by Susan Hunter, Georgia SBDC Many businesses are using electronic mail, more commonly known as e-mail, for communications once handled by phone, letter, or even face-to-face meetings. E-mail is easy. Both parties do not need to be available at the same time, and it even provides a written record of the "meeting." According to Sophia Dembling, a contributing author for SKY Magazine, "as Casual Friday has become an all-week event, so has e-mail become a—if not the—primary mode of communication in business. We need to learn to do it right." The art of "doing it right" in the e-mail arena has come to be known as "Netiquette," the etiquette of cyberspace. So for the businessperson using e-mail as everyday communication, here are some pointers to keep in mind before hitting "send."  E-mail messages should be brief and concise.
E-mail communication is most similar to the familiar office memo. To avoid terseness, write in complete sentences. However, it is an informal form of communication, so a carefully worded message may easily receive a four-word reply. According to William Lampton, president of Championship Communications in Gainesville, Georgia, "E-mail is not board room talk. It's water cooler talk." And keeping e-mails short and to the point means that recipients will be less likely to discard them before reading them.
E-mails do not automatically invite a first name salutation.
A phone call would never begin with "Hey, Jack!" if the caller has never even met Jack. Likewise, when sending e-mail messages to unfamiliar recipients, the writer should address the recipient as in other more traditional manners of correspondence. "A standard form has not really evolved," says Judith Martin, a.k.a. syndicated columnist Miss Manners. "I would consider it less formal than a lot of people do when writing a full letter." When in doubt, the safest bet is to open with a formal salutation until a relationship has been established. Spelling and punctuation do count.
A businessperson would never think of putting his name on a letter filled with errors. Install and use the spelling, punctuation, and grammar checkers on e-mail software. According to Martin, "There are more allowances made for mistakes in e-mail than in more formal correspondence. You don't want to be so careless your e-mail is difficult to read, but the occasional typo or misspelling is less glaring in an e-mail than in a letter." But it is important to remember that business people will be judged by the quality of their writing. So the bottom line answer is that spelling and grammar do count. There is a human being on the receiving side of the e-mail.
When sending business e-mail, think twice if content may be less than polite or professional. "Flaming," expressing a strongly held opinion without holding back any emotion, is not a tactful way to share an idea or thought. While flaming is incredibly common in cyberspace, the business professional would be wise to keep arrogance and self-righteousness in check as "flaming" may burn bridges. Typing a message IN ALL CAPS IS EQUIVALENT TO YELLING! Most competent business people would never yell at a colleague in a face-to-face situation, and being in cyberspace does not make it any more acceptable. According to The Core Rules of Etiquette by Virginia Shea, "Remember the Prime Directive of Etiquette: Those are real people out there." As businesses go forth in the cyberspace sphere, it is best to continue to represent themselves as they would in any other, more traditional fashion of communication and not lose sight of the human connection. Protocols will emerge, but the Golden Rule will always apply: E-mail unto others as you would have them e-mail unto you! To obtain further assistance contact a consultant at a Small Business DevelopmentCenter. | 
