Email Communication
Email communication has become the world's most common form of communication. Sadly we even see people sending emails next door when they could walk in and say, "Hello" or maybe even use the telephone.
Of course, in many ways it's cheap and it certainly is fast - providing you do not consider the time lost with SPAM and other side issues.
Some people manage the interaction very well. The purpose for including this topic here is that in fact some other people have been glaringly rude when I'm sure that face-to-face with the same person good manners would have won out.
David Thomas in a breezy Reader's Digest article believes that we can avoid offence if we follow some easy guidelines.
They are:
- First impressions do count - a cheery beginning sets the scene.
- Never write in capital letters (upper case) - this is the same as shouting.
- Think before you send - emails fired in haste may cause a lifetime of regret. Pause, would you like to get the email you are just considering to send?
- Check your mail. Only a fool would leave mail lying around unopened. If you advertise an email address you should honour it by using it.
- There is no real need for cyberspeak. By this I mean - "c ya tonite" or "lol" (laugh out loud).
- Be considerate with attachments. Some attachments take hours to download. Consider carefully to whom you are sending them. Does everyone on the list need the document or photo file?
- Use mass mailing carefully. Sometimes they fail and Mary gets Tom's letter. Know your programs.
- Say something nice. One time we did this with a "thank you" note or post card. Today it's quite OK to get these via email - even uplifting. Be thoughtful.
- Remember - probably all emails ever written are still somewhere, so put care into your writing.
- To conclude - Here are Tips for effective emailing that should complement the notes above. Few people think twice about how to use email, nor do many organisations train staff about its etiquette. As such, almost everyone uses it unproductively.
Here are the rules (guidelines) according to Neil Hymans of the Perth consultancy "Technically Speaking :
- Ensure there is value in every message you send, for each of the to whom it is addressed.
- Circulate messages to as few people as possible.
- Don't use email to conduct a dialogue; a face-to-face conversation or phone call is quicker and more effective.
- Don't use email as a substitute for other forms of communication, especially when delegating tasks or issuing instructions.
- Use the subject line to summarise your message.
- Don't send anything sensitive or confidential by email unless you have taken precautions (such as encryption). Emails can easily enter the public domain by being forwarded to another address. Although most people regard email as informal, messages should still be clear in terms of outcomes and expression.
- Be twice as diplomatic. Email is devoid of the social cues present in more personal forms of communication, such as face-to-face or phone conversations.
- Assume all your messages are received and communicate personally when follow-up is required.
- Never reply immediately to an email that made you angry.
- Cool off, and then address the situation by more personal means.
Good Manners when sending mails
Please remember that each person receives email messages in different ways. For instance some people have broadband and this is very fast, while others use a dial- up method which is much slower. Large attachments may take longer to download on a dial-up compared to the broadband. Downloading will incur a cost, and one has to be mindful of that. Some don't check their mail each day, some might check emails once every other day, also one could be absent from home too.
When responding to an email please ensures that the original message is not included unless it is required. It could be very irritating to the recipient.
We have to be mindful of spam. When sending emails to a number of people, all the addresses can be placed in the "Blind Carbon Copy' box (Bcc). This means when the recipient, receives the message and if they print it out, there will not be a whole listing of email addresses at the beginning of the message. You could insert your name in the "To.." box and the rest goes into the "Bcc.." box.
Attachments
Some have limited download capabilities, when attachments are big they find difficulty in downloading. Specially pictures could take lot of your space, reduce the size of the picture/document before you send it.
