Fax Etiquette

When To Use Fax

• You need a confirmation that the recipient recieved the message
• You need a written record of the communication, such as in most business communications
• The message will be referred to often or may be forwarded to others
• Your information is sensitive or highly confidential or of a legal nature
• Don't transmit faxes in the middle of the night to someone you know has a home office. Instead, send all faxes during the day or early evening. Otherwise, you risk awakening the recipient's family and you'll undoubtedly annoy that person. If you were attempting to sell them something, don't count on making the sale.

Use a Cover Sheet That Includes:

• The Receiver's name, number and fax number
• Your name, your business name, address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address.
• The date and time, preferably in UTC or indicating the timezone
• The totl number of pages being transmitted, including cover sheet
• A list of what you are faxing to ensure that the other party receives everything you've faxed.
• A message with a clear and concise opening sentance that tells the reader the nature of the topics discussed and how you would like them to react to your message

Cover letter and fax contents

• Use headings to improve scannability and appearance
• Use large type, at least 12 point, and leave adequate whitespace to assure readability
• Transmit a photocopy of paper documents on which you have used correction fluid or tape if you are using a paper fax machine
• Limit the use of dark colors as they increase transmission time
• Do not use light colors for text as they may not be seen by the fax machine as dark enough to register
• Try to avoid color images and photos in faxes

When and what to fax

• Don't send reams of faxes that aren't immediate and could be sent by e-mail, overnight mail or US mail instead
• Before you send a fax, if you have call waiting, disable it by pushing *70 on your phone. Otherwise you run the risk of disconnecting while faxing. In general, if you send and receive several faxes each day, find an alternative to call waiting to insure your faxes arrive without any problems.
• If you're working in a home office and you're tired of hearing a loud fax tone when you answer your phone, consider adding Distinct Ring to your phone service. With distinct ring you can give clients a second number that you use for faxes. When someone calls your fax number, you will hear a series of short, double rings. If you hear a regular ring, you know it's your business line. Of course, if you receive many faxes each day, dedicate another line to your fax machine to avoid tying up your business line.

Message Content

• Don’t send junk mail: unnecessary faxes waste everyone’s time and take up valuable storage space on the fax server or email systems which collect eFaxes.
• Stay focussed and be succinct: long, rambling messages can be confusing and irritating to the recipient.
• Tell the recipient how you expect him or her to reply: be specific about how you want the matter handled. Do you want the recipient to:
• Acknowledge receipt of the message?
• Tell you what they are going to do about it?
• Take action within a certain time period?
• Act on it urgently

• If callers ask you about the voice mail services at SciEssence, especially when the system is first implemented, respond from their point of view, by emphasising the benefits to them and suggest EMail as a more efficient way to communicate.
• If you receive any complaints or questions from callers about the voice mail system, report them immediately to Computing Services Communications Admin