Watch Your Tone: Professional vs. Casual Emails

For better or worse, email has become a primary form of communication. I can remember a professor telling me back in college (which wasn’t very many years ago) that I was expected to check email at least three times per day, and the whole class balked at the notion! Today, I find if I’m without email for more than an hour, particularly during working hours, I begin to dread how many emails are waiting for me when I have the chance to look.

The incredible growth of email usage has been accompanied by a lackadaisical approach to email protocol. Professional emails seem too stuffy, though casual emails are inappropriate for a client environment. So what’s the correct approach?

Here are some general rules to keep in mind to ensure the tone in your email is appropriate for the situation.

1. Greeting—Hey is for horses but better for cows. Use a full greeting, such as Hello or Hi, and a person’s name, spelled correctly.
2. Punctuation—A sentence ends with a period. If there are multiple thoughts or a natural pause in a sentence, add a comma. There should rarely, if ever, be exclamation points. Though you may be excited to speak with a client or reporter, keep your excitement in check. Don’t yell at them.
3. Emoticons—People of all ages—though more with younger generations—have become accustomed to expressing their emotions via keyboard characters that depict a facial expression. From the ‘traditional’ smiley face to the animated eye-roll, these may be funny and accurately depict an emotion when chatting with friends via email or IM, but are not appropriate when corresponding in the workplace.
4. Acronyms and abbreviations—LOL is not a word. Despite its frequent appearance in daily conversations, it is merely a pop culture catch phrase. Don’t fall into the jargon trap and use these daily catch phrases in client notes. Also keep in mind that abbreviations used with colleagues, such as “np” or “LMK,” are not appropriate to use in a client note. Write them out.
5. Watch your tone—A sarcastic comment meant to be funny can be misinterpreted in email. To prevent misspeaking, ask a colleague to read an email before you send it or read it out loud to hear how it sounds to your ears. Even Inc. thought this was a big enough issue to write about this past year: http://www.inc.com/tech-blog/watch-your-email-tone.html.

The general rule of thumb is to let the client and/or reporter set the tone. If they use emoticons, take it a step down and perhaps consider using an exclamation point, when relevant. You want to ensure you remain slightly more professional in your email tone than how they communicate with you. Remember, you are a PR professional.

What tips do you have for professional emails? Any email pet peeves you’d like to share? Leave a comment below.

Kristin Allaben

Schwartz MSL

Pub Club Board