Ten E-mail Habits that Send Wrong Message1. Abusive Subject Line Behavior
Intention: By typing the word “URGENT,” “ACTION ITEM” or “READ ME” in the subject line, she is hoping to stress the actionable items of her email. Her message is clear. Perception: Her subject line implies that she presumes her message is more important than any other correspondence you might have received. The perception is that she is over-confident and thinks very little of your time.
2. ALL CAPS
Intention: He’s trying to get his point across and ensure you know he means business. Caps=”this is a message that I am stressing.” Perception: Whoa. Caps-locked emails scream at you from your screen. It’s amazing how capital letters can seem so forceful, so arrogant, so—mean. The same should be pointed out for excessive punctuation. Follow AP style: use sparingly; one exclamation point is always, always enough.
3. Answering The Wrong Question
Intention: When a colleague on a group email answers questions that are under your purview before you have a chance to. He’s saving his colleague the hassle of answering—hey, he knows the answer too! Perception: It’s the online version of shouting out the answer without raising your hand. His colleague might think that he is undermining their authority or worse—out to get their job.
4. The "Always CC Me" Request
Intention: She’s hoping to avoid any problems from slipping through the cracks by being aware of all activity and correspondence. Perception: She’s a controlling micro-manager who doesn’t trust her employees. Why did she hire them in the first place?
5. Copyediting A Coworker
Intention: He wants to ensure that the higher ups see a clean, well-spoken document. By editing his coworker’s email and resending it, he ensures that the grammatically correct email is higher in the supervisor’s inbox. Perception: Public shaming of a colleague is never going to get him anywhere. Both the colleague and the supervisor are made aware of this one-upsmanship. And neither of them like it.
6. CC'ing Up
Intention: When you're having an email exchange with a co-worker, and s/he escalates the conflict by sneakily CCing a higher-up. She’s resolving the issue efficiently by letting a higher-up in on the conflict. Perception: She’s sneaky, conniving and out to make them look bad. Even more nefarious: the BCC
7. Instant Follow Up
Intention: He wants to make sure you’ve received and read his email—calling or emailing right away seems like the logical way to find out. Perception: Give me a break! If you expect an instant response to a query, the more efficient route is to pick up the phone. Following up shortly after sending an email makes you seem impatient and self-righteous.
8. Over-use Of The Priority Flag
Intention: Read my email! Perception: When a colleague uses the high priority marker for all emails—particularly those without an impending deadline or expiration date, it sends a “boy who cried wolf” message to coworkers. Meaning the chances your emails are getting read are worse, not better.
9. The Preemptive Auto Response: "I'm very busy and important. But I'll get back to you as soon as I can!"
Intention: By setting an auto response to every email he receives, he is buying time—while reassuring you that he does care about your email and will respond at a convenient time. He thinks: polite. Perception: By setting an auto response to every email he receives, he is buying time—while reassuring you that he does care about your email and will respond at a convenient time. You think: condescending.
10. Reusing An Old Email Chain
Intention: She wants to make it easy for you to keep all correspondence from her in one place. Rather than begin a new email chain, she’ll just keep using an old one so you can find it by her name. Perception: She is lazy, disorganized or has poor email sorting habits herself. Start a new email chain with the appropriate subject line every time a new issue is being discussed.