Avoid Problems With Email With This Guide For Your Business

Today, when messengers and social media rule the show, email is still an indispensable tool for businesses to communicate with leads, customers, and partners. However, the way you use email can impact your professional image and the security of information.

Basically, every company should have an email guide to keep their data safe and customers get professional responses and processing, no matter who they are dealing with. In this article, we will give you email security and etiquette recommendations that will make your email communication professional and secure.

Table of Contents

• Security
  • Strong Passwords
  • Updating Passwords
  • Avoid Public Wi-Fi
  • Separate Work and Personal Email
  • Use Secure Email Service Provider
• Etiquette
  • Professional Email Names
  • Company Signature
  • Consistent Tone and Policies
  • Spell Check and Proofread
  • Timely Responses
  • Additional Best Practices
• Conslusion

Security

Three out of four organizations have been a victim of a successful email attack in 2022, states Barracuda in its report. Downtime and business disruption, loss of sensitive data, brand and company reputation damage are the top 3 impacts of successful email security attacks. That's why Protecting sensitive information and maintaining privacy should be a top priority when using email for business purposes. Here are some security best practices to follow to minimize the possibility of data breaches and unauthorized access:

Strong Passwords

Create complex, unique passwords for email accounts. They should consist of a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Such passwords are harder to crack using brute force attacks. Never ever use so-called popular passwords, like «123456», «admin», «Qwerty», or «Iloveyou».

Updating Passwords

The more often you update email account passwords, the less likely it is to be successfully hacked. Implement a company-wide policy requiring employees to change their passwords at least every 60-90 days. We also advise you to check email addresses in the Have I Been Pwned service from time to time — it checks if your email is in a data breach.

To generate strong random passwords and update them, use password management software. Some of the best ones are Dashlane, LogMeOnce, and 1Password, states TechRadar Pro.

Avoid Public Wi-Fi

Explain to your employees that accessing company email on public Wi-Fi networks is not safe. Such networks often lack proper security measures and can expose data to potential hackers. Instead, advise employees to use a virtual private network (VPN) or wait until they have access to a secure connection before checking work email.

Separate Work and Personal Email

Strictly prohibit your employees to use their company email for personal matters, such as online shopping, social media, or signing up for newsletters. Mixing work and personal communication can expose company email accounts to spear-phishing attacks and other threats, potentially compromising sensitive information.

Use Secure Email Service Provider

Use an email service provider that offers end-to-end encryption and complies with industry-specific regulations and guidelines, such as HIPAA, FINRA, CFPB, and ESIGN. This ensures that sensitive data is protected during transit and helps your company adhere to necessary compliance standards.

Also, It Is Time You Learned How To Make Your Email More Secure

Etiquette

To build trust and credibility with leads, customers, and partners, you should maintain a professional image through email communication. Make sure that all employees present themselves professionally in written communication. Here are the vital email etiquette guidelines:

Professional Email Names

Adopt a standardized format for employee email addresses, such as the first initial followed by the last name. For example, jsnow@email.com for John Snow. This creates a uniform and professional appearance for all company email addresses, making them easily recognizable to clients and partners.

Company Signature

Create a professional email signature template for all employees to use, including essential details such as their name, title, contact information, and company logo. A consistent and well-designed signature not only conveys professionalism but also provides recipients with easy access to the sender's contact information.

Consistent Tone and Policies

Establish company-wide guidelines for email communication. Make sure that everyone maintains a professional tone and adheres to policies regarding personal use of company email. This can include guidelines on appropriate greetings, closings, and overall tone, as well as reminders to avoid using slang, emojis, or overly informal language in professional correspondence. However, if using slang and emojis is your thing, then go for it!

Spell Check and Proofread

Require your employees to proofread and spell-check all emails before sending them, as errors can detract from a professional image. Provide resources, such as grammar and spell-check tools, to help employees maintain high-quality written communication: Grammarly and Reverso.net are one of the best.

Timely Responses

Set a standard response time for all emails, such as within 24 hours, ensuring that clients and partners receive prompt and efficient communication. This demonstrates respect for the recipient's time and helps build a reputation for reliability and responsiveness. Also, set up automatic replies that inform people about your response time.

Additional Best Practices

To improve your company's email practices and streamline communication, here are some more recommendations:

• Email organization. Organize your inboxes using folders, labels, or categories to manage incoming messages efficiently. This can help reduce clutter, improve response times, and make it easier to locate important emails when needed.
• Clear subject lines. Use descriptive subject lines to help recipients understand the email's purpose and prioritize their responses. A clear and informative subject line can improve email open rates and reduce the likelihood of important messages being overlooked.
• Use BCC wisely. Use of BCC (blind carbon copy) to protect recipients' privacy and prevent accidental «Reply All» responses. BCC should be used when sending mass emails or when sharing sensitive information with multiple recipients who should not see each other's email addresses.

Conclusion

Now you know the best practices for email security, etiquette, and organization that allow you to keep a professional image and be sure that hackers won't steal your data. So that you do not waste time looking for a secure email provider, we offer you our TruVISIBILITY Secure Email service which is designed specifically to secure private information.

Whether your email message is being sent or received, it will be protected with end-to-end encryption. Alongside, TruVISIBILITY's Secure Email provides strong protection from potential threats, such as email account spoofing, email phishing attacks, and ransomware. Designed specifically to secure private information, a Secure Email service supports compliance regulations in multiple industries and guidelines, such as HIPAA, CFPB, FINRA, and E-SIGN.

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