Email Guidelines

When Writing a New Email, Be:

Considerate

• If no action is required from any recipients, write “FYI, no action required” in the subject line. Always use the “CC:” field for people you need to provide an FYI, and do not expect a response from cc’d recipients.
• Don’t use the “BCC” field. If someone needs to be informed of an e-mail, and using the “CC” field is not appropriate for whatever reason, simply forward the e-mail to that person once it’s been sent.

Reasonable

• Don’t expect an immediate response unless you ask for one. If an issue is urgent or a quick response is needed, make a phone call to discuss and summarize the call afterwards via email.

Selective

• Keep recipients to a minimum. Use the “To:” field for people you want a response or action from.  Address the email to the recipients you desire action from, i.e. “Jim/John, I need XYZ”, and include a specific date (MM/DD) for when you need it completed.

Specific

• Use a succinct and descriptive subject. Emails with a blank subject, or only “Re: ” or “FWD: ”, are unacceptable and make it difficult to find needed information later.

Accurate

• Pre-empt questions by being accurate, succinct, and thorough. Use absolute dates instead of relative dates, i.e. “this Thursday, 11/20” instead of “tomorrow” or “next Thursday”.  One email is better than two.

Short & Sweet

• Keep emails to just a few short paragraphs. Make a phone call or conference call for discussions.  Keep U.S. email attachments smaller than 5MB, and overseas attachments smaller than 2MB.  Use a file service (yousendit, FTP) for larger items.

Careful 

• Don’t forward an internal email to external parties (vendors, customers, etc.) Copy and paste relevant content into a new email to avoid accidentally sending internal information.

Wise

• Emails are permanent—Don’t send something in you will regret later. Sarcasm is rarely interpreted correctly in writing.

When Replying to Email, Be:

Sparing

• Use “Reply to All” with discretion. If you receive a multi-party email and only the sender needs your input or you need clarification, reply only to the sender.

Responsible

• If the sender needs something by a deadline date that you can’t meet, quickly reply requesting a new date you can hit. Unless the task is some time in the future, don’t reply with an “OK” and another email confirming you completed the task—just do the task and reply that you completed it.

Pre-Emptive

• If you receive an email without a subject line, put one in when you respond. If you sent an email that has spiraled into a long email discussion, cut off the chain with an email setting up a time to discuss on the phone.

Courteous

• Keep email litter down. Unless requested by the sender, don’t reply with “Thanks” or “Me too” or “Got it” emails.

Chronological

• When reading and replying to email from your inbox, start from the most recent items first, especially in a chain, thereby avoiding addressing issues that have already been resolved.