Email Etiquette Elucidated

1. Always compose an email in a formal tone, unless you are really frank with some friend etc. ‘Thank You’ is formal, ‘thanks’ is not. Instead of ‘please’ use ‘plz’. ‘Hi’ is not formal, ‘Hello’ or ’Asalamu Alaikum’ is.

2. In the "Subject " column, briefly describe the intent of the mail in the precise most words possible; not all professionals read all emails, some of them get the gist of it by going through the subject column. If your subject is not precise then brother you might be in for some bother.

3. Start with either, dear or respected or use the words as per the recipient’s status and relation of that person with you.

4. If you want to send mail to several people use ‘CC’ (carbon copy) and enter names there instead of entering in the ’to’ column. If you want to send a mail to many without letting them know that you also sent the mail to others, then use ‘BCC’ (blind carbon copy) and mention all the recipient’s email addresses in it.

5. After ‘dear’ or ‘respected’, use ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’. If you are not familiar either with the name or the gender of the recipient, then it is preferable that you enter only their designation or name, that way it looks more professional and presentable. As it is not professional to be gender-biased in writing.

6. It is a lot better if you keep it formal, i.e. the tone of the mail. Check and re-check to avoid spelling errors or grammatical ones, and try to keep the structure of the write-up very composed, i.e. in a neat manner; try using small paras or use pointers, bullet-points etc.

7. Try ending the text with ‘Thank You’ or if you are making a request, about something or anything, then you may write: ‘Thanking in advance’ followed by a ‘Regards’, instead.

8. At the very base of the email, write your full name, and designation: only if you deem it necessary, but a more professional way is to keep a mail signature and set it to default at the base of the mail.

(Google ‘how to add social media link in signature of your mail’ and paste only your LinkedIn link, as it is the most professional-media website, NO FACEBOOK LINKS PLEASE)

(Use format that includes your full name, phone number and LinkedIn address, remember, a LinkedIn link is not necessary as well)

9. Use the ‘Undo Mail Timer’ option, always… Gmail has it, just to make sure if you send an incomplete or wrong mail mistakenly, you can undo it within the first 30 seconds.

10. Always try to attach the documents beforehand, so as to avoid sending mail without any attachments. (For the case, that there is no UNDO option in your mail server)

11. Sender’s email address should be very professional, the definition of a good address is a one which has your full name or at least first name and is precise as possible, avoid long and hefty numbers for instance: sohaib_niazi0374, an ‘underscore' even is not required, if a shorter address of the sender is available. If you have to add a number, make it precise, and add a short one instead, "sohaibniazi01", for example.

12. Also, avoid using unprofessional usernames for instance, Pisces_321 or sweetangel or badboy420 etc. I can quote a case of a person who got rejected for the job position of a professional accountant with a handsome pay package in the final stages because of their e-mail address, the e-mail address was "sweetangel@yahoo.com". Come on, it is not meant for your hunky-dory folklore or fairy tales.

13. A better solution to avoid such inconveniences, is to keep two email addresses: one for professional use, and the other one for an informal interaction and a more personal usage, and just for linking up with social media etcetera.

14. Be mindful, to avoid flashy lines in passive voice which appear to be crammed or ripped off, like files are attached herewith, just be natural and mention ‘I have attached my assignment in MS Word format to this email’, or something in that manner, which sounds at least real.