The Six Traits of Excellent E-Mailers

1.  Address Carefully:  If you are sending an email to several people, avoid putting all their addresses in the To and CC boxes.  Send the email individually or use the BCC or blind copy option.  This way everyone's name and email address doesn't have be to seen by everyone.

2.  Subject Matters: Always fill in the subject line even in a personal email, this gives your reader a heads up as to what your message says and whether or not its urgent or can be answered later.

3.  Short & Sweet: Emails should be kept brief.  It should be one of the perks of communicating in this convenient way.

4.  Speak softly: Capital letters can denote shouting in an e-mail and are much harder to read.  Avoid at all costs.

5.  Symbology: Be careful of using too many symbols, emoticons :), or web abbreviations (LOL).  These can confuse readers and leave messages open to interpretation where you don't want any.


6.  The Proof is in the Pudding:  Check and double check all emails before sending.  This can save you a lot of embarrassment by making sure you are saying exactly what you want to say and sending it to the right person!