Introduction to email etiquette.

Just like traditional mail, there are a few rules to sending email messages to others that help separate the "real" mail from the junk. Adhering to these basics can ensure people always click the open button when a message from you comes through the pipes, rather than sending your messages immediately to their trash bin.

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered
People like attention — they enjoy receiving something that's been personalized just for them, and appreciate being passed important information. Therefore, proper addressing of a message can have a dramatic effect on how that email is interpreted. But how exactly do you know where they fall on the sending scale?

• To: reserved for the main recipient of the message, and who the email is directed to. Everyone listed in the To field can see who else the email was sent to.
• CC: stands for carbon copy. Put email addresses here of people you want the person in the To field to know received the message, but who the email is not necessarily directed to. For instance, if I was in charge of booking a coworker's flight I might CC my boss when I email the coworker her flight information, just so my boss knows the flight has been booked and information passed along. The email address of everyone in the CC field also shows up in a message.
• BCC: stands for blind carbon copy. Think of this sort of like an invisible person you've given access to see a message. This section is for people you want to send a message to, but whose email addresses you want to hide from everyone else. A person who is in the BCC field can see all of the email addresses in the To and CC fields, but those people will not know that person was copied on the message. For instance, if the flight I was booking was for my best friend (who also happens to be my coworker), I might BCC another friend of ours who lives in our destination city to share our plans.

Mass effect
Just like a traditional mailing address, many people like to keep their email addresses private and control who is able to visit their inbox. The BCC field can come especially in handy when you're sending a message to several people at once — particularly people who don't know each other. BCC allows you to send the masses your email, but also hides who you sent that information to and their email address from all the other recipients. You also save each recipient from having to scroll through a lengthy list of your recipients addresses to get to your message if you're sending to a lot of people. Double win.

Forward thinking
In general, no one wants to get a forwarded message. Forwarded messages have taken the place of chain letters and pyramid schemes on the web. Messages that encourage you in the message to send it to all of your friends are almost always either scams, or something that will on a basic level be annoying to the majority of the people you send it to. Never forward a message to everyone you know.

If you do forward a message, make sure it is something that your recipient would be interested in. Sending forwards frequently that people aren't interested in may make them choose to skip reading your emails entirely in the future.

Background checkEmail is often read on computers, but it is also readily available on mobile devices like phones and tablets. Though it may be tempting to add fancy backgrounds and color schemes to your email, those often make reading your messages a chore on computers and even worse on mobile devices. Stick to a white background and basic text whenever possible to make sure your message comes through loud and clear.