There are few things that irritate me more than an e-mail full of staccato!  In fact, many e-mail format faux pas drive me bonkers.  Please understand that I am not a formatting/courtesy snob.  I'm every bit as obstreperous as the next guy, and I don't think that society should hand down dainty decrees to govern what and how I say things in e-mails.  I think that different relationships, agendas and media call for different levels of formality.  However, I also have a healthy respect for teleology; I'm a designer for crying out loud!  The purpose of an e-mail is usually communication, and a poorly structure format rarely communicates the right message.

5 Business E-mail Don't

• Don't Use All Uppercase Letters
Using all uppercase letters makes it look like you are shouting, and shouting is rude.

• Don't Use All Lowercase Letters
Using all lowercase letters makes it look like you are stupid or apathetic.

• Don't Write Single Sentence Paragraphs
If you feel the need to write stand alone sentences perhaps a bullet-ed list would be appropriate.

• Don't Single Space Between Paragraphs
To make your thought process easier to follow, go ahead and hit the enter key one more time.

• Don't Use Crazy Fonts
It's not cute.  It's not cleaver.  It's confusing.

A Few Exceptions

Don't get me wrong.  There are always a few exceptions to standards like these.  Urgency, personal relationships and succinctness often give cause for these rules to be bent every now and then.  It should be noted, however, that as long as you are in a business context utilizing these exceptions should never become the norm.  Furthermore, in my opinion, the opening message in an e-mail conversation should never take exceptions to these guidelines.  Of course, I am getting older, and society is becoming less and less formal.  Maybe I'm starting to get a little too cantankerous.