When it comes to your e-mails; perception is really in play — big time! Whether we like it or not, we all form opinions and have perceptions, even if oh so subtlety subconsciously about those we come into contact with. Contrary to what I’ve seen lately just because you know someone doesn’t mean all courtesy and clarity goes out the door!
Of course, proper e-mail etiquette is more important when it comes to e-mailing for commercial gain, however, it is just as important with those you e-mail on a personal basis.
What do you think it says about you when you don’t make the basic effort to communicate with clarity? To take short cuts (all small case, no punctuation, typos) with friends and family will leave just as negative of a perception. Aren’t they worth your effort?
And by “effort” we’re generally talking about a few keystrokes and shift key use! Of course combined with taking the necessary time to learn how to use your e-mail program as well as ensuring the words you choose are proper for the situation and relay the intent and tone we want. None of this takes much time and effort — have we become that lazy?
It behooves you to put your best foot forward no matter who you are sending an e-mail to. For example, when e-mailing Web sites for information or help, these issues can decide even if you get an answer. Little things that don’t take much effort but make the world of difference by virtue of how you choose to communicate with the written word. It is a choice after all to include courtesy and clarity.
What type of perception do you think other onliners get about you when you don’t spell check (in a day where everyone has at least one spell checker on their system)? When you use poor grammar or incomplete sentence structure? Or when your e-mails do not even reflect basic courtesies?
These little things can make all the difference in giving that positive impression! I’ve concluded that folks who do not make these efforts don’t care about the impression they make with others.
What is the one thing you see onliners do in e-mail that causes you to not have a positive impression of the Sender? Does it matter if family or friends choose to not make these efforts? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
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Personally I cannot STAND a lack of basic courtesy in emails. I received one just today from, believe it or not, a prospective employee, who did not bother with any type of salutation whatsoever, or a signature!
In fact, the entirety of the email was:
“I Have not heard from you. Please let me know your decision ma’am. If you are not satisfied with the way I have answered your question please let me know. Maybe we can arrange something. I am okay with adjusting my preferences so that I can fit on the job that you are offering. Thank you.”
Yes, I acknowledge that I had been a little tardy in not yet having responded to a prior email (for 4 days). But decisions on taking on new employees do take some time.
And yes, I acknowledge that the word “ma’am” was used, but … I am certain that this person would not think of bursting into my office, or even calling me on the telephone, and making such abrupt statements without even the courtesy of basic pleasantries or introductions!
I am regularly astounded by people contacting me by email in this manner. Despite that regularity, I never get used to it, and am ALWAYS tempted to hit the delete button rather than respond to people who cannot be bothered to be polite.
As for personal emails, for people very close to me, I tolerate short, sharp and to the point, and even overlook all lower case, lack of punctuation and words/letters such as “u” or “ur” instead of “you” or “your”. But that said, I appreciate those friends and relatives (yes, even the young ones) who make an effort to actually write sentences with real words.
Hey, Brigitte:
Thank you for sharing! This was a follow up on an employment opportunity? Oh my!
What you describe is very similar to e-mails from site visitors that I receive every day stressing their frustration with the lack of courtesy in e-mails. So if it helps — you are not alone! ;-)
I’ll share something with you… When I started talking about E-mail Etiquette over 17 years ago I thought it would be a short-term engagement. I figured technology was new therefore folks just had to get acclimated and informed and this issue would fall by the wayside. Most of what E-mail Etiquette entails is common sense and common courtesy after all. Well, 17 years later I am *still* typing about all the same things I did back then!
What I didn’t consider at the time is the narcissistic nature that technology emboldens combined with the fallacy that “anything goes” with online and technology.
All we can do is keep typing about what is important so that those who do care about learning how to communicate with “knowledge, understanding and courtesy” have a place to go to be enlightened.
For those who feel the issues on this site are not relevant, at this point, I’m really at a loss to understand why…