Proper email etiquette is one way to demonstrate respect for others, and to treat them as we would want to be treated.
During tax season, I had a dispute with my CPA about the fact that I kept sending her emails and she would never respond. I had already established with her that I wanted to extend my income tax returns due to my travel schedule, but I didn’t know if she had received the emails that followed that decision.
One thing led to another and I found out that she had not received my financial docs. Talk about a stressful situation! Thankfully, we were able to track down the missing documents — which of course contained all of my private financial information — but the situation could have been avoided if my CPA had taken the time to simply respond to my messages. I would have known that she had not received them and to resend them.
The Lesson is in Proper Email Etiquette
Even if you are insanely busy and assume you know what the sender is saying in his or her email, take two minutes to read it and respond, even if you just say “received.” If you don’t have a second when you first receive the email, make sure you mark it as “unread” so you can get back to it when you have more time. You can even flag it if you have to.
Why use Proper Email Etiquette
In a recent post “5 reasons it’s a good idea to instantly respond to emails” , the number one reason listed is “It’s courteous.” Contributors to the post, Deepak Chopra and Kabir Sehgal, say that “By sending a quick acknowledgement email, you are being polite, well-mannered, and respectful.”
It’s all about “mindfulness,” which is to never put anyone in a compromising position. Civility is lacking in the world these days and we need to bring it back. We need to respect others and treat them as we want to be treated. Small things like responding to someone’s email with a three-word sentence will go far to save on stress and annoyance which could have been avoided. And besides, now that everyone has iPhones, PDAs, iPads and mobiles with web access, there’s no excuse to not be in touch.
