This week was all about etiquette. The lecture brought us through how to have etiquette in all situations such as, in the studio, in meetings, on the phone, and over email. I learned a lot from this and was told about things I wouldn’t have thought about.
However, for this blog post, I am going to focus on email etiquette. I chose this because this is the form of contact I would have with people the most right now as I am not working in a studio yet.
Email Etiquette
Top Tips
- Subject line: You must have one and it should be relevant to the email in case they need to search for it later.
- Tone: If it is someone you know well, it can be more relaxed. If this is your first time contacting this person, it should be more formal.
- You can make a draft email first if you aren’t 100% sure about what you want to say.
- Always spell check: If there are mistakes, people may not take you as seriously.
- Address people by name: This makes it more personal.
- First email: Introduce yourself and say how you know them.
- Repeat emails: Ask them how they are.
- Keep to the point: People get loads of emails and don’t have time to read about irrelevant information.
- Keep to one topic per email: This keeps emails organised and makes them easier to search for if need be.
- Be concise
- Keep it positive to show enthusiasm e.g., “excited”
- Clarify why you are asking something or making a request.
- Sign off: “Many thanks, best, regards, best wishes, thanks again”.
- Leave your details e.g., phone number.
- Don’t forget attachments (should be a reasonable size)
- Leave an appropriate amount of time before following up.
- Don’t use crazy fonts, keep it simple.
I decided to write these tips down so I can refer to them in the future when writing important emails.
I have found these incredibly beneficial, especially when I am applying to different placement opportunities. Most of the contact I have with them is via email, so it is important I come across as professional.
Task
We were given a task to write a mock email about a given subject. This is the one I chose:
This is my mock email:
Dear Christina,
I wanted to request a meeting sometime next week to discuss the progress on project 301 as the deadline is quickly approaching. The focus of this meeting is primarily feedback and any last checks and changes that need to be made.
It will last roughly 45 minutes. If you could let me know when you are available in the coming week that would be great. I’m looking forward to hearing back from you and seeing you soon. Thank you in advance.
Yours sincerely,
Lauren
I found this useful as I could incorporate the tips I learned into this email. For example, addressing the person properly, keeping it to the point, concise, good sign-off, etc. After this lecture, I feel more confident writing emails going forward and feel I have learned a lot.