In the present age where electronic mail has overtaken snail mail in terms of popularity, most companies prefer to make their communications completely dependent on email. Although most of the companies have realized the importance of email etiquette in their correspondence, there are still many who send email replies to customer queries vary late or not at all. Some of them tend to send replies that do not answer the question asked by the customer to any degree. It is very evident that if your company is able to deal with emails professionally and can have a good email receiving and mailing infrastructure that will surely give you an edge over all your competitors. Nowadays the world is full of instances of companies being dragged into expensive lawsuits by the customers every now and then. In such a scenario it will be really helpful if the employees can be trained to write emails professionally, so that they know what to write and what not to when interacting with a customer. These days the employees are required to use appropriate and business like language in all forms of electronic communications, so that the employers can limit their liability risks.

Why do we need email etiquette?

A company needs to train its employees in email etiquette for three basic reasons:

• Protection from liability: if the employee is made aware of the risks associated with unprofessional email, then the firm will be saved from costly lawsuits.
• Efficiency: to the point emails, are definitely much more effective than those which are poorly phrased.
• Professionalism: if the emails sent by your firm have a professional approach, then it helps in building a good image of the company in the recipient’s mind.

There are few basic rules that one must follow to make their emails more effective, better phrased. These rules may differ with the type of business that you are associated with. Some of these rules are cited below:

1. Concise and to the point answer

There is no use in making the email longer than it needs to be. So try to answer the questions well in a brief manner. Always remember, reading a long email is irksome to most people, so a concise to the point email will definitely score points with the consumer.

2. Use of proper spelling, grammar and punctuation

Use of proper spelling, grammar and punctuation marks gives the reader a good impression about your company. Try not to use any complex technical term unless absolutely necessary. Emails without any punctuation marks are very difficult to read, so keep that in mind while writing them.

3. A personal approach

The email should dress the customer personally; a personally addressed email makes the customer feel well treated. So it is better to avoid auto replies as much as possible.

4. Usage of templates for responses that are commonplace

Some of the questions asked by the consumers seem to keep on recurring, in such a scenario it is advised to use a template for such emails. Pre-formatted mails save a lot of time and increase efficiency, but the use of such emails should be kept to a bare minimum.