E-Mail Can Be Confusing

While E-Mail is great for communicating fast and easily, it can be confusing because the sender and receiver of such communications only see words ­ not gestures and emotions. Therefore, precision is central to E-Mail communications. Do not use capitalization unless it is necessary. Avoid sarcasm, as this can be very dangerous. For example, "What are you talking about?" can be construed in many ways: a joke, an attack or a sarcastic remark. Use a clear subject line, signature line, header, body and footer in all E-Mail communications.

Forwarding an E-Mail Chain

When you forward a chain of E-Mails to someone, add a note of explanation before the series of forwarded messages. Do not expect them to burrow through your E-Mail and read every linked message if you just forward them without any explanation. Take the time to explain your reasoning or what you want you to focus on. It is then easier for the person to whom you are you sending the e-mail to respond to the question at hand rather than be puzzled about what exactly you require or expect.

E-Mail Is Permanent

Each E-Mail you send is more than likely saved or archived on your computer system or on the recipient's system; therefore, do not assume that an E-Mail message no longer exists, even if you delete what you received or sent. Your thoughts and interactions with others, via E-Mail, are archived and saved, potentially for posterity.

In financial services organizations, all data must be saved for a minimum of seven years. Think about what you are writing and what legacy you are leaving through such communications. E-Mail communications can be presented in a court of law.

E-Mail Reflects You and Your Organization

When you write an E-Mail, you are mirroring your thoughts and feelings in the electronic medium. It is important to understand the difference between writing an informal and a formal E-Mail. Sometimes it is okay to be funny and joking; that is the nature of the E-Mail medium. However, in business communications, err on the side of formality by spell checking, grammar checking and following proper etiquette of writing with proper headers and footers on all E-Mail communications.

For organizations, every E-Mail sent to a prospect or customer reflects your organization's brand. Set standards, protocols and templates to ensure that the millions of E-Mails that are sent do not erode your brand, but rather enhance it through each communication. Within each communication, be concise with clear objectives and the result you hope to achieve. 

E-Mail Is Not Free

One of the erroneous assumptions is that E-Mail is free. E-Mail is not by any means free. There are many direct and indirect costs associated within this medium. As mentioned in previous articles, it costs money for an organization to handle an inbound customer E-Mail. However, beyond this there are other costs. Spam or junk e- mail costs money to read, process, store and delete. E-Mail containing viruses has many side effects including loss in productivity and potential destruction of valuable information. Large attachments require additional space. Chain letters, forwarding of jokes and participation in flaming debates via E-Mail add to these costs.

Recognize that every E-Mail interaction has a cost including your time, computer hardware and software costs and IT personnel time to maintain the systems. Be frugal with E-Mail; if you're not paying for it, someone else is.

Images in E-Mail

I am sure you would have received E-Mails with images so large in dimension that they jut out far in the empty space in your E-Mail window.

There might also have been times when you would have wondered how to insert your mega-pixel images into E-Mails with reasonable dimensions. There is a very easy way of resizing your images without using any software on your computer! That's right... they can be easily re-sized online at ResizR. The following steps describe in detail how to achieve good looking images for the web:

• Open ResizR
• Select Local and click Browse... Then select the desired image.
• Use the slider or the entry field to choose the desired width.
• Use a width that is less than 600 pixels... ideally, around 400 pixels.
• Click the button that is labeled ResizR (You also have the option to rotate your image before this).
• Save the resulting image on your computer - now you have a web-friendly image!

Identify Yourself Clearly

If you are the person initiating E-Mail contact with someone, do not forget to include your name, profession or organization where you work, or any other important information to identify yourself. You could have this information in the first few sentences of your E-Mail as an introduction.

If you are just following up on an earlier conversation or contact and are not sure whether the other person will remember you, drop a few casual hints or bring up a reference to the earlier conversation.

If you are E-Mailing someone outside your organization, it helps to have a signature line that includes your full name and/ or telephone number with a link to a blog or website.