Email Etiquette 101

Some people lack the most basic of email etiquette and it’s one of my pet peeves. Many of you might know that I was the Team Mom for my son’s football team for 5+ years and the nicest compliments that I would receive from my parents was how concise, well written an obviously PROOFED my emails were. I even had the ultimate compliment when one of my Dads’s said “Laurie, we’ve worked with you for 5 years and I have yet to see a grammatical or spelling error in any of your emails.” Wow, that is a nice compliment!

Here are my suggestions for some of the most basic email courtesies:

1. Never send an email out to a large distribution unless you have read it multiple times. That doesn’t mean a quick reply to your BFF but when sending a “mass” email, be sure you re-read it, walk away & then come back to re-read it again. Basic spelling errors are really unacceptable these days because of spell check and it just shows that you aren’t paying attention. It just takes two minutes, re-read & put your best foot forward.
2. When working on a draft don’t put the email addresses of the recipients until you are ready to send. There is no reason for someone to get your half-written email because you erroneously “clicked” send or someone shanghai’ed your computer and thought they’d do you a favor and click it for you. Just wait until it’s been written, proofed and then proofed again (re-read rule #1). Then enter the names and send.
3. When sending a mass email PLEASE blind copy your distribution. I can’t tell you how many times I get an email (generally regarding something to do with my kids in this case) and the entire email distribution is there to see. Not only does this effect privacy but more frustrating is that this opens up all kinds of fun (generally causing my eye to twitch) when someone “replies all” and all of the sudden you’re email is full of back/forth that really doesn’t need to be in your Inbox. Please think before sending to a large distribution the “Blind Copy” option is very simple to do. I'll be honest, I didn't used to do this but I've seen the error in my ways! 
4. Be very careful when you hit “reply all”. This pulls from what I mentioned in #3.  It can be devastating when you might be cracking a joke with someone on the list and don’t realize that the joker you are referring to is on the distribution. Save yourself & any embarrassment and be very selective when using “reply all”.
5. Be clear & concise. We’ve all got those friends that go on and on and on…. But when it comes to email, wrap it up. In the office we talk about how we want to put “sound bites” out there rather than drone on. That said, be concise and that’s enough said.

 Everyone gets TONS of email these days and it is very easy to get lost in the back/forth convenience of it. I’m hopeful that the suggestions that I’ve given you above help whether you’re helping manage one of your children’s teams, working in a corporate office or just emailing your friends for advice. Any/all of the above will help you keep your name from being blocked and eyes rolling all over the world when we get one of those “reply all” emails that really have nothing to do with anything on our plate at the moment.

Do you have any email peeves or is it just me?!