One of the easiest mistakes to make is to send an  email to the wrong person.

It is easy to scroll down through the address book and click on a name and hit send only to find out that you ‘shot and missed’ when you selected the email addressee.

This can be embarrassing at best and disastrous if you send confidential information to the wrong person.

Have you ever sent an email to someone and received an automated response back? It will be something like ‘I will be out of the office until next Tuesday. If you need urgent assistance please call Sally Smith on (03) 9533-9533’.

Auto responses are a nice feature because at least you are kept informed as to why you are not hearing from someone you have sent an email to.

Creating an auto responding message before going on annual leave is positive and proactive. You might also want to consider creating a message if you are going to be unavailable for a couple of hours. This is especially useful if you receive a lot of  Emails. Most people who will send you an email and get back your reply stating that you are out of the office and will be back in the afternoon will at least be clued up to when they might receive a response back from you.

Never speed-read an important Email.

Read it carefully and read it all. If you don’t understand it, read it again or read it out loud.

Also read everything all the way to the bottom of the Email. Often you will see previous Emails  underneath. This is called an ‘email tree’  which we will discuss in more detail shortly.  The ‘email tree’ can give you important background to what is being said.

Never use an email for a message that should be really delivered in person.

Ending a personal relationship or making someone redundant is not what is email for.

Never say anything in an email that
you would not say to someone face-to-face.

Try not to send back a reply
without editing the subject line.

Never use capitalised letters when writing an entire Email.

People might think you are angry when they see capitalised text.

Nettiquette (email etiquette) suggests that when you use capitals, you are in effect ‘shouting’ at the person.  Nobody likes to be yelled at.

Don’t make assumptions when reading an Email.

Many people misinterpret a short email as being rude or that the person is unhappy with them.

It is also a mistake to assume that capitalised letters in an email communicate anger.  Don’t let these emotional assumptions colour how you interpret an email message.

Never let an email sit in your Inbox for
days on end if the issue is important.

email is as important as a phone call. If the subject is urgent and a response is needed,  give one quickly.

Never skip the final step of reviewing your email before sending it.

Once it’s on its way,it is all but impossible to bring it back.

Put the name of the addressee in last so you never accidentally send an email before it’s been proofed.