Electronic mail, or email for short, is an online message delivery system.

It delivers private messages to individuals

Email addresses and mail servers

To participate, you need an email address. You can get this for free from your Internet service provider or from one
of the many free web-based email services such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Outlook.com. Your email address is
unique in all the world, like your postal address or phone number is unique.

An email address might look like this: [email protected]

The first part (myemailname) is your user name on the mail server. The @ sign indicates the break between the
username and the domain name. Everything after the @ sign is the domain name, which indicates the mail server.

When you send email, it goes to the mail server belonging to the company that issued you your email address (for
example, Comcast or Google). That mail server forwards it to the recipient’s mail server, where it is stored until the
recipient logs in and picks it up.

Most mail servers provide a web-based interface that you can use to send and receive mail. If you use the web
interface, your mail is available from any computer, as long as you have Internet access.

Types of email accounts

There are several different email account technologies, and you should know which type you have (or what kind you
want, if you’re still looking for an email provider) because the setup and the choices of email programs you can use
are different for each:

Web-based: This type of email account is designed to be used primarily with a web-based interface. Many of the free
email services are this type, including Gmail, Hotmail (now part of Outlook.com), and Yahoo! Mail. This is the easiest,
most no-fuss type, and is great for casual users who don’t send many messages and don’t want to fool with setting
up an email program.

POP3: This type of email account is designed to be used with an email client, although the provider may also allow
web access too. This type of account downloads your received messages to your local PC when it connects to the
mail server.

A POP3 account is tethered to a particular computer where the received mail is stored; it’s best for someone who
uses the same computer all or most of the time. POP3 stands for Post Office Protocol version 3.

IMAP: This type of email account, like POP3, is also designed to be used with an email client. It does not download
received messages, though; it reads them from the server, like web-based email does. That way, you can browse
your mailbox from multiple computers and still see the full set of emails.

The downside is that you can’t browse your mail if you aren’t connected to the Internet. IMAP stands for Internet
Mail Access Protocol.

EAS: This type is similar to IMAP except it is used by Exchange servers. It is a popular type of account for groupware
and corporate accounts, as well as for mail delivered to smart phones. EAS stands for Exchange ActiveSync.
1. Use a direct subject line

In many cases, people decide to open an email based purely on the subject line.

Strong subject lines are brief, descriptive, and whenever possible, action-oriented. For example, “Board Meeting
moved to Tuesday, 11/21” is a stronger subject line than “meeting date changed.”

2. Use a professional email address

Obviously, having your emails deleted is the last thing you want. One of the best ways to ensure that doesn’t happen
is to avoid using a non-branded or nondescript address.

If you are representing a company, you should always use the email address your company has provided for you
because it instantly makes you look more credible and improves email deliverability substantially.

However, if you are using a private email address you should really be careful when selecting your handle.

3. The “reply-all” button should be used sparingly

Nobody likes to open or read emails that have nothing to do with them, their department, or their individual
responsibilities.

Ignoring unrelated emails can be hard, and the repetitive alerts can be irritating if we’re trying to focus on other
tasks.

Avoid hitting “reply all” unless you know everyone included on the list really needs to receive the reply.

4. Add a professional email signature

Professional email signatures can lead to higher ROI rates if you’re engaged in marketing campaigns. It makes sense
to give your reader additional information about you or your company. Usually, an email signature includes your full
name, title, company name, and contact information.

You can add a little publicity too, but don’t go overboard with artwork, links, slogans or quotes. Keep your font, type
size, and text colour the same as the rest of your email to set a professional tone.

5. Use professional greetings

It’s important to learn how to use professional greetings when it comes to email etiquette.

Be careful when using casual greetings such as “Hey there” or “Hi everyone.” While casual, friendly greetings are
appropriate in many types of emails, make sure you know what sort of audience you’re addressing.

6. Be wary of excessive exclamation points

If you are in the habit of using exclamation points, be careful to limit them when expressing your enthusiasm or
excitement.

Some people tend to overuse this punctuation mark and end up using several exclamation points in the span of a
few sentences. This may make the writer sound overly eager or even immature. Use them sparingly and only when it
is really appropriate.
7. Be careful when using humour

Without the corresponding facial expressions or tone of voice, any humour used over email can easily get lost in
translation. In fact, it is better to rather leave all forms of humour off professional email exchanges unless you know
the receiver very well.

Also, something you find personally funny might not be remotely amusing to someone else. In some cases, a humour
can even seem rude or hurtful, so when in doubt, it’s best to leave it out.

8. Reply to all your emails

The dramatic changes we’ve experienced this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to major transformations
in the ways we conduct business. Our workplace communication is changing dramatically and how we use our email
is a perfect example.

It’s hard to answer every email you receive, but it’s good email etiquette to at least try. This includes emails that
were sent to you accidentally: a reply is not mandatory but it’s always good email etiquette.

Even something short will suffice: “I know you’re really busy, but I believe you sent this email to me by mistake. I
wanted to let you know, so you could get it to the right individual.”

9. Always proofread before pressing send

Don’t depend solely on your standard spell checker. Your email recipients will likely notice mistakes, and while the
occasional typo happens to everyone, repeated mistakes and misspellings can look sloppy.

10. Add the email address after you’ve composed the message

Want to avoid accidentally sending an email before you’ve finished typing and proofreading the message? It is a
good safety measure to type out your email first, then add the email address of the recipient when you are ready to
send the message.

11. Double-check the recipient addresses

Do your best to be accurate and pay particular attention when you type a name from your contacts list on the “To”
line. It’s unfortunately very easy to choose the wrong name, which can be embarrassing for you and the person
receiving the email by accident. Also, make wise use of CC and BCC in email to avoid conversational clutter.

12. Always consider how cultural differences may affect your communication

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach a wide range of people, and it’s easy to set up. But it
can very easily lead to miscommunication due to cultural differences, especially when your recipient can’t see your
facial expression or body language.
If possible, it’s a good idea to customize your message to the cultural context of your chosen recipient.

Remember, there will likely be time zone differences you need to take into account as well.

13. Keep your fonts simple and classic

Every font has its own place and time, but when it comes to business communication it is better to keep your fonts
and their relevant sizes and colours simple and classic.

The most important rule of thumb is that your messages must be easy to read. It is usually best to go for an 11-point
or 12-point font size and an easy-to-read sans serif such as Calibri, Helvetica, or Arial. It may seem boring, but black
is the safest and easiest to read choice as far as colour is concerned. Try to keep text highlighting and use of bolding,
italics, and underlining to a minimum. These effects can help make important information stand out, but look chaotic
when used too often.

14. Segment your communications

One of the best ways to personalize your communications is to segment your email list to begin with. A
segmentation feature is absolutely something that should come with any email marketing tool that you use.

Segmenting your email lists makes it easier for you to target your campaigns based on your customer groups, which
in turn allows you to make your messages more tailored to your recipients.

15. Consider your tone

Finally, just as humour may be misconstrued, your writing tone might be easy to misunderstand without the
perspective one may get from hearing your voice. As a result, it’s easy to come across as abrupt when you are simply
trying to be straightforward.

Read your email out loud prior to sending it. If it comes across as negative or rude to you, it will definitely be
perceived that way by the reader. If you want positive results, remember your basic manners: say “please” and
“thank you,” and try not to use words that are overly-negative or dramatic.