I looked at the % of respondents who considered each of the greetings either Very Professional or Professional, and the results were as follows:

• Dear - 83% (the clear winner)
• Good morning/afternoon - 69%
• Hi - 40%
• Name only - 17%
• No greeting 0%

​People commented that the greeting you use depends on the nature of your relationship with the recipient. Absolutely. But, if you're emailing someone you haven't met or previously emailed, "Dear" is the safest form of greeting if you want to make sure you convey a professional image.

If you are responding to an email, one technique you can use in your greeting is mirroring - use the same greeting in your response as the greeting  the sender used. This is an excellent way to go and will help to build rapport.

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The reality is – email is not secure. Your intention may be to send your email to one person but an inaccurate keystroke or the recipient’s decision to forward your email could result in your email being seen and read by many unintended recipients.

So, never use email to communicate proprietary information or any information that could damage your company or employees if was read by hidden readers.

Keep it safe . . . . 

The results of this survey so far - you agree!

In fact 63% of you strongly agreed and 37% of you agreed with no dissenters.

So the moral of the story is, think before you email. Email is best used for simple issues that concern a limited number of people where no collaboration is required.

The red exclamation mark – use it wisely.

Most people like to check their email as soon as they arrive at work – there might be a really interesting email that’s been delivered overnight, right? Unlikely. (Unless you deal with people that live in very different times zones to yours.)

So try this.

Rather than checking your email as soon as you arrive at work, make the first hour of the day an email-free zone and allocate that time to a task on your to-do list. Tackle one of the important things you need to do that day.

The benefit is two fold – at the end of it, not only will you be able to cross a task off your list but you will feel in a productive frame of mind and this feeling will get you off to a great start for the rest of the day.

So try it tomorrow morning. Don’t check your email until after you have crossed off a task and see how it feels.

So keep your language as specific as possible and use the date instead; or combine the two. For example: Bill, I will forward you a copy of the marketing document tomorrow (31/11/10).

Clarity is key.

There may be a limit on the size of attachments you are able to send (imposed by your Information Management department) or sending large attachments may result in your PC locking while trying to send.

Trying to receive large attachments can also cause problems. It may be rejected by your mail server or if it causes your mailbox to exceed its quota (if you have one), it may bounce back to the sender as being undeliverable.

To avoid all of these problems, there are a number of services you can use to send large files. I use www.yousendit.com. It’s a free service that can be upgraded to a professional account if you require more functionality but to simply send one large file at a time – no charge.

Try it out the next time you need to send a large attachment.