Top 10 (+1) Email Etiquette Pet Peeves
What if I want to reply to your email with a quick phone call from my office or better yet from my cell phone? If you fail to include your number I have to close the email, switch over to my contacts, search for your name, oops, realize you’re not in my contacts, search for your web address or use desktop search to find your number. Arrggghh!!! You get the picture.
2) REPLY TO email signatures that do not include a contact phone number.
Same reasons as #1.
3) Sending a task oriented email primarily to one person but including others in the TO line rather than the CC line.
When you send a task oriented email to multiple people then you have essential assigned each of them a task to do. (e.g., “Where is the document reflecting our new pricing plan?”) So when there are multiple Type A personalities in the TO line then often times they will each reply to the email. So little time in the day, why waste it like this? Send your emails to one person and CC the others when an FYI is needed.
4) Replying to an email with multiple people on the TO line but NOT selecting REPLY ALL.
If pet peeve #3 occurs and you have the answer then REPLY ALL so that others also do not spend time replying as well. For an exception to rule see pet peeve #5.
5) If the email is addressed to a group like “_EVERONE” then never, ever, hit REPLY ALL.
No explanation is needed, this one’s obvious. Special note: If some yahoo does REPLY ALL to the group address then please, please do not REPLY ALL again correcting them! I’ve seen this happen 100 times in a large company. Insanity.
6) Using Outlook’s Stationary or any sort of background image on your emails.
Again, no explanation needed. This is so 80s.
7) Forgetting to send the attachment but then sending a new email with the just the attachment instead of replying to your original email.
If you send a new email with the missing attachment (and no other text) then I have to keep 2 emails so I know what is required of me to do with the attachment. We all forget to send attachments from time to time, just reply to
the original email with the missing attachment and a curt “Sorry”, we’ll know what to do from there.
Sending an attachment over 2MB.
No I’m not on dial-up but we all have corporate accounts with size limits on mail files. So all you’ve accomplished is cause the rest of my emails to bounce until I clean out this big one.
9) Replying to an email with the nothing but the words “Thanks” or “OK”.
This is equally annoying in Instant Messenger. I think I’m done with the conversation and “beep” a new email or IM msg comes across blinking “thanks”. It’s just one more interruption. I know you’re a nice person, I trust that you’re thankful, let’s leave it at that.
10) CC-ing a peer or superior on an already existing email chain.
There aren’t too many legitimate reasons to do this other than to raise awareness to an issue and perhaps intimidate the other party. Try to work out your difference between yourselves first.
11) BONUS item. TYPING YOUR EMAILS IN ALL CAPS.
In case you haven’t used email since 1975 then I’ll let you in on a little secret, typing in ALL CAPS means that you’re SHOUTING!
These are just a few of the top ones that sprung to mind. Do you agree with the list? Are there other common ones that annoy you?
Curtis S
