Locked lesson.
About this lesson
A set of email correspondence tips that are good reminders of online professionalism and etiquette.
Lesson versions
Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:
2016, 2019/365.
Quick reference
Email Dos and Don'ts
These email correspondence tips are good reminders of online professionalism.
When to use
Every time you are drafting an email, especially in a corporate environment.
Instructions
DO: Use proper punctuation and grammar when corresponding in a professional environment
Don’t: abbreviate your words like texting, b4 u go thr, rembr u have a job 2 do
DO: consider the tone of your words (humor, sarcasm, anger) and remember they are affected by the recipient’s impression of that tone
So Don’t: TYPE IN ALL CAPS (it appears you are yelling)
And Don’t: Use foul language, it will haunt you and make a terrible impression of your professionalism
DO: use proper letter format when corresponding in a business environment.
A good review course is “Writing Effective Business Communications”
DO: remember your audience and keep your correspondence short and to-the-point. Long letters give you more time to say something wrong or give the wrong impression
Don’t, and I mean NEVER: send personal or private correspondence within a corporate environment. Everything you put in writing will be kept forever whether you like it or not.
Words of advice:
If you have to write a powerful email, which sometimes there is no way around it, don’t fill in the To: line until you’ve had plenty of time to think and re-think the message. Then there is no way the email will get sent until it is addressed. Sometimes, just pick up the phone and talk to the other person.
Lastly, Don’t overuse the High Importance and Read Receipt buttons
DO use spellcheck: “Review”, “Spelling and Grammar”
Login to download- 00:01 Hello, this is Andy.
- 00:06 Before we get into the technical email tips,
- 00:08 I wanna review proper email etiquette in the office.
- 00:11 And so, when you're starting a brand new email, we hit the new email button but
- 00:15 I have one already drafted up.
- 00:17 The to line of course is filled in whoever is gonna get this email, but
- 00:20 the Cc line please use this line sparingly.
- 00:23 Resist the urge to click reply all.
- 00:26 Eventually there'll be people on there that have nothing to do with it.
- 00:28 So resist that urge.
- 00:31 Make sure your subject line is absolutely directed to the point.
- 00:33 Don't be mysterious about your subject line.
- 00:35 Just be very direct about what it is.
- 00:38 The first tip is do absolutely use proper punctuation and grammar corresponding.
- 00:43 Don't abbreviate your words like your texting, okay?
- 00:46 This is, has to be professional correspondant which means proper spelling.
- 00:51 On the next line, do consider the tone of your words.
- 00:55 Not everyone is funny.
- 00:56 They don't get your humor and your sarcasm or your anger.
- 00:59 So, remember that your words are affected by the recipients impression,
- 01:03 not your intention.
- 01:04 Don't ever type in all caps.
- 01:06 It appears like you're yelling at people.
- 01:08 And so if I get an email in all caps, I feel like they're screaming at me for
- 01:12 some reason.
- 01:13 And never, ever use foul language, it will haunt you and
- 01:17 make a terrible impression of your professionalism.
- 01:20 When you're typing emails, do absolutely use proper letter format.
- 01:25 And if you want a review of that, there's a fabulous
- 01:27 course on GoSkills.com called Writing Effective Business Communications.
- 01:32 It is worth taking that course just to learn or
- 01:35 brush up on lost tips about letter correspondence.
- 01:40 Do remember your audience.
- 01:41 Keep your correspondence short and to the point.
- 01:44 Long letters give you more time to say something wrong or
- 01:47 to give the wrong impression.
- 01:49 And don't and I mean never,
- 01:51 don't ever send private correspondence in a corporate environment.
- 01:56 Everything you put in writing will be kept forever whether you like it or not.
- 02:01 Words of advice, if you have to write a powerful email where sometimes there's no
- 02:05 way around it, don't fill in the to line until you've had plenty of time to rethink
- 02:10 the message then there's no way that email will get sent out until it is addressed.
- 02:15 It's a great way to kinda get it off your chest, write it in but
- 02:19 don't fill in the two lines so you don't accidentally send it out.
- 02:24 Sometimes, just pick up the phone, talk to the other person.
- 02:28 Having words in writing that can haunt you forever is never a good idea.
- 02:32 Lastly, don't overuse the High Importance and the Read Receipts buttons.
- 02:37 By High Importance, take a look at the ribbon right up here, the High Importance.
- 02:41 There's times that people send out all their emails with the red exclamation
- 02:45 point on them.
- 02:46 Well, really?
- 02:47 Everything you have to say is highly important?
- 02:49 Reserve those for the actual,
- 02:51 truly important emails and you'll be more respected.
- 02:54 And then the read receipt buttons.
- 02:56 If you go to the Format Text I'm sorry the options ribbon.
- 03:00 You've got Read Receipt.
- 03:01 There are times when people send out every
- 03:05 email they send they wanna know if you've read it.
- 03:07 Well there's times I don't,
- 03:09 I just tell them say no I didn't read it cuz I don't want them to know I read it.
- 03:13 And so keep in mind there's a human on the other end of that who can hit Yes or no,
- 03:18 so it's not 100% reliable.
- 03:20 And very last one, oh my goodness, please do use spellcheck.
- 03:25 And Spellcheck is on the review ribbon right up here, and Spelling and
- 03:28 Grammar right here.
- 03:30 Make sure to spellcheck again.
- 03:32 Nothing worse then sending out an email with typos in it.
- 03:35 So all right, that's it for a nice correspondence review, and
- 03:39 now we'll go ahead and get started on the technical tips of emails.
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