Training Module Development Form

Module Title: Email Etiquette

Course Number: 2.3.1
Synopsis: Educate trainees on how to write a proper email to customers as well as co-
workers.
Time: 20 minutes
Resources: ASC 106
Attachments: Email examples saved on TechShare including “Paste Kbase in Email”, “Remember
to CC Others Involved.msg”, and “Request from Shannon2”.
Objectives: Upon completion of this module trainees will be able to complete a proper and
professional email to respond to customers, other departments, and co-workers.
Assessment: <Describe any methods of assessment that will be employed in the module (i.e.
written quiz, test calls, verbal review, etc.>

Content: <Content should be in outline form such that presenter notes can be displayed during training
and hidden to produce a handout for trainees>

I. Introduction
i. Presenter notes would be on this level (note that level 2 was intentionally
skipped to keep things consistent)
II. Address Customers Formally:
a. When using the templates provided we want to make sure we are editing each email for
the specific customer and issue you are working with. For example, the templates
include a greeting line which reads “Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening [PROPER
NAME OF CUSTOMER (Dr., Ms., Mr., etc.)],”. You want to be sure to change the
greeting to match the time of day you are contacting each customer (i.e. if it is 8:00AM you want
to use Good Morning, ect.). Also be sure to use the correct title when addressing the customer.
.). Use “Mr.” and “Ms.” Do not use “Madam,” “Miss”, “Mrs.” or other forms unless the
customer used it themselves. If you’re unsure of sex, look in eRaider proxy or under
“Customer Information” in AskIT for the Title. When unknown, use wording such as
“Dear Pat Johnson,”. If you aren’t sure if a faculty member is a doctor or not, go to
http://www.ttu.edu and either browse or search for them.
b. Many times you can find their faculty site or a departmental site which tells you if they
are Ph.D. or what their credentials are. You can also look at the signature from the
e-mail they sent you. If you aren’t sure, don’t address them as Dr. You can use Prof.
many times because some of the official titles in Banner are “Asst Professor”, “Associate
Professor”, and so forth. Proxy their eRaider account and see what their Title is in
eRAMS under “TTU Directory Info”. Then you can address them as “Professor Jones”
and so forth when you e-mail them. Just because they sign their e-mails “Bill” doesn’t
mean its okay for you to address them that way. Always address our customers
formally unless they specifically tell you otherwise

III. Answer all questions and pre-empt further questions:

a. When replying to a customer via email it is important to answer all of the customer’s
questions. If you do not answer all the questions in the original email, you will receive
further e-mails regarding the unanswered questions, which will not only waste your
time and your customer’s time but also cause considerable frustration.
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b. If we have not offered a solution, do not ask customer if this is no longer an issue. Read
the issue carefully and use common sense when e-mailing customers. What was the
last contact we had with them? In other words, do not blindly use templates.
c. In order to be pro-active with a customer’s issue we also want to pre-empt further
questions.
i. For Example: If a customer is getting an error for VPN you may want to ask:
1. “Have you had VPN set up before? If so, when was the last time the
connection worked? Have you changed your password recently? ect.

IV. Check spelling, grammar, and punctuation:

a. Fortunately there is a spell checker imbedded in Footprints to help you with this issue.
Although there is a spell checker we still need to double check emails for grammatical
and punctuation errors. One way to do this is to read through your email before you
send to the recipient. This will not only help you to catch these errors, but it will also
allow you to read the email in the perspective of the customer. This helps you to correct
mistakes, such as wordiness, as well as send a more effective message. It’s okay to ask
someone to proofread an e-mail before you send it, especially e-mails with a potential
of high visibility (i.e. faculty, high-ranking staff members, VIPs, and Executives).

V. Use Proper Layout and Structure:

a. Since reading from a screen is more difficult than reading from paper, the structure and
lay out is very important for e-mail messages. Use short paragraphs and blank lines
between each paragraph. When making points, number them or mark each point as
separate to keep the overview. This is also important to think about when pasting a K-
base solution into an email. The K-base will paste in additional information such As:
i. ENVIRONMENT

Audience: Texas Tech Facutly, Staff & Student

Location: Texas Tech Campus
Hardware: Windows PC
Software: Windows Vista

b. Before sending the email you want to remove this additional information so that your
email looks professional. If you don’t remove this unnecessary information your email
will look careless and a customer may feel as though you are not actually helping them
with their specific request.
i. Trainer: show email labeled “Paste Kbase in Email” saved in TechShare to show
what a bad email would look like from a customer’s prospective. Explain why it is
important to structure emails properly.
c. KB solutions have “Audience” labeled at the top of them. Keep this in mind. If we don’t
have the audience labeled indicating the article is for customer use, it could be for a
reason. This type of information is unnecessary for a customer to see. To keep the email
simple, straight to the point, and clean be sure to remove all inappropriate information
from the email before sending

VI. Be Professional:
a. Our primary goal is to provide great customer service. This being the case we need to be
sure to keep emails on a professional level. Keep in mind that Footprints is viewable to
 Training Module Development Form

the public which means that almost anything you write can be viewed by everyone at
TTU. You want to avoid using abbreviations (BTW-by the way, or LOL-laugh out loud)
and emoticons (such as  smiley faces) when sending an email to customers. Being
professional is important for internal notes as well. These notes are viewable by anyone
who has access to Footprints including Dr. Austin, Other Departments, and Sam Segran.

VII. Keep all assignees in the loop:

a. Be sure to keep people in the loop. If someone was Courtesy Copied (CC) on an e-mail
message, it was probably for a reason. When issues come back from Tier III and we
contact the customer, look back at the issue notes to see if others need to be notified in
addition to (or instead of ) the customer.
i. Trainer: show them the e-mail on TechShare titled “Remember to CC Others
Involved.msg”. This applies when closing someone else’s issue as well.
b. Under the tab “Assignees and Notifications” you will see the option “cc” in red. Here
you have the option to type in a specific email address that you need to send an email
to. Also, if you click on the “cc”, a pop-up will appear that gives you the option to select
specified users to include, such as Helpdesk Staff members. Not only can you select
specific members to “cc”, you can also search the address book to find a specific email
address that needs to be included in this information.
i. Trainer: show how this feature works.
c. If any member of management is copied on an e-mail or if they assign a task to you,
keep them in the loop. They should not have to go to you and ask about the issue status
or look in Footprints to see what’s going on.
i. Trainer: Show the e-mail from Shannon saved on TechShare titled “Request from
Shannon2” that touches on this point.