E Mail Etiquette

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E-mail Etiquette

Business writing guidelines

Any written communication that is sent in a business context should have the

following characteristics / qualities.

1. Purposeful – It should serve a purpose. It should either be conveying

some sort of information or it should be a response to someone’s query –

hence it should be solving someone’s problem.

2. Economical – Since people at work are pressurized for time, businesswriting should always be concise and ‘to the point’.

3. Reader Oriented – Business writing should always be reader / receiver

oriented. Every time we write, we should put ourselves in the receiver’sshoes to understand how he/she would receive the message.

Business writing – Business Context

i) Purpose of Business writing – generally the objective of businesswriting is one of the following:

o Providing information

o Responding

o Coordinating

o Resolving queries

ii) Stakeholders – generally the receivers of business writing is one of thefollowing:

o Team

o Customer

o Superiors

o Vendors

o Other departments

iii) Types of business writing – Majority of our time, the type of businesswriting we use is one of the following:

o E-mail

o Reports

TechM/L&D/E-mail Etiquette

o Manuals



Business w riting – E-mailing Tips

o E-mail basics

Background – plain white is most preferred in officialsettings

Fonts – Widely accepted official fonts are Arial, Verdana,

Times, Tahoma, Bookman & Garamond

Font Size – best between 10 & 12.

Font color – black is the only official color. Blue in the

“reply” mail is acceptable as it indicates that the mail isa response.

o The subject line – this should be concise, to the point and

should convey clearly what the mail contains. It should be like atrailer to a movie.

o ‘To’, ‘CC’, ‘BCC’ Field –

To = for whose direct action or information the mail is

written

CC = Carbon Copy – used to keep people in the loop

BCC = Blind Carbon Copy – used when the recipient hasto be kept secret. Generally never used in a business e-

mail as all communication should be absolutelytransparent.

o Salutations –

‘Dear’ – the most formal and accepted world-wide.However, at TechM some people are uncomfortableusing this salutation. Best way out is – when you are

replying to a mail, respond with the salutation that thesender has used.

Other acceptable salutations – ‘Hello’, ‘Hi’, writing the

person’s name directly.


Name – If you know that a person is ok with you usinghis / her first name, follow the salutation with the first

name. Example:

Dear Amit / Hi Amit / Hello Amit

If you are unsure of whether a person is ok with youusing his / her first name, follow the salutation with sir /

madam or Mr. / Ms. Last Name. Example:

Dear Sir/ Hi Sir/ Hello Sir

Dear Madam/ Hi Madam/ Hello Madam

Dear Mr. Sharma/ Hi Mr. Sharma / Hello Mr. Sharma



o Body of the e-mail –

Shorter Paragraphs

Line Length – should be between 12-15 words.

Return Address – should have your name, departmentname, company name, phone number, mailing address,

email address and company website.

Signatures – participants should be asked to follow the

TechM corporate signature format.

Sample TechM Signature:

Thanks & Regards,

Name| Department | Tech MahindraWing-1, Oberoi Gardens Estate, Chandivali, Andheri(E), Mumbai

Office: (022) 6688 2000| Extn: 7370 Email:[email protected]

www.techmahindra.com

E-mail Etiquette

Respond promptly

Do not overuse Reply to All

Use templates for frequently used responses

Use proper structure and layout

Answer all questions and pre-empt further questions

Be concise and to the point

Use proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Do not write in CAPITALS

Avoid long sentences

Use active instead of passive voice

Do not overuse high priority option

Do not attach unnecessary files

Read the e-mail before you send it

Take care with abbreviations and jargons

Be careful with formatting

Do not reply to spam

Subject line should be short and meaningful

The style and manner of writing business mail says a lot about the individual andtheir organization.


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.techmahindra.com/

http://www.techmahindra.com/

mailto:[email protected]

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E Mail Etiquette