The Professional Business Email Etiquette Handbook & Guide

Book excerpt: There is little doubt that online technologies have transformed the way business operates in recent years. And in this age of such advanced technology, email is still the most preferred and often most efficient form of communication, but yet regrettably many organizations treat this very important form of business communication casually and lightly. With the average professional sending 40 emails per day and receiving 121, there is definitely a chance to move fast in email communication, thus overlooking fundamental email etiquette rules. This means that you have 40 opportunities to market yourself and your business in those individual emails you send, every single day. A recent study found that the average adult spends approximately 5 hours a day checking email: 3 hours checking work email and 2 hours checking personal email. This time is spent reading and composing hundreds of messages at a very fast pace –obviously leaving a lot of room for error. These errors can lead to missed opportunities or appearing totally unprofessional. You would have experienced many replying to emails late or not at all or even sending replies that do not actually answer the questions being asked. This can cause a potentially damaging effect on the image of the organization, resulting finally in a loss of business. There are basically 3 key entrances to any business: 1. The front door (face- to-face-walk-in-customers or customers solicited by your sales personnel) 2. The telephone and 3. The net. And the chances are that, if either of these are NOT handled properly, you have lost your customer forever! Think of this for a moment: If most of the business coming in is through the net, and if your organization is able to deal professionally with email, then this will most certainly result in your organization having that all important competitive edge. On the other hand, if not handled the right way, then in the very first instance, chances are that you have lost a customer- and it could even be forever. And remember word of mouth travels fast today- thanks to the social media platforms. So this is where the importance of educating your employees can help, thus protecting your company from awkward liability issues as well. By having employees use appropriate, business like language and etiquette in all electronic communications, employers can limit their liability risks and improve the overall effectiveness of the organization, thus resulting in greater returns with a professional image and branding. Therefore, when it comes to any material or correspondence being sent out from your organization, it is of vital importance to convey the right message in the right way- to ensure that this creates the right impression that you are a credible, professional enterprise and one that will be easy and a pleasure to do business with. And remember you only have that one chance to make that first impression which will be invaluable to building trust and confidence. So like any tool or skill, it is important therefore that organizations take the time to provide the right support to ensure and enable staff to effectively integrate the right online tools and skills into their daily work routine, and gain maximum benefit. It is also vital that organizations develop internal policies to guide employees on the correct use of such online communications, to cover issues such as personal use, privacy, monitoring, downloading of content, access by third parties, and illegal use of the internet to avoid any embarrassment or awkward liability issues that can otherwise arise. This little book: ‘The Professional Business Email Etiquette Handbook & Guide’ comes to you at such a crucial time as this, when the world is going through a pandemic and one needs to be all the more sensitive especially with the right etiquette. So I believe that this will immensely help in equipping you and your team with the essential skills and techniques necessary for managing and structuring emails and writing professionally. So here’s to how to Write Right- the Email Way!