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If you're a thriving twentysomething yuppie, emails have been part of your day-to-day life.

And you may think writing an email is relatively easy but according to etiquette expert William Hanson, a lot of people actually get it very wrong.

William needs no introduction in the etiquette scene as he is UK's most trusted authority on modern manners.

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Beaming with #Pride.

A post shared by William Hanson (@williamhansonetiquette) on Jul 7, 2018 at 5:25am PDT

Based in central London, he is a trusted advisor to many private households, embassies and high commissions, and was even dubbed by Financial Times as the “special forces in the world of politeness.”

In an article he wrote for DailyMail, William broke down the most common email faux pas that you may be inadvertently making:

The subject line

For William, writing headlines is an art form because it is a way to grab someone's attention and to summarize the contents of your email.

He says to avoid words like “Next week,” “Sales,” and “Request” and detests “Hello” in the subject line. He also mentions avoiding more than five or six words in the headline.

Salutations

A good rule of thumb when greeting the receiver of your email is to ask yourself: “Have I ever met this person before?”

If not, then go for a more conservative “Dear Mr. Smith” followed by a toned-down version of it in future email conversations.

Best avoid the words “hey” and make sure to omit the first name when greeting formally.

Your email length

Size does matter when it comes to writing an email.

So make sure to cut out the unnecessary fluff and be succinct as possible.

The sign-off

For Hanson, ending your email with the word “Best” means “I can't be bothered.”

So end your emails with something that doesn't scream lazy to your receiver.

His favorites include: “With every best wish” and “All good wishes.”

Sending it at a wrong time

The most passable time for William to press "send" is after 10 a.m. on a Monday and before 4 p.m. on a Friday.

Never send emails on a weekend. Ever.

Using it as an instant messaging app

Emails are considered the lifeblood of modern business and for William, it's not a replacement for instant messaging.

If you need to reply ASAP, he suggests to “pick up the phone, text, or use a messaging app.”

Equally, if you need to discuss something that's lengthy it's better to schedule a meeting than having to write an extremely long email. Ergo, rule #3.

Hopefully, these tips can help improve your inbox and make you look mannered to every recipient.

For more tips on improving your etiquette, try checking William Hanson out. He produces videos on etiquette on YouTube because we can't all afford to fly off to the Ritz Hotel in London.

Source:

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