The average person spends 13 hours each week managing their email at work. That’s 28% of time at the office dedicated to reading, sorting and sending electronic messages. Consider the additional hours allocated to personal email and it’s clear that this once ‘preferred method of communication’ has become more of a nuisance in our daily lives.
 
“In the 90s, people actually looked forward to opening their email,” says Dmitri Leonov, the VP of growth for SaneBox, a cloud-based email management tool. “We no longer live in the blissful You’ve Got Mail-era, and our relationship with email has developed into something draining.”
 
The fact is that the speed and convenience of email has led us all to misuse and abuse it as a communication channel. In an effort to return to the days of email excitement and inbox clarity, we’ve compiled ten tips and techniques to improve Email Etiquette:
 
1. Utilize the subject line: The subject line is an email’s version of a first impression. It’s the first piece a recipient reads from your message, making it especially important to provide a relevant statement. Include a subject that accurately reflects the message you are sending and highlights any important deadlines or specific details.
 
2. Get to the point: If you can get your point across in two sentences, do so. Rambling on and introducing small talk will only frustrate your reader and take up more of their time. Be concise and direct in your writing by taking a Twitter-like approach and leaving out any unnecessary details to include only what’s vital to your message.
 
3. Stay on topic: Bouncing around between multiple topics is not only confusing to the reader, but decreases your chances of getting a complete, focused reply. Limit each email to one subject. If you need to address multiple topics, do so with an individual email for each.
 
4. Summarize long discussions: Scrolling through a long email with many replies can be time consuming. Make it easy for readers by summarizing the conversation in your response or by highlighting the most important part of the prior messages.
 
5. Realize time is money: Your time is not more important than the time of the person you are emailing. Just because you have the time to write long drawn out emails, doesn’t mean they have the time to respond in a thoughtful manner. Be respectful of the time of the recipient.
 
6. Manage tone: Remember that tone cannot be heard over email so any attempt at sarcasm or humor has the risk of getting lost in translation. Consider whom you are addressing when choosing the tone for your message and making decisions around formalities.
 
7. CC not me:  Save the CC function for only those who are directly involved to avoid filling others’ inboxes with clutter. It was not meant to keep people in the loop, in fact getting CC’d at the end of a long chain requires a lot of effort to understand an issue.
 
8. Consider case: HAVE YOU EVER RECEIVED AN EMAIL IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS? It’s as if you are being yelled at from across the Web. An email in all lowercase, on the other hand, can feel overly informal or almost sloppy. Take the safe approach by using sentence case for all emails, incorporating bold and other stylized text when appropriate.
 
9. Use a signature: An email signature will not only add credibility to your business, but also provide recipients with the information to contact you outside of email. Include a signature on all emails that contains your primary contact information including, at minimum, title, company website and phone number.
 
10. Two for you: Email is not meant to be a discussion chain. If it requires more than 2 replies consider resolving the issue with a phone call.  Calling a person directly offers a more personal interaction and more appropriate channel to discuss more sensitive topics such as conflicts and complaints.
 
Following proper Email Etiquette holds the power to improve both the quality and efficiency of online communications. Keep these ten best practices front of mind to start sending better emails today. Your recipients and your inbox alike will thank you.