of people, you can say "Dear" plus the unifying attribute.
For example:
Dear Project Managers: Or:
Dear Team Members:

20. Salutations
Be careful about cultural differences. In United States, you can usually
get away with a first name, but Germans are quite formal; they can work
side-by-side for years and never get around to a first-name basis.
Starting a message to Germany with “Dear Hans” might be a bad idea.

21. 21
Structuring the content
The Lead
The most important information
The Body
The crucial information
The Tail
Extra information

22. Composing the content…- Remove Pronouns
Remove Pronouns: Imagine getting a response on Monday to some email
that you can't quite remember sending on Friday.
I talked to them about it the other day, and they want to see the other
one before they make up their minds.
Your response would probably be the highly articulate, "Huh???"

23. Composing the Content
The most important step in an e-mail message is to identify the type of
action that the recipient has to take after reading your message.
If multiple individuals are responsible for different actions, clearly
indicate each individuals responsibility
Always include due dates for each action.

24. Composing the Content
The four most common types of actions are:
Action recipient has to perform a physical action. Ex: "Provide a proposal for a
5% reduction in Travel & Entertainment."
Respond recipient needs only to respond to your message. Ex: “Can you
attend the staff meeting on Friday?"
Read Only recipient needs only to read your message. Ex: “Please read the
attached sales plan before next staff meeting on Dec 12th."
FYI Only recipient needs only to file your message for future reference. Even
reading the message is optional. Ex: "Enclosed for your records are your
completed.

25. 25
Formatting- Bullets
Bullet points or lists
 Bullets are typographical symbols (boxes, circles, asterisks, dashes) that draw
attention to a particular piece of text.
 These are excellent for lists, which are wonderful signposts themselves.
 Any information that you can boil down into an easy-to-grasp listing boosts the
readability of your writing.
 Bulleted lists work well for outlining the steps in a process.

26. When you are writing directions or want to emphasize important Points- number your directions or
bullet your main points.
For example,
1) Place the paper in drawer A.
2) Click the green “start” button
Another example -
 Improve customer satisfaction
 Empower employees
General Format: Organizing
Information

27. 27
Formatting- Highlighting
Effective formatting uses appropriate highlighting techniques
 Highlighting is a visual way of directing attention to some part of a document.
 It emphasizes information, such as that found in cautions/ warnings and
troubleshooting charts
 It can be used to make sure readers do not miss important information.
 It also can be used for new technical terms the first time the terms appear.

28. 28
Such techniques can also be overused, and produces instructions
in which nothing seems important or distinct
• Too many different techniques produces documents that look cluttered and may even
confuse readers.

29. 29
Formatting- Capital letters
 Using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS for emphasis is effective only if
limited to three or four words.
• Moreover, text in all caps is not easy to read because the uniform shape of the words
gives no typographical cues

30. Composing the Content
Do not write in CAPITALS.
WRITING IN CAPITALS MAKES IT SEEM AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING.
This can be highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response in
the form of a flame mail. Never send any email with all text in capitals.
Do not overuse Reply to All.
Only use Reply to All if you really need your message to be seen by
each person who received the original message.

31. 31
Formatting- Underlining/Boldface
 Underlining, boldface, and italics can be used to emphasize
important words and phrases, but long passages presented with
these highlighting techniques are difficult to read
• Italics do not jump out at the reader as much as bold or underlined words do
• Italics are regularly used to indicate book titles, movies, etc.
• Too much underlining or boldface use throughout a report will also lessen the impact
intended.

32. 32
Formatting- White Space
 The term "white space" refers to the places on a page that are
without words or illustrations (the white background as opposed to
the printed information).
• White space indicates to users
• Where ideas begin and end
• The organization or text
• At the same time it allows users to rest their eyes and their brains.
• It also provides a place for readers to write if they wish to take notes or draw sketches.

33. 33
 If white space is not used consistently, all its benefits are lost
• Generous amounts of white space are more pleasing visually and easier to understand
and use
 By long tradition, published text has been set with both left and
right margins justified
• However, many now argue for using unjustified text unless the appearance given by
justified text is important

34. 34
Formatting- Paragraphing
 Paragraph and section length (as consideration related to
chunking) can be influential in whether readers are intimidated or
motivated to read the text
• Chunking helps the reader locate text quickly and easily.
• It visually organizes information by grouping it in short blocks, instead of burying it in
long paragraphs and sections

35. 35
Formatting- line spacing
 White space created within the content portion of a document
indicates organization
• The spacing between paragraphs (or sections) and headings and sub-headings are
important.
• This type of white space, which is sometimes called line spacing, can cause users to
want to read a text and can increase the speed with which they access information

36. 36
Fonts-That is the Question!

37. 37
Poor Email Content
Jon,
Hey, I was just thinking about the meeting we had about the new workshop you
were planning for next week about resume-writing. I think that we may have
forgotten to include all of the students who might benefit from this new workshop.
There are several groups of students at the School of Public Health that were not
on your list. Of course you may have added them to your list since our last
meeting. Sara from the School of Public Health contacted me to ask if the students
from the Zoology program were on our list of included students. She also wanted a
list of all of the included departments from the School of Public Health. Can you
send me a list of all of the included student groups? I can then send the relevant
information on to Sara because she needs this information by tomorrow.
Thanks,
Rachell

38. 38
Organized Email Content
Jon,
Can you send me a list of the students included in the resume-writing workshop by tomorrow?
We may have forgotten to include all of the students who might benefit from this workshop. There
are several groups of students at the School of Public Health that were not on your list. Sara from
the School of Public Health contacted me to ask if the students from the Zoology
program were on our list. I will send her that information tomorrow after I get the list from you.
Thanks,
Rachell

39. 39
Email Signature
 Use an appropriate signature
 Brief (4-5 lines)
 Informative and readable
• provide all contact information
 Professional
• do not include pictures or animations

40. Signatures
Whenever a piece of contact information changes, make sure your
signature is updated accordingly.
Using artwork, philosophical sayings, jokes, and/or quotations in
signature is ok, but don't overdo it. A good heuristic is to keep your
signature at or under five lines long.
Change your signature every once in a while.

41. 41
Short Conjunctions Longer Expressions
Similarly,
Likewise,
...the same...
...the same as...
...also...
..., too.
both
In the same way,
X is similar to Y in that (they)...
X and Y are similar in that (they)...
Like X, Y [verb]...
In like manner,
One way in which X is similar to Y is (that)...
Another way in which X is similar to Y is (that)...
Conjunctions that can be used in comparison
paragraphs
 Conjunctions that can be used with contrast
paragraphs
Short Conjunctions Subordinating Conjunctions
However,
In contrast,
By contrast,
..., but
..., yet
On the other hand,
even though + [sentence]
although + [sentence]
whereas + [sentence]
unlike + [sentence]
while + [sentence]
nevertheless,

42. 42
 Keep it brief
 Do not write in all capitals & watch your tone
 Have a subject line, salutation and signature
 Use reply all sparingly
 Consider priority while cc and Bcc
 Reply in a timely fashion
 Do not hide behind your e-mail
 Use an “out of office” reply when necessary
 Complete the “TO:” line last
 Check spellings, punctuation, abbreviation and content presentation

43. 43
Dear Customer:
Thank you for notifying us of your complaint. We strive to provide you with the best possible
service, and when you feel that it fails to meet your expectations, it’s important for us to know.
We’re sorry that you received service that prompted you to contact us with a complaint, and we
regret any inconvenience or frustration that your experience has caused you. To ensure that our
staff conducts itself in a manner that reflects the high regard that we have for our customers, we’ve
notified the proper department of your complaint.
Your patronage is important to us, and we hope that you’ll continue to give us opportunities to
serve you.
Thank you again for bringing these matters to our attention.
Sincerely,

44. Composing the Content- Abbreviations
In business emails, do not use abbreviations such as BTW (by the way)
and LOL (laugh out loud). The same goes for emoticons, such as :-).
Keep language gender neutral. Apart from using he/she, you can also use
the neutral gender: ''The user should add a signature by configuring the
email program”.
It is important to add disclaimers to your internal and external mails. This
can help protect your company from liability.

45. Composing the Content
Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions.
Create templates for frequently used responses and save them as drafts.
Avoid long sentences, and long mails.
Provide all supporting information to help the recipient complete an
action or respond successfully.

46. Attachments
Compress large attachments and send attachments only when they are
absolutely necessary.
Have a good virus scanner in place. People will not be very happy with
mails full of viruses.

47. Before Sending…
Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation.
Improper spelling, grammar and punctuation give a bad
impression, and can sometimes even change the meaning of the
text.
Read the email through the eyes of the recipient before you send
it.

48. Replies
Answer swiftly.
Each e-mail should be replied to within at least 24 hours, and preferably within the same working day.
If the email is complicated, send an email saying that you have received it and that you will get back to them.
This will put the people’s mind at rest and usually they will then be very patient!

49. Replies
Respond only to messages that require one. When replying
make sure that you are adding value to the conversation, truly
moving it forward.
While replying to an e-mail message with an attachment, which is
to accompany your reply, you must forward the message instead
of using the "Reply" or "Reply All" button. Otherwise, the
attachment is not included with the message.

50. Replies
Don't leave out the message thread.
Include the original mail in your reply. In other words, click 'Reply',
instead of 'New Mail'.
Instead of sending an email that says:
yes
Say:
> Did you get all the design documents > that you needed?
yes

51. E-Mail Ethics
Overuse of the high priority option will make it lose its function when you
really need it.
Don't send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive,
racist or obscene remarks, even if they are meant to be a joke.
Do not use email to discuss confidential information.
In short, If you don't want your email to be displayed on a bulletin board,
don't send it.

52. E-Mail Ethics
Don't forward virus hoaxes and chain letters. By forwarding chain-mails,
you use valuable bandwidth. May a times, virus hoaxes contain viruses
themselves.
Don't reply to spam.
Replying to spam or unsubscribing confirms that your email address is
'live'. It will only generate even more spam. Just hit the delete button or
use email software to remove spam automatically.

53. E-Mail Ethics
Watch out for "flame mail." Read (and reread) your mail to remove
emotion before you hit "Send." Your impatience or irritation can affect the
tone of the message.
Work out disagreements one-on-one, either in person or by
phone. Evaluate if e-mail is the right medium for handling the matter.
Would a phone call or a face-to-face meeting be more appropriate?
Handling situations that are emotionally charged via e-mail often
escalates the conflict.

54. Flaming in Emails
Flaming is a virtual term for venting or sending
inflammatory messages in email
Avoid flaming because it tends to create a great deal of
conflict that spirals out of control
What you say cannot be taken back; it is in black and
white

55. Keep Flaming Under Control
Before you send an email message, ask yourself, “would I say
this to this person’s face?”
Calm down before responding to a message that offends you
Once you send the message it is gone.
Read your message twice before you send it and assume that you
may be misinterpreted when proof-reading

56. Responding to a Flame
Empathize with the sender’s frustration and tell them they are
right if that is true
If you feel you are right, thank them for bringing the matter to
your attention
Explain what led to the problem in question
Avoid getting bogged down by details and minor arguments
If you are aware that the situation is in the process of being
resolved let the reader know at the top of the response
Apologize if necessary

57. When Email Won’t Work
There are times when you need to
take your discussion out of the
virtual world and make a phone
call or meet face-to-face
If things become very heated, a lot of
misunderstanding occurs, or when
you are delivering very
delicate news then the best way is
still face-to face

58. Think twice, send once
E-mail being an important communication tool, it is likely that the volume
of messages you send and receive will only increase in the future.
Pausing for thought before responding will help ensure a professional,
focused, and successful communication and in addition, reduce the
amount of e-mail you send and receive.
That's worth taking a little extra time for, don't you think?

59. Be Concise, Be Precise
To paraphrase a quote by Professor William Strunk Jr., the renowned authority on English usage:
"An e-mail should contain no unnecessary words, and no unnecessary attachments , for the same reason that
a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."

60. Attachments
Does the recipient have the
software to open the file?
Should it be converted to a
different file type before sending?
Do not attach unnecessary files

61. Signature
Identify yourself
Keep it short
Ensure a quote or tagline is appropriate for everyone to see

62. Spam
Don’t reply to spam
Replying confirms that the address is ‘live’

63. General Tips for Electronic
Mailing Lists
Avoid discussing private concerns and issues
Change the subject heading to match the content of your
message
When conflict arises on the list speak in person with the one with
whom you are in conflict

64. When your Message is Long
Create an “elevator” summary
Provide a table of contents on the first screen of your email
If you require a response from the reader then be sure to request
that response in the first paragraph of your email
Create headings for each major section

65. Delivering Bad News
Deliver the news up front
Avoid blaming statements
Maintain a positive resolve

66. Tips
 Be concise and to the point
 Answer swiftly
 Use proper structure and
layout
 Do not overuse the high
priority option
 Do not write in CAPITALS
 Read the Email before you
send it
 Do not overuse reply to all
• Do not forward chain letters
• Do not use emails to
discuss confidential matters
• Use a meaningful subject
• Avoid long sentences
• Use CC: field sparingly
• Don’t reply to spam

67. Email Etiquette – Samples
Dear Sir or Madam,
Thank you for supporting our Society. We have been very busy this
past year and have used your donation to fund some important
projects. We continue to need your help to reach our goals. If you’d
like to contribute again, please click here.
Dear Mr. Lovett,
We appreciate your support for the Society. Thanks to your
generosity, we have had quite a year! Your last donation helped us
fund the Plantation Renovation Program. Click here to see photos of
our progress on this project as well as several others. Click here to
donate and learn about other properties we are working to preserve.

68. Who would YOU give the job to?
i’ve attached my resume i would be grateful if you could read it and
get back to me at your earliest convenience. i have all the experience
you are looking for – i’ve worked in a customer-facing environment
for three years, i am competent with ms office and i enjoy working
as teampart. thanks for your time
Or
Dear Sir/Madam,
I’ve attached my resume. I would be grateful if you could read it
and get back to me at your earliest convenience. I have all the
experience you are looking for:
I’ve worked in a customer-facing environment for three years
I am competent with MS office
I enjoy working as part of a team
Thanks for your time.
Yours faithfully,
Joe Bloggs

69. Quick Recap
 Organize your emails
 Keeping an email short & to the point
 Avoid abbreviations & field-specific jargon
 Prioritize all your emails & never use capital letters
 Avoid mixing subjects in your email
 Always proof read your emails prior to sending them

70. You work for a construction company. You require the following safety equipment: 100 hard hats, 100 pairs of
gloves and 50 yellow jackets. Write to a supplier called Constructprotex. Ask for information about discounts,
delivery and terms of payment.
Swap your email with a partner. Imagine you work for Constructprotex. Write a reply. The items are currently not
in stock.
Work in pairs. Your manager has asked you for your opinion and recommendation on installing a wind turbine
near your place of work. Write an email using the arguments for and against from the table. FOR AGAINST
Saves money over a long period
Good for the environment
Good for the company image Expensive to build
Local people might complain about it
One wind turbine can’t supply all the energy for the company
Activity
70

71. You work for a training company. You are organising a training seminar for people in the hospitality industry.
One client, Mr Hoffman, is interested in the seminar and sent you an email asking about the event. Write a formal
reply using the phrases in Exercise 4 and these details:
Name of seminar: ‘Using social media in the hospitality industry’
Date and place of seminar: 5th June 09.00–17.00 Training Room B in Garton Park Centre
Trainers: Peter Reed, Social Media Expert Susie Hill, Hospitality Marketing Specialist
Attachments: Brochure with details and objectives of the seminar
Practical information: Bus 22 stops outside the Garton centre. Parking is also available. I CAN
refer back to previous contact
invite someone to an event
ask the person to confirm attendance
describe the length of the event
give travel suggestions and information
offer further help with particular needs
refer to future contact
71
Activity

72. Work in pairs. Choose one of these situations:
There is an urgent problem with a current project at work. Ask for an update.
Someone important is visiting the company tomorrow. Tell all the managers.
You have a problem with your job. Ask for help.
Think of one complaint that a customer might have about your company. Then write one of the following:
a complaint from the customer, using three paragraphs and the structure in Exercise 3. Use at least one -ly adverb in
each paragraph.
an apology to the customer, using three paragraphs and the structure in Exercise 6. Use at least one -ly adverb in each
paragraph.
One of your clients has not paid for some of your company’s goods or services. Payment was due three days
ago. Write a short letter asking for the payment.
6 The client has telephoned you. The invoice was paid two weeks ago. Write a short letter of apology.
Follow up e--mails
72

73. Work in pairs. Give directions to your place of work and explain what visitors must do when they arrive.
7 Write an email giving directions and instructions to a visitor to your company.
73
Activity

74. Thank you!
Any questions?
74