E-mail Etiquette For Ministry - TO: Make sure you have your contact's name formally typed. Rev. John Jackson- not in lower case or all caps.
- FROM: Make sure you have your full name formally typed. Example: Nancy P. Bible Not in lower case or all caps. The later two can give the perception of lack of education or limited experience with technology.
- BCC: According to technology muse Judith Kallos, use this field when e-mailing a group of contacts who do not personally know each other. By listing an arm's length list of e-mail addresses in the Cc or TO fields of contacts who do not know each other or who have never met is conducive to publishing their e-mail address to strangers. This is a privacy issue! With those you are forging partnerships with, visibly listing their e-mail address in with a group of strangers will make one wonder what other privacy issues you may not respect or understand.
- CC: Use this field when there are a handful of associates involved in a discussion that requires all be on the same page. These people know each other or have been introduced and have no problem having their e-mail address exposed to the parties involved. If you are not sure if a ministry associate would mind their address being made public, ask!
4. Formatting: In ministry email etiquette, unless you would type something in special fonts, bold or all-capital letters on your ministry or church letterhead, don't do it when e-mailing on behalf of your ministry. The more formatting or embedded images you include in your email the higher the chance that your e-mail could be blocked, too big to receive, or perceived as spam. Even something as simple as using a different font makes your e-mail's display contingent upon the recipient having that specific font on their system. Keep in mind the recipient may not have their e-mail program configured in such a way as to display your formatting the way it appears on your system - if at all.
5. ) Attachments: Be very aware of sending large attachements, i.e. 10M Power Point presentation that the recipient didn't request and you fill up their inbox causing subsequent business correspondence to bounce as undeliverable. This could cause a lot of frustration for the recipient and they could decide to block future correspondance from you. Especially, if they do not have Power Point or the program necessary to open your attachment. Never assume your ministry colleagues have the software you do to open any file you may arbitrarily send. If you need to send a file over 500,000 in size, courtesy dictates you ask the recipient first if it is okay to send a large file. Next, confirm they have the same software and version you do and what is the best time of day to sent it to them to ensure they are available to download the large file and keep their e-mail flowing. Never send large attachments without warning, on weekends or after business hours when the recipient may not be there to keep their inbox clear.
6.) Using Previous E-mail for New Correspondence: If you want to give the perception of lazy, find a previous e-mail from the party you want to communicate with, hit reply and start typing about something completely irrelevant to the old e-mail's subject. Always start a new e-mail and add your contacts to your address book so you can add them to a new e-mail with one click.
7.) Down Edit Your Replies: Do not just hit reply and start typing -- that's called top posting. Editing is a skill those you communicate with will appreciate as it lends to reflecting a respect for their time and clarity in your communications. Removing parts of the previous e-mail that no longer apply to your response including e-mail headers and signature files removes the clutter. By making the effort to reply point by point keeps the conversation on track with fewer misunderstandings.