Email Best Practices in the Workplace

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Communications at workplaces have been made faster due to technological advancement. Email communication has to a great extent, replaced paper communication. Using email for communication in your workplace has helped reduce stress and helps properly keep records.

Email for official communication has largely impacted how communication is done in several workplaces. Therefore, proper email etiquette is essential when sending emails to coworkers, superiors, or clients. This will help you make a favorable impression on them.

The right language and format will also help you establish a professional reputation. It also helps you to communicate clearly and officially. It is also used to send and receive important messages and information within and outside an organization.

What is an Email

Electronic mail (Email) is a means of exchanging messages between users using a computer-based application. The use of email applications allows users to exchange messages quickly and securely. Emails have more edges than using a letter. This is because it is flexible and can store information for extended periods.

Different applications can be used to send out emails. Some of them include Gmail, Outlook, Thunderbird, etc. You can use any of these apps to send or receive emails from anybody. You only need to connect to an active internet to send or receive an email message.

What is the Importance of Using Email

There are numerous reasons people use emails. It has effectively made sending vital business messages easier and faster. Below are some of the importance of emails to everyone.

You can carry out business communications easily using emails. It is faster and more secure than other forms of electronic communication.

With the help of emails, you can save your contacts easily. This is helpful because you can easily retrieve your saved contacts after losing your device.

It makes it easier for you to understand what the message is all about at a glance. This is because most emails come with a subject line. This way, you can check and ignore unwanted messages and concentrate on only the useful ones.

Emails can be used for both official and information communications. It is an ideal tool for sending business proposals to potential clients. You can also use emails to send follow-up and reminder messages to them.

It is easier to save past messages with emails. You can always go back to check them whenever they’re needed frequently.

Emails work faster than chats when it comes to business conversations. It is seen as a tool for a serious business discussion. Since it is also fast and reliable, it is a perfect tool for effectively communicating with potential buyers and business partners.

It is used to update customers, users, and business partners about promotional offers, new information, and advertisement of new products.

Reasons You Should Implement Email Best Practices at Your Workplace

Implementing email best practices is very important. This is because it helps to save both time and resources. Most workers spend about 28% of their time sending or responding to emails. The time spent on emails is usually only productive with proper email management.

To help you understand better, here are some reasons to implement the best email practices for your team and your business.

Managing numerous emails can be time-consuming. As such, email best practices will enable you to manage several emails at a time.

Since not all emails are important, you may not need to read all of them.

Too many emails can distract you when not properly managed.

There is also a potential for miscommunication in email, just as with other communication forms.

Your work emails can eat into your time when not properly managed.

What Are The Email Best Practices?

Whether you’re sending emails internally or to business associates doesn’t matter. Certain email practices are essential that you follow. This will help you manage your email communication and improve productivity.

Below are some of the best workplace email practices you should adopt. This will ensure you’re sending emails correctly and getting the needed feedback.

Use a Standard Email Font

Your email’s default font and text color should be neat and professional. By default, the font color can be black or dark gray for all emails. This way, the receivers can easily know when emails come from you. It is also necessary for a better understanding of your messages.

Some fonts are highly readable. Choose any of the following fonts: include Avenir, Arial, Serif, Calibri, Cambria, Corbel, Georgia, Gill Sans, Helvetica, etc.

Structure Your Message Clearly

You can structure your email messages for proper organization in several ways. However, it would help if you used a structured technique to improve your messages’ readability. Using short paragraphs and putting the messages in the section when sending longer messages would be nice.

Use bullet lists to outline important messages the recipient needs to note, if possible. Each paragraph should connect to the next one to make complete sense. Using large image attachments in between texts can make your mail look messy.

Always Provide a Call To Action

Concluding your email with a clear call to action will help direct the message recipients on what you want them to do next. You can also provide a time frame when you need a response. This is also a good email marketing strategy that can lead to better sales.

Save Email Templates

It’s not easy to type the same thing over and over. This is why it is good to have a message or email templates that you can always refer to when you need a similar message to send. This is also helpful when another team member wishes to send a similar message. They could easily search for the message, make adjustments, and send it.

A list of saved email templates helps to make the work done faster. You can set up message templates using Outlook or Gmail to send emails. You can also save some of your responses in a doc file for easy copy and paste by any team member.

Use Tags, Labels, and Folders

There are different ways to organize your inbox. You can create folders for different mail types. All emails that must be treated as soon as possible can be placed in the “Urgent” folder. At the same time, the emails received in a particular month can be saved in the “This Month” folder.

You can also use tags and labels to specify which group the messages belong to. This is a proper way to organize your emails and ensure that each email is traceable.

Schedule Your Email Tasks

You need to schedule your email tasks and set clear expectations and deadlines. This will ensure that you don’t have fuzzy communication. It will help if you prioritize more important emails or pay closer attention to emails with the nearest deadlines. This is the best way to ensure that you’re able to meet up with your email targets.

You can also set specific times in the day when you can check your inbox. Checking your mailbox all the time may not be the best option. It usually leads to skipping certain messages. However, it is easier to treat all incoming messages when you set a specific time to attend to all pending messages.

Use Shared Inbox For Group Mails

Every member of the same team is likely to receive a copy of an email in a group email such as info@youremail.com. Opening it will be a waste of time unless the whole team needs the email. Sometimes, there could be cases of different persons responding to one email.

A shared inbox allows everyone to see the emails in the queue. Knowing when one person opens an email or responds to it becomes easier. It is easier for a team to work on an email inbox without wasting much time.

Proofread Your Email Before Sending

Emails are most times used for sending official messages. As such, you must go through your message before sending it. You must check for grammar and spelling errors to make the email as professional as possible.

Consider having a colleague proofread the message before you send it to an important client. Tools such as spellcheck or Grammarly can also help to detect errors.

Conclusion

Email is a great business tool for effective communication. You can improve workplace efficiency and customer communication when used correctly. However, poor email management or bad email practice can affect your work’s productivity. This is why you must apply the email best practices mentioned in this article.

You can also learn how best you can manage Outlook emails at work. These practices are essential to improve adequate workflow. It also helps make your job easier and keeps your work schedule without stress.