Email is undoubtedly the fastest growing medium of communication in the world. With a few clicks you can reach the most remote regions or busiest offices without waiting for someone to pick up the telephone. You can reach far more people in a day's time with email than by trying to make individual or even conference telephone calls.
When you use email in business, be sure to follow standard protocol. Even though email functions like a cross between speaking and writing, it really is a writing tool, and leaves a printable record of a verbal transaction. Here are a few helpful reminders to help you maintain quality communication via this online medium:
1. Use your full legal name. Avoid nicknames or email addresses when you contact someone in the business world. You can adjust your template so that the legal name comes up automatically as the sender of all messages. Even when it appears in the above sender section, you also should post a closing identification with your name, title, and contact information for convenient reference.
2. Include a subject line designation. Business people are naturally very busy. Give your reader a clue as to what the message is about by adding a phrase, file name, or brief description of the topic in your heading. Emails that arrive without a subject line description may be deleted upon receipt. Make the heading succinct and meaningful to prepare your reader for the message that follows.
3. Don't forget the salutation or greeting. Just like those found in business letters, a typical greeting will include "Dear" or "Hello," depending on the nature of your relationship with the reader:
Dear Mr. Smith:
Dear Jim,
Hello Betty,
Email punctuation may be a bit more relaxed in the occasional use of a comma instead of a colon in the greeting.
4. Keep the paragraphs short. Three to five sentences are a good range for email text. Each paragraph should have a clear focus that leads to the next idea. Use simple sentences of medium length, and don't mix ideas within a paragraph. The topical idea may be introduced in the first sentence of each paragraph.
5. Keep the main idea to one screen if possible. Readers can become bored or tired if your message drags on for screen after screen that requires your reader to scroll through one screen after another for a several minutes. Short, concise messages provide a clear objective for your reader to respond to, and you are more likely to receive a timely response.
6. Avoid jargon. Just as you do in a business letter or memorandum, use a basic vocabulary that shuns high-tech words that may confuse or delay a reader's understanding. If you must include a specialized term, provide a brief explanation, perhaps in parentheses, so your reader won't have to look it up.
7. Use email only when it is expected. Do not send an email to someone who has indicated he or she does not want to be contacted that way. Follow the recipient's guidelines for attaching documents or forwarding other messages. You may be asked to place a forwarded document in the body of the email rather than attach it separately.
8. Don't skimp on punctuation and grammar. Although email may seem more informal than writing, it can become subject to impounding for legal problems and it may be printed as a file copy. Don't leave a legacy of sentence fragments and misplaced commas. Give your emails the same attention as you do your other types of business writing.
Email is a valuable communication tool. Take care to use it correctly for the best possible results.
