People often overlook etiquette on email, but as it's usually the leading form of communication at work, you need to be as mannered as you would be in face-to-face interactions. If anything, you may actually need to be more slick since so much is lost in translation in quick, constant messaging.

"E-mail is a shallow way to communicate. It’s easy, fast and lacks the depth of understanding most people have face-to-face," says life coach Scott H. Young. "Unfortunately, many people don’t realize just how much of this understanding is lost. As a result, they pick up bad habits and start driving coworkers and bosses crazy."

Avoid urgent requests with exclamation points and capitals; it comes across as shouty and will likely cause stress or antagonize your recipients; pick up the phone instead, or do it in person. Be as succinct as you can, because no-one wants to wade through paragraphs of text and it will dilute whatever point you're making. Make your request or call to action clear, rather than burying it in text. but you also want to use enough tone so that your messages don't come across as abrasive or rude.

The worst thing you can do here is develop a reputation for not responding to emails, as it will seriously undermine your professionalism. You need to be organised and gain control of your inbox so that you respond rapidly; even if it's something you can't deal with straight away, get back to let the sender know that, so that they have some form of response.

Seven sloppy work habits to avoid, in order to get ahead in your career and nail that promotion