Email has become one of the primary
ways we communicate in our personal and professional lives. However, we can often be our own worst enemy when
using it. In this blog post, we will explain the most common mistakes people
make AND how you can avoid them in your
day-to-day lives.
Auto complete
Auto complete is a common feature
that is found in most email clients. You know, when you start to type the name of the person you
want to email and their address automatically comes up? It's handy because you don't have to
remember the email addresses of all your
contacts, just their names. The problem with auto complete comes when
you have contacts with similar names.
It is very easy for auto complete to select the wrong email address for you.
For example, you may think you are sending an email with
all of your organization’s financial information to “Fred Smith,” your coworker in accounting. But, auto
complete selects “Fred Johnson,” your neighbor. As a result, you end up sending
sensitive information to unauthorized people.
(Not good!) Always double check the name and the email
address before you hit send, just to be safe.
CC / BCC
Usually, you'll have two options
besides the “To” field: Cc and Bcc. “Cc” stands for “Carbon copy,” which means
you want to keep people copied and
informed. “Bcc” means “Blind carbon copy.” It is similar to Cc, but no one can
see the people you have Bcc’ed.
Both of
these options can get you into trouble.
When someone sends you an email and has
Cc’ed people on it, you have to decide if
you want to reply to just the sender or reply to everyone that was included on
the Cc. If your reply is sensitive, you may
want to reply only to the sender. If that is the case, be sure you do not use
the “Reply All” option, which will include
everyone. A Bcc presents a different problem. When sending a sensitive email,
you may want to copy someone privately using
Bcc, such as your boss. However, if your boss responds using “Reply All,” all
of the recipients will know that your
boss was secretly Bcc’d on your original email. That doesn't leave you looking too good in front of everyone else.
Distribution lists
Distribution lists are a collection
of email addresses represented by a single email address, sometimes called a
mail list or a group name. For example, you may
have a distribution list with the email address group@example.com. When you
send an email to that address, the
message gets sent to everyone in the group, which could be hundreds or
thousands of people. Be very careful what you send to a
distribution list, since so many people may receive that message. In addition,
be very careful when replying to someone’s
email on a distribution list. You may only intend to reply to the individual
sender, but if you hit “Reply All,” you will
have included the entire distribution list. This means that hundreds (if not
thousands) of people will be able to read your
private email. Another problem with autocomplete is that it could select a
distribution list instead of a single recipient.
You may think you are emailing coworker Carl at
carl@example.com, but autocomplete might accidentally send it to a distribution list you subscribed to about cars.
Emotion
Never send an email when you are
emotionally charged. An email written in an emotional state could cause you
harm in the future, perhaps even costing you
a friendship or a job. Instead, take a moment and calmly organize your
thoughts.
If you have to vent your frustration,
open a new email, make sure it is not addressed to anyone, and type
exactly what you feel like saying. When you are
done, get up and walk away from your computer, perhaps make yourself a cup of
tea. Once you've calmed down, delete the email
and start over again. Even better, pick up the phone and talk to the person, as
it can be hard to determine tone and
intent with just an email.
Privacy
One last tip: Remember that traditional
email has few privacy protections. Anyone who gains access to your email can
read your messages. In addition, unlike a
phone call or personal conversation, you no longer have control over an email
once you send it. Your email can easily
be forwarded to others, posted on public forums and may remain accessible on
the Internet forever. If you have
something truly private to communicate, pick up the phone. It is also
important to remember that email can be used as legal evidence
in many countries. Finally, if you are using your work computer for sending email, keep in mind that your
employer may have the right to monitor and read your email. If you use your
work computer to access your personal email
account, this could include your personal email. Check with your supervisor if
you have questions about email privacy at
work.
