Email Tool Kit Viki Gerka

Email Etiquette No text speak or slang words are to be used as it is unprofessional. Uses a suitable subject line in the email as this is a snapshot of what the email is regarding and your email may not be viewed if the subject line is not appropriate. Add signatures to emails so that all customers have details of someone to contact back. Setup contacts to ease the sending and receiving process and to stay organised. Use CC and BCC for anybody who may be involved in the subject of the email. Use high & low importance so that the receiver is aware of how quickly the email must be addressed. Use folders to store email as a way to stay organised. Also, Always writes emails well by: Starting all emails by addressing the reader Using paragraphs Ending all emails with "Kind regards", Regards or Thanks followed by your own name Using capital letters where appropriate and correct punctuation If you fail to do these things you will appear unprofessional and give a bad impression of our company. Viki Gerka

Staying Safe Don’t open attachments from anyone you don’t know. Log out or sign off from your account when you’ve finished looking at/sending your email. Don’t reply to spam or forward chain emails. Ensure a spam filter is secured. Keep your personal information personal – don’t share bank or credit card information by email. Your bank/building society will not discuss your private financial situation by email. If you receive any correspondence that claims to come from your bank, telephone your branch to verify it and discuss the matter over the telephone instead, this is an example of phishing. Make sure that you have antivirus software installed and keep it up to date. Change your password regularly and keep it in a safe place. Don’t share your password with anyone. A strong password must contain the following elements: A minimum of 8 characters long Combines upper and lower case letters Includes at least one number Contains alphanumeric characters.. e.g. !£$%*# For example: v1KiG3rk@ Viki Gerka

Open To view an email, simply enter into your inbox, you will now see all emails addressed to you and will be able to view the importance, subject and who sent the email, simply click on the email to view it (as shown on the screenshots.) Remember that if you have set up inbox rules that file your emails then some emails may not show in your inbox (you will have to check your folders for these emails.) Viki Gerka

Send Sending an email is a key thing to be able to do. Click on new on your email home screen Type your message, attach any files you would like and add the recipients, cc recipients and bcc recipients Ensure all the information necessary is included already Change the importance of your email if necessary Press send. Viki Gerka

Reply Replying to emails is important as it is quicker to do than to compose a completely new email, to reply to a certain email: Open the email you wish to open Click on the single backwards purple arrow Compose your email Send. Viki Gerka

Forward Forwarding an email is used frequently in business, if you receive an email that may concern other people you can simply forward the email to them so they have a copy. Open the email you want to forward Click the blue arrow in the corner of the email as shown above A new tab will open where you can enter the details of who you want to forward the email to and add any comments. Send. Viki Gerka

Archive Other considerations: Archiving emails is useful to keep organised between your personal and work emails, when you archive an email you are storing it and will have later access to it. Create two folders in your inbox, one called personal and one called work Right click on the email you would like to archive “Create rule” You will now set up a new inbox rule as shown below Choose when the rule will apply Choose the folder you would like the email to be archived in, for example ‘Personal’ Save the rule. Other considerations: Prioritise your mail, this includes reading messages with high importance first, after you have read the message either save it to an appropriate folder or delete the message. Set up in-box rules for dealing with spam from regular offenders (see following slide.) Keep your in-box organised, move mail in to folders or delete messages regularly. Permanently remove ‘Deleted Items’ once you are sure the messages are no longer needed All e-mails with attachments should be dealt with appropriately: the attachment saved to a folder and the e-mail then deleted. If you receive an email with an attachment from an unknown source delete the email immediately (this is part of company policy.) Viki Gerka

Inbox Rule Setting up Inbox Rules is a great way to stay organised and to use as a spam filter, for example you can set up a rule so that any email that comes from the director goes straight into the director folder, or so any email from a chosen recipient you do not want to hear from will go straight to the bin. Select option is the top right corner of the screen and select all options from the drop down menu. On the all options page select ‘Organize E-mail’ on the left hand side of the page You will now find a tab entitled ‘Inbox Rules’ as shown on the screenshot, click on this. Now, to make a new inbox rule click on new You will now find yourself on the menu as shown on the bottom right of the page On this menu you can choose when to reply the rule Ensure you press OK and Save your new inbox rule. Viki Gerka

Attachments Sometimes you may need to attach files and documents to your emails, for example you may need to email the sales department this months figures and statistics, to attach an email do the following: Compose the email Change any importance settings you wish Add all recipients Click the paperclip button Choose a file(s) Send. If you receive an email containing an attachment, you may need to save it. To do this you will have to.. Open the email as displayed earlier in the presentation If you simply wish to view the attachment, click ‘open as web page’ If you wish to save the attachment, click on the document itself and it will begin to download You will see a tab in the bottom left corner of your screen that will display the name of the attached file If you click on this tab, the document will automatically open. Viki Gerka

Add Digital Signature One of the first tasks you need to do is set up an automatic signature with your name, position, company name, address and contact telephone number. This is important so that when you email for business purposes they are aware of who you are, what company you are from and what your positions is. To do this: Go to your email Go to options (view all options) Go on settings Enter your signature details Tick the ‘ Automatically include signature on messages I send’ box Ensure you press save in the bottom right corner! Viki Gerka

Use CC and BCC It is important to know how to use CC and BCC Anyone listed in the Cc: field of a message will receive a copy of that message when you send it. All other recipients of that message will be able to see that the person has received a copy of the message. The Cc: field is useful in instances when you wish to share a message with someone but are not requesting that they reply or take any direct action in response. A Bcc is similar however none of the recipients can see that the person in the Bcc has got the message. Type your message ensuring all of the information you need to include has been included Type in the email addresses of those who the email concerns in the ‘To..’ box Type in anyone’s address who it may concern or just anyone you would like to also see the email in the ‘Cc..’ box Type in anyone’s address who you would like to see the email or to see you have in fact sent the email in the ‘Bcc..’ box –remember none of the other recipients will know this person has a forward of the email Now press send. Viki Gerka

Setup Contacts Setting up contacts is a great way to stay organised and it make it easier for you to view who you’re emails are coming from without having to try and recognise email addresses. To setup contacts: Click on contacts in the lower left corner of the email homepage Click new at the top of the menu as shown on the image above Enter the details of the contact you are adding Ensure you press save. Viki Gerka

Use High and Low Importance It is important to be aware of how to change the importance of emails, it is important because the importance setting controls who will see the message, for example if a message is marked as confidential the person receiving it should open the message in private as it is confidential information. To change the importance of you email: Click on the red ‘!’ at the top of the email window The menu that is on the screenshot on the right of the slide will come up Click on the small arrow next to ‘importance’ to open the drop down menu and change the setting to whichever is necessary Do the same to change the sensitivity of the email Ensure you press ok and then close the menu. Viki Gerka

Use Folders to Store Emails Using folders to store emails can be very helpful in keeping organised and it also speeds up replying and reading emails from certain people, to setup folders: Right click on ‘search folders’ in the left hand task bar on the email home screen as shown on the image on the right Click “create new folder” Name your new folder If you wish to make folders inside the new folder right click on the folder you wish to insert these files into and “create new folder” inside of it To save an email in the new folder you must left click the email and drag the email into the folder. Viki Gerka

Automatic Response Using automatic responses demonstrates our company’s professional approach, an automatic response can be set up to send every time an email is received, this is great to use when you are unavailable however it should be used all the time so that the customer is reassured their email has been received. First go into ‘all options’ on your email Select ‘Organize E-mail Now choose when you would like automatic responses to be sent and type the response. Ensure you press save. Viki Gerka