Should an e-mail be addressed the same way as a letter? Especially for work you should use salutations and greetings in e-mail just like any other professional correspondence. Robin Thompson, owner of Etiquette...
Robin Thompson, owner of Etiquette Network and the Robin Thompson Charm School, says that "especially for work, you should use salutations and greetings in e-mail just like you would in any other professional correspondence. If you are just writing to your peer in the next department you can say, 'Hi Steve, it's Robin and I have a question about the meeting,' but if you are sending something formal, then by all means use the appropriate salutations, greetings, and titles. Always give your name, and always fill in the subject heading with what you are writing in regard to; never leave the subject heading blank. Filling in the subject helps a person find your e-mail more easily if they need to refer to it later."
Peggy Post, who is the great-granddaughter-in-law of the famous Emily Post, writes in Emily Post's Etiquette 17th Edition that you should address your emails "with care. Good manners are called for even as you fill in the address line." Post points out that many people don't like to see their names and email addresses showing up in the CC: line of an e-mail that is being sent to a long list of people. They may feel that having their names and email addresses sent out to so many people is an invasion of their privacy. Instead, it's better to use the blind-carbon-copy (BCC) e-mail feature, which will hide all the names and addresses except for the one that is in the TO: line. Alternatively, you could send each person their own individual e-mail.
You should also be careful with how you write the body of a business e-mail. Robin Thompson says, "Proper form also means that you do not write in all capital letters, don't abbreviate words, don't put little happy faces in your e-mails, and don't write in hot pink script against a bright blue background. Keep it professional."
Peggy Post says your business e-mails should be brief. She says they should be timely, so check your inbox often. And don't gossip in your e-mails. In fact, don't write anything that would make you feel embarrassed if it were pinned on a company bulletin board, or for that matter, if it were broadcast to the entire world. It's so easy for someone to forward an e-mail, and you never know when someone might decide to do just that. So be discreet.
Remember that e-mail never dies. Even if you delete it from your computer, your company will still be able to retrieve it from back-up files. And you have no right to privacy in e-mail that you have sent or received on a company computer or server. A survey conducted by the American Management Association in 2005 found that a bit more than half of all employers review and retain their employees' e-mail.
If you should ever be accused of some kind of misconduct, your e-mail can be used as evidence against you. So be prudent. Don't send off an angry e-mail in the heat of the moment. Don't circulate off-color jokes. Don't send anything offensive.
