Breathe In. Breathe Out. Hit Send.

Email etiquette. It’s simple, right?

Tap out something relevant, informative or witty on your favorite screen-toting device and fire it over the internet to whomever’s eyes you hope it might reach. Signed, sealed, delivered.

Are there really pitfalls to such a well-established method of communicating? Well actually…

Email has been with us for a long while, now. The first one was sent way back in 1971 after all.

Since that very early test message, we’ve embraced electronic mail to the tune of around 300 billion emails per day.

Per day!

It’s a staggering amount by all accounts, but such is its impact on our daily lives.

“Would you email me that?” Is deeply integrated into our societal norms.

Store receipts, card statements, bills - all electronically deliverable now and as a handy consequence, without need of shredding or filing. Being slightly meta, you’re currently reading an article which was itself once an email. Neat, right?

When’s a bad time for an email, then? Well generally any time you’re concerned your intent or tone might be misunderstood; lest we forget that the humble telephone call can be used to either replace or supplement an email.

It’s also typically a bad idea to send anything you’ve hammered out in anger. Save the draft, take a breather, re-read what you’ve written and adjust as necessary, as this is almost certain to lead to a swifter resolution to wherever’s gotten you miffed in the first place.

Also worth noting, when emailing most businesses, any rage-induced four letter wording is likely to mean your email simply gets automatically bounced.

On the subject of businesses, each should have its own policy for email usage in the workplace, but there are still some basics we can stick to when communicating electronically.

Be as concise and to the point as you’re able, the recipient is much more likely to absorb your words if they don’t have to pick the useful ones out from the superfluous.

Wish the person a good day as your opener, it genuinely puts people in a better frame of mind for what they’re about to read.

Avoid forwarding a mail chain a dozen messages deep with simply “Can you help?” hastily added in before unceremoniously dumping it upon my inbox.

Sure, I’ll help. As soon as I’ve spent 17-minutes working out what you’d like help with!

The most important rule when penning any correspondence is appropriateness.

An email consisting of purely the subject “Lunch?” is totally fine between friends or close colleagues, but those times you’re likely to leave an impression with the recipient think about how you’d talk to that person in real life.

You (probably) wouldn’t simply walk up to a stranger, bark six words at them and then turn to walk away. Any conversation requires clear context, language and a back and forth which is beneficial to what you’re trying to achieve.

If there’s a chance you take anything away from this however, please ensure it is the care needed when using what could be the most destructive tool in the universe.

The power of just two short words have in ruining relationships both professional and personal is unmatched.

Those words? Reply all.

So a top tip for avoiding most email blunders: make checking your work a habit.

Re-read what you’ve written for relevance and clarity. Triple check your recipients list, especially if your communication is sensitive. Check your subject line and remove anything no longer appropriate. Now you’re free to enjoy bumping up some poor soul’s unread count.

Ow.

Richard Noble is the founder of Want For Tech, an IT company based in Glasgow.