These days, with email at the heart of both business and personal communications, your reputation can be established or destroyed through the inbox. That's why it's important to get email right.
Start by becoming aware of some of the most common mistakes people make by email - and learning how to avoid them
Ø Forgetting the attachment: Failing to attach a file when the body of your email message says that you have is all too common. The result is typically that your recipient emails you back to say no file was attached. 'Whoops,' you say. 'Sorry. Here it is.'
The problem is certainly not a career destroyer, but it is annoying if it happens frequently. You can put an end to forgotten attachments if you use Microsoft's Outlook or Mozilla's Thunderbird.
Ø Using 'Reply all': You may have received an email message along with 25 other people on the CC line. That doesn't mean you need to click Reply All to the message when your response really only concerns the sender. The other 24 people who received that message are likely to be annoyed at having to read another message from you that doesn't concern them.
If you have something to say to the sender, say it to the sender --- and leave the others out. Remember: people receive more than enough email today. They don't need another one from you if it doesn't concern them.
Ø Not using multiple accounts: Today you need multiple email accounts, for several reasons. First, if you use just one email account for very long, your inbox will be overrun with spam. Get a lot of spam, and one of two things will happen: your anti-spam filter will surely end up routing legitimate messages into the spam folder, out of your sight, or you'll pay less attention to your e-mail out of pure fatigue with dealing with the spam.
Email accounts are so easy to set up these days that there's little reason not to use one for each of your major purposes: business, retail dealings, and personal use, for example. A free Google Gmail account can be used for all three, and it's easy to keep track of them all with one email client, such as Outlook.
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