Learning how to use email

It's sad that in this day and age there are still many people out there who don't know how to use email properly. Even within the large organisation I work for, we daily suffer the pitfalls of not 'cc'ing people, not replying to people, mixing languages (in a corporation where there is one official language) and so on.

It should be understood that if multiple people are in copy on an email, the respondent needs to take a look at the distribution list and decide whether his response needs to be sent to all of them, or just the original correspondent.

So: in an email discussing a sales forecast or a catalogue issue, it makes sense that everyone already in the loop is kept in the loop, so as to avoid people losing out on vital information. Conversely, if an email is sent to a large number of recipients, each recipient should be aware that any private conversation they have discussing this email ought to be conducted between themselves and their chosen correspondents.

It is wasteful and lazy to include people in a distribution list simply because they were there in the original email. It is wise and economically better to only include in 'copy' people who really need to receive your message.

As the sheer volume of electronic mail sent daily continues to rise, there are serious reasons for why adhering to these guidelines could save your business money and even speed up your office or home internet connection.