How To Hint About Email Etiquette?

How do you politely let friends or family members who aren’t all that into Email Etiquette know they need to bone up on the subject?

That’s a tough one…

In my years of experience, no matter how polite or “nice” you are when explaining the nuances of proper email etiquette, many get defensive, some get hurt, and some get downright mad. How dare you tell them what to do!?

Increasingly, people expect to do what they want. It’s a free country, after all. I have my First Amendment rights!

Yeah, one could say that all apply. But best practices and common courtesy are things that bind a society together. On and off-line.

Think of Courtesy

Why do some become so defensive about being courteous? Courtesy doesn’t take much effort, which is what friendly people do. Email Etiquette is simply about understanding how your actions, or lack thereof, can impact your relationships when using technology.

The fact remains that we were all thrown into technology without any formal training. So, to think you “know it all” or have nothing more to learn is naive at best.

I’ve been running online businesses for over 30 years and still learn something new pretty much every day. To date, I’ve been online before most people knew what “online” was!

How do I get others on board?

I get emailed daily asking for a “nice way” to tell someone not to do this or that. If you do a simple search, you can find the appropriate article on this website for the issue you want to raise.

This site is filled with articles on every aspect of Email Etiquette. You can then use the email share button at the bottom of every article to email the intended party with a link to that specific article.

Most are more open to embracing new ideas if they aren’t made to feel stupid, uninformed, or guilty.

This is where some psychology comes in!

Hey, Jane:

I found this neat site, NetManners.com, that has a bunch of info on Email Etiquette. I came across this article and wanted to share it with you. Who knew!?

I learned a few things I wasn’t aware of and thought you would be interested too! HTH! 😉

Your friend,
John

Using the above approach, you send them to a valuable resource so they can read, learn, and, hopefully, avoid feeling corrected.

Remember…

Feel free to include the above quote in your email as well!