Things have really changed through the decades of message delivery. From the short stint with the Pony Express in the late 1800s to today’s standards of near instant delivery to anywhere in the world…with an internet connection of course. Yet, another important part of messaging has quickly fallen apart as we become less likely to slow down during our busy schedules. How to write a proper email.

Pony Express circa 1860

How to write a proper email

Real quick, I will go over seven rules of common email etiquette.

1. Learn to use the To:, Cc:, and Bcc: properly.  If the email is directed for one person, place their email address in the To: field and if you want anyone else who is indirect (FYI-ers), place their email addresses in the Cc: field. Since the Bcc: is unethical, avoid using it.
2. Why would you reply to all..all of the time? If you receive an email that was also addressed to several people, do not hit the ‘Reply to All’ button unless the reply contains information necessary for all parties to read. If everyone starts clicking the ‘Reply to All’ button, quickly over a hundred emails will be sent essentially to the wrong people.
3. Do not act like the key got stuck. Meaning, if you are typing a message of great importance, you do not need to finish it off with a string of exclamation points. If it is so important, convey it in the message and not the punctuation.
4. Drop the pretty. Not only for the reason that fancy fonts and pretty colors can be annoying when reading an email, especially on a professional level, but because not all email clients will display those pretty little additives in the same way as your email client. That, of course, is a recipe for a messy unprofessional disaster. Stick with plain text emails. Continue Reading