Rules for business email correspondence. Ethics of business correspondence

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Business communication via email is an integral part of the life of any modern person: we write to colleagues at work, management, clients, business partners, people who know us, and those who do not know us yet. What is business ethics in electronic correspondence, and how necessary is it for successful business?

Each letter is our business card and a reflection of our business position. And if it is important for us that this business card looks decent, and that the business position contributes to the comfort and productivity of communication, then knowing the basic rules of good manners and following them in daily correspondence is the most important condition for success.

With regard to electronic business correspondence, the same rules and regulations apply that the business community operates in any other forms of business interaction: when communicating by phone, negotiating, etc. In my opinion, the ethics of business email correspondence is based on several unshakable principles:

1. Mutual respect between opponents for each other’s personality and business position.
2. Attention to the business interests of the opponent.
3. Understanding the importance of privacy issues.
4. Punctuality in information exchange.

Let's consider practical tools for implementing these principles

1. Competently and clearly designed “Subject” / “Subject” field

Specifying a subject saves the addressee's time, allowing him to immediately assess the content of the letter he receives and quickly decide on its priority when reading it.

2. Greetings and personal address to the addressee/recipients

Creates trust and gives the letter a personal touch. Ignoring the addressee's name is perceived as incorrectness.

3. Addressing accuracy

Correctly filling out the “To”, “Cc”, and “Bcc” fields is the most important tool for efficient and ethical communication. To avoid mistakes when working with these fields, you need to know their purpose, which is generally accepted in the modern business environment:

• if your name is in the direct addressee field (“To”), this means that the sender of the letter is waiting for an answer to his question from you;
• if several addressees are placed in this field, this means that the sender of the letter is waiting for a response from each or any of the addressees;
• If your name is placed in the "Cc" field, it means that the sender wants you to be aware of the issue, but he does not expect a response from you. You should not enter into the subject of correspondence if your name is in the “Cc” field. If you nevertheless decide to enter into correspondence, then a sign of good manners would be to begin the letter with one of the following phrases: “Let me join the discussion of this issue...”, “Sorry for interfering...”, “Let me express my opinion...”.

Particular attention in terms of ethics belongs to the “Blind carbon copy” field. This is the most “vulnerable” email tool from the point of view of business ethics, because... this field is usually perceived as an instrument of secret control and information. Bcc recipients are not visible to other recipients. Some companies that are sensitive to ethical issues prohibit the use of this tool in corporate correspondence. The exception is mass mailings (for example, invitations). They are sent to a large number of recipients, but the email addresses should not be visible to everyone.

There are companies that treat the “Bcc” field more calmly, adhering to the following universal rules:

• in the “Blind carbon copy” field, recipients (hidden addressees) are placed who should be aware of the correspondence, but their awareness should not be obvious to direct addressees;
• sending a letter with the “Blind carbon copy” field filled in presupposes a preliminary agreement or subsequent awareness of the author of the letter and hidden recipients about the reason and purpose of this form of information;
• the hidden recipient should not enter into the subject of the correspondence from the BCC field.

4. Promptness of response

The response time to a letter is one of the indicators of your position in relation to the business interests of partners and clients. Companies have different standards in this regard. An acceptable response/reaction time to a letter is within two to three hours. If, having received a letter and read it, you understand that you cannot answer it within 24 hours, then the rule of good form would be to send the addressee information that you have received his letter and will answer it: "Got a letter. I will answer today during the day" or "Got a letter. Additional information is needed to answer. I will try to answer no later than...”

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5. Correct work with information (volume, language, structure, format)

The nature and peculiarity of the presentation of information in the text of the letter is also a tool and indicator of your ability and desire to conduct correspondence as correctly and respectfully as possible towards your addressee:

• maximum comfort when reading the volume of the letter, which fits “in one screen”, maximum – in the volume of text of one sheet of A-4 format;
• the volume of sent attachments should not exceed 3 MB (larger files may create problems, as they may not pass through the recipient’s mail server);
• It is better to “pack” the sent files in universal encodings: Zip or rar (other extensions may be blocked or cut off during forwarding and create problems for the recipient);
• when responding to a letter from the addressee, the text of your response should be placed at the top (at the beginning) of the letter, and not at the bottom (this saves the addressee from having to “scroll” through the previous text of the correspondence in search of the answer you wrote);
• You should not start a response to the addressee’s letter as a new letter (without saving the correspondence history). Such a response will force the receiving recipient to waste time searching for the original message;
• It is necessary to write in a language that is as understandable to the addressee as possible. In each specific case, the question of the advisability of using professional, internal corporate vocabulary, slang, abbreviations and anglicisms (borrowing from English in any other language) is resolved.

If the use of slang and abbreviations increases the speed and efficiency of correspondence, then the use of slang is acceptable and ethical. Thus, internal correspondence within a company is almost always replete with slang: it is familiar and understandable to all participants in the correspondence and allows you to save time. But in correspondence with external business partners/clients, this is an issue that requires caution.

It happens that you cannot do without terminology. For example, a company provides clients with a product/service such as online advertising, and concepts such as “media-contextual banner”, “keywords”, “negative words”, “ctr” cannot be replaced by anything; they must be introduced into business context and teach the client to operate with them. In this case, it is important for both parties to be patient and willing to explain and learn.

However, there are cases when the use of abbreviations and terms can and should be avoided.

EXAMPLE:

A friend of mine spent 2 days looking for an answer to the question: what is ASAP. She was preparing materials for the publishing house and in her last letter they wrote to her: “ Masha, please send all your materials asap" Masha decided that this was a designation of a format unknown to her, into which the text needed to be “translated.” The time Masha spent on “deciphering” and satisfying the publisher’s request took 2 days. Imagine the annoyance of the Machine when, after 2 days, it found out that behind the mysterious “asap” there was an abbreviation widely used in the English-speaking environment “ as soon as possible» – « as quickly as possible».

ADVICE: do not abuse anglicisms, special terms and in-house abbreviations in correspondence with external clients and partners.

6. Availability of signature and contact information

This is a necessary attribute that should end each of your letters. The following must be placed in the signature block:

1. Your first and last name.

This makes the correspondence personalized, which affects the effectiveness and psychological comfort of communication. Abbreviations should not be used in your signature. Instead of T.L. Vorotyntseva in my signature I will write Tamara Leonidovna Vorotyntseva (or Tamara Vorotyntseva) so that the addressee can understand how to contact me in a reply letter.

1. Indicate your position.

By doing this, you let the recipient understand the boundaries of your authority and professional competence in resolving issues.

1. Contact coordinates (telephone, email, name and address of the company, its website).

By doing this, you will provide the recipient with the opportunity for additional operational communication if necessary.

Summarizing all of the above and having many years of experience in observing correspondence in different companies, I can confidently say the following: ethical standards in the modern business community are not only and not so much nominal attributes of good manners, they are practical tools brought to life that allow make business communication correct, prompt, comfortable and, ultimately, effective.

Pay attention to the training conducted by Tamara Vorotyntseva.

Articles

When we write a letter to a friend or relative, we can ignore mistakes and punctuation marks, abbreviate words as we like, and use slang. The main thing is to make it clear what we are talking about. But if we write to a stranger or an unfamiliar person and want to get an answer from him, then we should take into account some rules.

Rules of communication

1 . Always indicate the subject of the letter.

The “Subject” field must be filled in in any case and it is highly desirable that it corresponds to the content of the message.

For example, if you want to make an appointment for a consultation on March 5th, write: “Sign up for a consultation (03/05).”

2. When replying to a letter, save your correspondence history.

When you receive a letter from someone, you can respond to it in three ways:

1. Copy the sender's address and write him a new letter.
2. Click on the special reply field at the bottom of the message.
3. Use the "Reply" button.

For business correspondence, you should respond in the third way, that is, click on the “Reply” button. A new email will open, repeating the one you received. The topic is the same, only with the prefix “Re:”, the original text is fully quoted.

This is the standard response form and you should not change anything about it. Your answer must be printed before the quoted text. This is done so that each participant in the conversation can remember what was discussed at any time.

3. Always say hello and address your interlocutor as "you".

Any message should begin with a greeting. And it is better if it is individual. If appropriate, call the interlocutor by name, otherwise - by first name and patronymic.

It is advisable to end the letter with the following construction: Sincerely, ... (first name/surname or first name/patronymic).

For example: Hello, Alexey Petrovich. Please send the contract to Ivan Mikhailovich. Best regards, Ilya Krivosheev

4 . Reply as quickly as possible.

The sooner you respond to a message, the better. Ideally within a few hours. But it is also possible within a few days. The longer you wait to respond, the worse it affects your reputation.

As for the text of the message, when writing it you should also follow some rules.

Write specifically, but in detail

Don't make the other person guess what you meant. If the problem is not obvious, describe it in as much detail as possible: how you got the result you have, what exactly you want to achieve and what is required from your interlocutor.

But this does not mean that you need to indicate all the details in great detail. Skip the unnecessary stuff - value the other person’s time.

Try to write briefly and to the point

There is no need, for example, to talk about how your wife, mother-in-law and other relatives are doing.

As for size, ideally one “screen” (no scrolling). Maximum - text size that fits on an A4 sheet.

Use common sense and common decency

Be polite, attentive, thank you for your letters and time.

What you absolutely CAN'T do

1 . Abuse punctuation marks.

One exclamation or question mark is enough. They should not be duplicated. Also, do not overuse ellipses.

An example of a “bad” letter:

2. Use different fonts, letter sizes and colors.

Mail sites and programs allow you to change these settings. You can choose an unusual font, make the letters larger or smaller, or color the text in different colors. But this is inappropriate in business correspondence!

It’s better not to change anything at all and leave everything as it is by default. The only thing that is acceptable is to highlight some words in bold or italics. But only if necessary!

An example of a “bad” letter:

3. Insert smiley pictures.

Leave happy and sad faces, flowers and hearts for personal correspondence. In business letters, it is better not to use emoticons - neither text nor pictures.

An example of a “bad” letter:

4 . Print text in capital letters.

Typing text in capital letters on the Internet is considered bad manners. This applies to both business and personal correspondence, as well as communication on social networks, Skype, forums and other places. Moreover, this applies to both the entire text and individual words.

The Caps Lock keyboard key is responsible for capital letters. That is, if all your letters are typed in capitals, you just need to press it once and release.

Moreover, do not print the “Subject” of the letter in capital letters - this is the height of disrespect!

On a note . Typing individual words and entire text in capital letters feels like shouting. And screaming is aggression, which goes beyond cultural correspondence.

If you really need to highlight something in the text, it is better to do it using bold or italics.

And it is also very advisable to avoid the words “Urgent”, “Important” and others that express impatience in the subject line of the letter.

Literacy

You should not be too strict about this, but try to write correctly in your letters. A few simple tips:

• Every sentence must begin with a capital letter. To type it, hold down the Shift key.
• There must be a period at the end of every sentence. In the Russian keyboard layout, it is located in the bottom row on the right (before Shift).
• To type a comma, hold Shift and press the period key.
• Do not put a space before a comma or period. There should be a space after them.

And one more tip for those who know at least a little how to use the Word text editor (Writer). First type the letter in this program. It will highlight errors with a red line and by right-clicking on such a word, you can correct it.

Copy and paste the finished text into the letter field. But before inserting, you should turn off formatting so that it can be added without formatting from Word (Writer).

In mail.ru, to do this, click on the inscription “Remove design” at the top.

In Yandex.Mail - the “Disable design” button on the right.

After pasting, the appearance can be turned back on.

A person who tries to look decent in business relationships always uses the rules of email correspondence. He remembers that the email must not tarnish the recipient, the reputation of the company he represents, and the business image.

The ability to competently and concisely conduct electronic correspondence is an important element of the image of a successful manager. This fact testifies to his general cultural level and professionalism. Based on how a person knows how to formulate and formulate his thoughts, one can understand how he relates to himself and others. A carelessly written email can easily spoil the impression of you and undermine your business reputation.

Rules for business email correspondence

Use your work email address exclusively for work-related tasks. When you send a letter from the company's server, it is stored on it, both as outgoing and incoming. Your employer will always be able to look at these letters and understand what you really do. While in the office, use email only for business correspondence.

Understand who you are addressing the message to and who the information provided in it may be useful.

Who are you addressing your letter to? To a partner? To the client? Colleague? To the manager? To a subordinate? The addressee must be indicated in the “to” field, the interested parties must be indicated in the “copy” field. Extra copies should never be sent, especially to a supervisor. If the letter concerns third parties, then they are usually also entered in the “copy” field.

Determine the purpose of the message for yourself. What do you want to achieve by sending your letter? What should the recipient do when he reads it? What reaction are you expecting? The recipient must immediately understand what exactly you want from him. From whom should the letter be written?

It depends on the specific case:

• if you want to show your individual view of events - from the first (I, we);
• if your message contains a request or instruction - from the second (you, you);
• if you are sending a letter as an outside observer, you want to inform the addressee about certain events or accomplished facts - from a third party (he, she, they).

Always fill out the "subject" field. Most people who receive email correspondence look first at the subject field. Based on the information it contains, a decision is made whether to read the letter or not. If there is an awkward phrase that does not convey any information, or the field is completely empty, there is a high probability that the person will not open the letter at all. Indicate the topic briefly, specifically, and informatively.
Follow the content: greeting and appeal, main text, summary, signature and contacts. You must adhere to electronic business communication etiquette.

You should not skip certain parts of the traditional content; format the letter correctly, this demonstrates your professionalism.

By addressing and greeting you express your respect to the addressee. If possible, use a personal greeting and greeting at the beginning of each letter. Address your interlocutor by name, this is also an element of respect. If you want the message to look casual, put a comma after the address. If you want to note its significance and formality, use an exclamation point.

Follow this rule even with colleagues with whom you communicate frequently.

Maintain brevity and clarity. Business correspondence should contain a minimum of words with a maximum of useful information. Present your thoughts specifically, concisely, consistently and in a way that is easy to understand. Form short sentences, so it will be easier for the recipient to perceive the information. Cover one topic in one letter.

It’s better to send several letters if you need to talk about different topics, this is much better than one long message with different ideas that are in no way related to each other.

Do not turn informal communication into business correspondence. There is no need to use emotions in emails. If you want to emotionally emphasize certain points in your message, then try to hide the emotional subtext behind a calm, correct, neutral tone of presentation. It can be achieved not by language, but by content.
Maintain a clear body structure of the letter.

Typically the letter is divided into three parts:

• Reason for writing (reason, reason). Keep this part as short as possible.
• Consistent disclosure of the essence.
• Solutions, proposals, conclusions, requests.

The message should have a good appearance, easy to understand. Make paragraphs in the text consisting of 5-6 lines. It is recommended to separate paragraphs with a blank line. Use one font and color. Unless necessary, do not use abbreviations, emoticons, cursive elements, or exclamation marks.

Write correctly. An illiterately written letter indicates the author’s lack of education. Typos and mistakes have a detrimental effect on your business reputation. Before sending a letter, it is recommended to re-read it carefully. Many text editors and email programs have a function for checking punctuation and spelling; if errors are found, correction options are offered. Be sure to take advantage of these features when writing emails.

Think about what documents need to be included in the letter. There is no need to include detailed information in the text itself; it is better to send it as a separate file. Indicate in the subject line that you have attached a file, what format it is and what is in it (briefly), otherwise the recipient may mistake it for a virus. Before sending the file, check it with an antivirus program.

Leave your contacts and signature. This is only a plus for your reputation; it reflects your professionalism. Don't make a long signature, five to six lines maximum. It should contain the name of the company, your full name, and your position. As a rule, they also indicate the website address, phone number and email address.

You should not use postscript unnecessarily in business correspondence. Its presence indicates that you have not thought through the content of the letter enough.

Only use read receipts when absolutely necessary. As a rule, it is only needed when communicating with external recipients, and only if the response is very important.

Also use the “high importance” flag only when necessary. If the letter contains really important information that needs to be addressed urgently, check this box. Thanks to this, the letter will stand out in the inbox. But, you should not abuse this function, it may look intrusive and irritating.

Be sure to read the letter before sending. Check whether everything is clear, specific, concise, whether there is anything superfluous or inappropriate, or grammatical errors. Have you entered the recipient details correctly? Check the logic and consistency of presentation.

Reply to received emails in a timely manner. Notify that you have read the letter, this will show respect and show good manners. If at a particular moment you cannot respond to a received letter, warn the author about this, and promise to respond as soon as possible. Answer the questions asked to you consistently. There is no need to start your reply as a new message.

If you do not respond within two days, the recipient will think that you did not pay attention to his letter, or that it got lost.

Typically, the person who initiated it should end an electronic dialogue. Although this rule may sometimes not be observed, based on the specifics of a particular correspondence.
Remember all the above rules of electronic correspondence. Always follow them, be careful and reasonable.

This way you can show yourself as a professional, modern and competent manager with whom it is pleasant and comfortable to work.

According to research, every third person on Earth sends and receives about 20-30 letters a day, and this number is constantly growing. For the most part, this is work-related correspondence. Since e-mail is considered the most convenient tool for communication between business people, in order to build proper communication it is necessary to master the basics of e-mail etiquette. In particular, adhere to several unspoken rules to ensure that your clients and partners are satisfied.

Elena Starochkina, psychologist, coach, career guidance specialist, told the HR-tv.ru portal about them.

It is unlikely that anyone will deny that since the days of “I am writing to you...” correspondence has significantly transformed. This also applies to the language in which we communicate. There are more and more anglicisms, punctuation marks are not respected, and emojis replace entire sentences.

You can close your eyes to all this when you correspond with friends and loved ones. But in dialogue with a business partner or potential investor, you must adhere to the rules. Here are some of them:

The first thing the recipient sees is the subject line. Leaving this field empty is bad manners. Not only do you run the risk of ending up in the Trash folder before your email is even read, messages without a subject are harder to find in your mail.

Don't make others uncomfortable and you will be treated the same.

2. Your address

You only need to correspond with clients and partners using your work email. If you work for yourself or for some reason the company does not have its own domain, create a mailbox so that from its name it is immediately clear who the letter came from.

For example, use your first and last name. Of course, your address should not consist of words like detka@, parenok@, lapochka@, etc. This is unacceptable for business communication.

3. Appeal

Any normal person wants to be perceived as an individual. Therefore, start your letter with a greeting and address the recipient by name. If your first and last names are complex and you are not sure which is which, take the time to look up information on the Internet.

It looks quite strange when a person opens a letter and sees that he is called by his last name. Needless to say, the tone of your conversation will be set differently.

4. Key

And now, just about this in more detail. It is very important to understand the difference between communicating with people you have known for many years and someone who is your business partner or may become a client.

In the first case, an informal style is appropriate, in the second - not. Business correspondence should be exclusively formal, correct and respectful.

5. Grammar errors

If the grammar in your letters leaves much to be desired, don’t be surprised if you have to wait several days for a response. Yes, this may not be the only reason, but believe me, no one likes to read illiterate letters. Educated business people prefer to communicate with their own kind.

You don't want your clients to think of you as an incompetent partner? Right. Therefore, before sending the letter, you should double-check it for errors. It will take a little more time, but your reputation will not suffer.

Joking like you do with friends is not a good idea when communicating in business. Unless we are talking about a partner with whom you have been cooperating for many years, and during this time you have managed to get to know each other well. Besides, everyone has a different sense of humor.

Jokes that make you “roll on the floor” may not be funny at all to your interlocutor.