Email etiquette: This tool tells you how polite (or impolite) your emails are
Let's all admit it, communicating by email can be a psychological minefield.
One person's clear reply is another person's passive aggression. Buzzword-filled managementese fills up inboxes and sometimes firing off a quick response to a request from someone senior can leave you wondering which words to choose.
Now there's a new tool to help you navigate the thorny issue of email etiquette.
Input any phrase or word into Foxtype, and you'll be given a magic score which analyses how polite or impolite your tone is on a scale from zero to 100.
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When it comes to greetings, a sunny "Morning!" is deemed impolite (33/100), but add in an even sunnier "good" and that shoots up to an extremely polite 89/100. That's apparently because it uses positive and complimentary language.
They may not be everyone's cup of tea, but now we live in a world of emojis, the addition of a smiley face ":)" bags you some politeness points too. And grammar fans will be pleased to hear that politeness points are lost for not using capital letters. You'll also get some tips on how to improve those words and phrases to make them more polite.
When it comes to those dreaded management buzzwords, they may curl our toes, but they do the job in avoiding any faux-pas. "Let's touch base" scores a neutral 50/100, while "I'm reaching out" gets you a nice 78/100 on the politeness scale.
Read more: This is how to appear super smart in an email without trying
The creators of the tool will also soon be launching a plugin for Gmail which will pick up on how polite or impolite your email messages are as you compose them.
Whether you want to improve your own email, or work out how your colleagues really feel when they message you, Foxtype can give you the answers. Finally, email etiquette solved.