Updated 20-Sep-2023
This Document Part of a Complete Set of Style Guides
Purpose of Contact Information Document
This Contact Information Document is for all textual communication including email, website and social media as well as all printed material. It is the single source for all communication internally and externally. All changes to the organizational contact information should be reflected here first, and communication organization-wide should then be made to ensure this source of information is presented everywhere.
Because of the costs of change, generic email and other contact should be used when possible, for example: [email protected] could be used by the current CEO (and as a mailbox that is forwarded to the incumbent, but preserves all past inbound communication). However, the reality is that mailboxes can have primary email addresses changed and still preserve past correspondence, and so whatever preference an organization has for email user names will likely be fine. First names [email protected] or [email protected] are the best, as they are less ambiguous than use of any hyphens, periods, etc.
If an organization needs the personal touch, then first names or full names are a natural fit. Try and avoid the use of punctuation or non-standard characters as well as uppercase. The former become easy to forget, while the latter doesn't matter (email addresses are case-insensitive).
Regardless of the actual use of communication channels, the specific names and addresses and how contacts should be presented internally and externally is the main purpose of this document. It is meant to help aid direction for the organization, and should never be an afterthought.
- Commonly Used Name
- Full Legal Name
- Phone number(s)
- Email address(es)
- Any useful social media contact handles
This Document Part of a Complete Set of Style Guides