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The Complete Guide to Email Etiquette
27 Etiquette Tips That Could Make or Break Your Career
Jacob Bear
July 11th, 2024
You could be losing business right now or undermining your career and your future.
All it takes is a small, innocent mistake in your email, and you could offend the very people you’re trying to impress.
On the other hand, you can charm your way to success by paying close attention to the right details.
You see, email etiquette is one of those high-leverage, “invisible” factors that can change the way people look at you, from clients to colleagues.
We wrote this complete guide, so you can get it right and impress the masses with your professionalism and courtesy.
Table of Contents
TL;DR: Key Takeaways
Email etiquette speaks volumes about your work ethic, attention to detail, and professionalism.
Good email etiquette can improve professional relationships, helping to promote you and advance your career. But if you get it wrong, it could jeopardize your career and your business.
Here are 27 rules of good email etiquette. We’ll dive into all of these in more detail in a few minutes.
27 Email Etiquette Tips
Don’t fill in the recipient’s address until you’re ready to send.
Use a strong subject line.
Include a professional “From” address.
Use an appropriate greeting.
Follow standard formatting or at least be consistent.
Keep it short.
A picture is worth a thousand words – use diagrams.
Craft a memorable sign-off.
Include a signature that shows who you are and how to respond.
Introduce yourself.
Avoid ALL CAPs.
Minimize exclamation points.
Don’t abuse bold, italics, or underlining.
If you need to include a long hyperlink, consider a link-shortening tool.
Read it out loud before you send it.
Use Grammarly or a similar tool to proofread.
Always reply to emails as soon as possible.
Wait at least 24 hours before you follow up.
Avoid slang.
Never ask for passwords or other sensitive data.
Think before forwarding.
Develop an email schedule and inform your colleagues.
Don’t “Reply All” unless necessary.
Out-of Office email should state how long you’ll be unavailable.
Include what to do/who to contact in your Out-of-Office emails.
Include “Out of Office” in your subject line.
Ask yourself, “How would I feel if I received this email?”
Introduction to Email Etiquette
What is email etiquette?
Email etiquette refers to the ideal behavior and conduct you should follow when you're writing and responding to emails, especially in the context of a work setting.
Email etiquette is different from typical email marketing because it’s about following established norms rather than trying to grab attention and stand out.
Advantages of Good Email Etiquette
Proper email etiquette makes you look good by showing that you are thoughtful and professional.
Following proper email etiquette rules is a way of showing respect to your coworkers and attention to detail. It’s a sign of a strong work ethic and character.
Through all of these factors, email etiquette can promote you and enhance your career.
Two additional advantages of following business email etiquette are that you’ll write emails more quickly and they’ll be easier for recipients to read.
You're also likely to get a faster response with fewer follow-up questions when you follow email etiquette rules. This, in turn, saves a lot of time for you and your organization.
On the other hand, ignoring proper etiquette has potentially serious consequences.
What Happens When You Don’t Follow Email Etiquette Rules in the Workplace?
When you fail to follow business email etiquette, you could potentially offend a co-worker. This may cause them to respond more slowly; and, in some cases, they may not respond at all.
Worse still, a failure to follow the best practices of email etiquette can drive away customers or even make you appear lazy, but we're not going to let that happen to you.
This comprehensive guide to email etiquette will teach you everything you need to know.
Crafting Professional Emails
There are many unwritten rules in the workplace. You normally wouldn’t show up in your pajamas or bring your pets to work.
Similarly, there are rules that define email etiquette for work. But before we take a look, here’s a critical tip:
Don’t add the recipient’s email address until you’re ready to send the message. While this isn’t an etiquette email rule per se, it will prevent you from accidentally sending an unfinished email. This will prevent many blunders that would be considered poor email etiquette.
Why Trust Us? All beehiiv writers are carefully vetted for their knowledge and experience. Jacob Bear has been writing email marketing campaigns for nearly a decade, serving clients in e-commerce, IT, and real estate. He has twice been named a “Top Copywriting Voice” by LinkedIn and is so polite that his clients have accused him of being “too nice.” |
Email Structure and Formatting
Email etiquette for work is different from many of the best practices you would follow for a newsletter or a marketing email.
However, one thing that doesn’t change is the need for a strong subject line.
Writing Subject Lines
Your subject line should either provide critical information about the email itself or a compelling reason for the reader to open it.
For example, a subject line reading “Come to our webinar” is relatively weak. One way to strengthen it would be to say “Sales webinar tomorrow at 2:30.” This provides specific information on what the webinar is about and when it takes place.
Another way to strengthen the original subject line is by making it more compelling. In the email above, you could do this by citing the purpose or benefits of the webinar.
For example, “Double Your Sales in 6 Months--Webinar tomorrow.”
Use a Professional Email Address
Sending your email from a professional email address is almost as important as writing a strong subject line.
If you are using a personal email address, such as “[email protected],” your recipient might not realize that you’re sending an important message that's relevant to work.
Instead, use something like “[email protected].” Before sending, you can use an email checker to ensure your professional email address is valid and error-free. This helps maintain credibility and ensures your messages are delivered successfully to your recipients.
Appropriate Greetings
Would you continue reading an email that started off with “Dear Sir or Madam”?
There’s no universal way to introduce yourself in an email, but the greeting should fit the purpose and context of the email. Here are a few guidelines:
Be sensitive to cultural conventions that run contrary to these guidelines, such as never addressing a Russian recipient by just their name.
Follow your organization’s rules or norms.
Use a title and last name when addressing a stranger for the first time, such as “Dear Dr. Patel” or “Dear Mr. Walker.”
If you have a relationship with the recipient, using their first name is usually acceptable and considered more warm and personal.
If you’re broadcasting to a group with a common identity, you can allude to this with a greeting such as “Dear Fellow AI Enthusiasts” or “Hey Clippers Fans.”
Standard Formatting
The purpose of standard formatting in email etiquette is to make your messages easily recognizable and easy to read. Always keep this in mind as you choose your formatting.
If your brand or organization has standards in place, such as font and font size, use of punctuation, etc., it’s important to follow these practices.
If you don’t have such guidelines, use Times New Roman or Arial. These are both widely-used web-safe fonts, which means they will look the same on any device or browser.
Likewise, a font size of 12-14 points will be readable without overcrowding on most devices.
Keep It Short
Respecting your readers’ time and cognitive bandwidth is an important part of email etiquette.
Break your message down. Use short sentences.
Keep your paragraphs short as well. Ideally, a single paragraph should never take up more than 3 lines on your desktop or 5 lines on your phone.
Use numbers when you’re giving a sequence of steps. Use bullet points or numbers for lists.
You would use numbers for a list when you’re ranking items in order of importance or other criteria.
You might also use numbers for a list you’ve described with a fixed number of items, such as “We would like to address the following 5 concerns…”
If you need to include a long hyperlink, consider a link shortening tool.
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
When a picture or diagram can help your reader visualize information, include it. The brain processes visual information faster than it can process written words.
Use an Appropriate Sign-Off
Ending a message with the word “Sincerely” has been overused to the point that it no longer seems sincere.
More reliable, generic sign-offs include:
Best regards
Thanks
Thanks for your time (after an unusually long email)
Virtually yours
Respectfully
However, an email sign-off is an often-neglected opportunity to be remembered. This is an area where you can be a little bit creative, as long as your sign-off matches the overall feeling and tone of your email.
If the context is right, consider signing off with a phrase such as “Excited to get started,” “See you around, “Enjoy your (event/lunch/week/vacation),” or “Happy to have you with us.”
You could also invent your own quirky sign off that sets you apart.
Include a Useful Signature
Your email signature is more or less permanently embedded at the end of every email that you send.
Email etiquette includes giving your reader the information they need in order to follow up with you.
Depending on your role and the purpose of the email, you won't always use all of the elements below in your signature. However, in a formal business setting, an email signature would typically include:
Your full name
Your professional title, if you have one (Dr., PhD, etc.)
Your job title
Your work number
Your photo
Your company logo
Links to your social media
A call to action, if appropriate
If you have multiple roles, it may be worthwhile to have more than one email signature. Most email platforms will enable you to store several signatures and embed the one that is the most appropriate.
Writing Style and Tone
As we mentioned above, you should always adhere to your branding or company guidelines and be sensitive to potential cultural issues.
Beyond these restrictions, there are other considerations when it comes to professional email etiquette.
Introduce Yourself
If it’s a first-time email, open with an introduction. For example, “My name is Jacob Bear from beehiiv, and I’m reaching out because…”
Proper Use of Punctuation and Capitalization
Avoid ALL CAPs. Writing in all capital letters feels like you are shouting at the reader. It also makes the email look like a generic printout from an old computer.
Capitalizing every letter is generally only appropriate for acronyms such as TBD, EOD, etc.
To make sure that you’re capitalizing your titles and headings correctly, use a tool such as CapitalizeMyTitle.
You should also minimize exclamation points. Too many exclamation points make you look overly enthusiastic, which may come across as being insincere.
When you want to emphasize a point, it's better to use bold, italics, or underlining. However, keep in mind that these will lose their effectiveness if you use them too much.
Proofreading and Editing
Bad grammar is bad email etiquette. It implies sloppiness and laziness, especially now that the internet is packed with free tools to check your grammar.
In 2013, Grammarly CEO Brad Hoover wrote about the importance of good grammar in the Harvard Business Review.
His company tracked the careers of 100 native English speakers on LinkedIn for 10 years. They ranked the individuals by the number of grammar mistakes they made in their posts, comments, and profiles.
The findings were significant:
Professionals who failed to rise to a director-level position in 10 years made 2.5 times as many grammar errors as those who were successfully promoted into these high positions.
Those who moved into better jobs at least 6 times made 20% fewer grammar errors than those who stayed in the same position for a decade or more.
Overall, fewer grammar errors correlated with more promotions and higher positions.
Hoover theorized that good grammar signals positive qualities such as intellectual aptitude, attention to detail, and strong critical thinking skills.
If you want to give this kind of impression, check your email using Grammarly or a similar tool before you send it.
Another quick hack for proofreading is to read your text out loud. This will give you a gut check for the overall tone and style.
If something sounds or feels off as you say it, it's probably going to be awkward to read. This is a sign that you need to look for a more appropriate word or rewrite a sentence or entire paragraph.
Maintaining Professionalism and Respect
Always reply promptly to your emails.
If the email requires a detailed response or information that you don’t yet have, it’s okay to send a message such as “I haven’t yet spoken to Jasmine, but I’ll get back to you tomorrow morning after I call her.”
At least they know you’ve received the message and are taking action.
Wait 24 hours for a recipient to reply to you before you follow up. You don’t know what other events are taking up their time.
Cultural Sensitivity and Inclusivity
The words “doubt” and “question” are the same in the Indian languages Hindi and Tamil.
For this reason, an Indian may unwittingly put an American or British reader on the defensive by writing “I have doubts about your project” when they simply want to ask a few questions.
It's impossible to know all of the subtle conventions of every culture in the world.
However, if you work frequently with individuals from a given background, it's worth learning a little bit about them.
In addition to that, here are some general guidelines for cultural sensitivity and inclusivity in your emails:
Don’t send emails outside normal business hours in your recipient’s time zone. This may imply a demand for a response outside of work hours, which is poor email etiquette. It’s even illegal in some countries.
Always be clear and explicit about your needs and expectations.
Avoid references to sporting events, classic books and films, or other cultural elements that your recipient may not understand.
Don’t use slang or colloquialisms, as recipients may interpret them literally or find them completely unintelligible.
When an email confuses or offends you, always assume there has been a culture-based misunderstanding and that the sender has good intentions.
Consider placing cultural considerations above the other guidelines in this article, given the increasingly remote and global workplace.
Confidentiality and Data Protection
You may be wondering why security issues would be part of professional email etiquette. It’s because your actions can compromise someone else's confidentiality.
Anything you include in an email becomes a permanent record. Someone could potentially share that information with people it wasn’t intended for.
As an example, most organizations won’t ask you for your password or other sensitive data in an email. You should follow this practice.
If you ask someone for this information, an individual who knows you may share it. Even though they trust you, what happens if there’s a security breach before you delete their email?
Likewise, avoid discussing a personal relationship or other private matters via email. Once it’s in the record, someone could spread this sensitive content either by accident or deliberate malice.
Protect your recipients. Use secure web pages and portals for sensitive information. Arrange a live, unrecorded conversation to discuss personal matters.
Email Security and Phishing Awareness
You may have received an email that appears to be from your bank or other institution with a generic warning such as “Your account is suspended. Click this link to check your status.”
Sophisticated cyberthieves use these emails to steal your passwords and other data. This is called phishing.
If you click on it, the phishing link will bring you to a web page that probably looks exactly like your login page. But if you look at the url, you’ll see that it’s not.
The difference can be subtle. There may just be one letter that is different. The letter ‘l’ may be replaced with the number ‘1.’
When you get one of these emails, open a new tab or browser and type in the site’s URL. This ensures that you’re at the true website, where you can safely log in to check your status.
As a matter of etiquette, don't ask your recipients to click on a link in your email when the action may involve the sharing of sensitive data.
By the way, when you get a phishing email in a work context, it's good etiquette to alert your colleagues and report the phishing message to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Email Etiquette for Attachments
Another dangerous email scam is sending attachments that contain viruses.
If you need to include an attachment, explain in detail what it is in your email.
For example, “I’m attaching the receipt for the venue reservation.”
Better still, provide a link instead of an attachment.
Tools like Google Docs, Dropbox, and Amazon S3 allow you to include a link to the file on a webpage instead of attaching it. This is good email etiquette because attachments can take up a lot of space in your recipient’s inbox.
Think Before Forwarding
An email exchange is a private conversation. You probably don’t go around repeating everything your friends tell you in private, and you should follow the same etiquette in your emails.
Even if the message you forward doesn’t contain sensitive information, you're burdening the recipient with one more thing to read.
Only forward an email when:
It’s important or necessary for the new recipient(s) to see/read.
It doesn’t contain confidential information.
You trust the new recipient(s) not to share or forward it.
Effective Email Management
Managing Email Overload
Part of email etiquette is being kind to yourself. By having a system to manage all of your emails and responses, you can give better responses to people who reach out to you.
In addition, once you have a consistent way of handling your email, you can explain it to others and they’ll have a better sense of when to reach you.
Fragmented Time vs. Deep Work
The key to understanding email overload is to be aware of the difference between Fragmented Time and Deep Work.
Fragmented time is exactly what it sounds like. If you're involved in a task and you stop because you get a notification that an email has arrived, the time you dedicated to your task has been fragmented.
It may only take a few minutes to reply to the email, but then you have to go back to the task, recover your train of thought, and start again.
Even if all you do is look and see who sent the email, you've already taken time and attention away from the task at hand.
Often, you can't help this. First responders, people in managerial positions, and others who need to be on call throughout their work day are forced to operate in fragmented time.
But in most cases, fragmented time is inefficient and exhausting. There’s a better alternative.
Manage Your Email to Promote Deep Work
In 2012, Cal Newport coined the term “deep work.”
Deep work is the opposite of fragmented time. You carry out deep work during large blocks of uninterrupted time. This sustained concentration enables you to be creative, to learn more, and to accomplish challenging tasks more quickly.
Deep work is especially important for people on your marketing team, as well as writers and designers.
Email is often the biggest obstacle to making time for deep work, but this problem is easy to fix.
The first step is to batch your emails. Add a specific 60-minute period to your calendar. Use this time to go through all of your emails and respond to them based on a system of priorities.
The rest of the time, keep your email notifications off and your inbox closed.
Next, communicate this schedule to your colleagues and clients. This is good etiquette because they won’t feel slighted if they send you an email at 9 a.m. and don’t get a reply until noon.
Remind everyone that this system means that they will receive more thoughtful replies from you, even if they have to wait a bit longer.
If you want to make this system even more efficient, there are AI tools that can sort your email into categories and even reply to some messages on your behalf.
Email Prioritization and Triage
Many days, if not most, it might be impossible to respond to all of your emails in the allotted time. This is why it's useful to apply prioritization and triage.
It’s up to you to find the best way to prioritize your emails, but here's a suggested example. We've listed different types of email by priority.
1. Personal messages to/from individuals with whom you want to build or maintain a strong relationship
2. Work/business email that requires action
3. Must-read information (memos, new policies, industry news)
4. Useful/interesting emails such as newsletters
In this system, only emails from Categories 1 and 2 require a timely response. You can postpone reading emails in Category 3, often for several days.
You can put off reading Category 4 emails for weeks or even delete the older ones if they start to pile up.
Email Automation and Productivity Tools
Another important time-saving secret is to use an email platform such as beehiiv, which provides various forms of automation.
If you subscribe to a newsletter like the AI tool report, you can stay up to date on tools that will make you even more efficient with your email.
Email Etiquette in Specific Contexts
Internal vs. External Communication
Internal Communications have their own set of etiquette. As always, the goal is to show respect for your recipients and their time.
When writing internal emails, it’s okay to use industry jargon and terminology.
When it comes to external communication, you may want to explain some of these terms, at least the first time they come up in a conversation.
Avoid “Reply All.”
Don’t use the Reply All button, unless strictly necessary. Proper etiquette involves limiting conversations to those who have an interest in participating or following along.
Ask yourself: “Does every single recipient need to see a new addition to the conversation?”
If not, then Reply All just creates more chatter that most people don't need or want to read.
Out of Office
If you're out of office (OOO), there are some important things you should tell your readers in your OOO email.
First, let them know how long you'll be unavailable. This will prevent someone from waiting too long to reply or emailing you before you get back.
Be sure to also provide information on who to contact or what to do while you are unavailable. If something urgent comes up, you'll be giving your readers a backup plan.
Finally, it’s good email etiquette to include the words “Out of Office" in your subject line, so the recipient of an OOO email knows exactly what it is. Otherwise, they may think you're responding to their message. They'll be unpleasantly shocked when they see that's not the case.
Cross-Cultural and Global Communication
Body language, tone of voice, and other verbal cues are missing in emails. Without these vital clues, someone from a different cultural background may misinterpret your message. They may not “get” your humor. They might take your sarcasm literally.
Always be careful when writing for readers from a foreign background.
Learnings Recap
Professional email etiquette is made of many small, easily implemented details.
This makes email etiquette a high leverage, low effort pursuit. It pays off by resulting in stronger relationships and better business.
Follow the 27 tips we included at the beginning of this article, and you'll go a long way towards mastering the unwritten rules of professional etiquette.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, etiquette comes down to treating people with respect.
Being polite shows your respect for your fellow human beings. Being professional shows respect for your coworkers. Being quick and efficient shows respect for your recipients’ time.
Ask yourself how you would like to be treated under similar circumstances. Before you click Send, ask yourself: “How would I feel if someone sent me this?”
When it comes to professional email etiquette, the magic is in the details. It's useful to have an email platform that can manage many of these details for you.
That's why we created beehiiv.
beehiiv may not be the ideal platform for internal communication and business emails. But if you want to run a newsletter to reach a mass readership, we’ve got the platform for you.
beehiiv comes with all of the tools you would expect from an email newsletter platform, such as segmentation, automations, and the ability to customize every detail of your email from header to footer.
We offer special features such as 3D Analytics, another tool that will save you time and keep you up to speed as AI takes over the internet.
We offer several ways to monetize, so your newsletter generates revenue streams instead of expenses.
One of the best things about beehiiv is that you won't be punished for growing.
All of our pricing plans allow a generous number of contacts compared to other services. You can grow your list without a dramatic increase in your monthly costs.
Aside from etiquette, the platform that runs your email might be the highest-leverage strategy available to you. You can put it all to work by starting a free beehiiv newsletter today.
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