Email – “the killer app”

Top 7 best practices to use

E-mail has become the substitute for creating and maintaining interpersonal relationships. We’ve become lazy. How many of you have sent an e-mail to someone sitting next door to you or a few steps away within the past hour?

A recent study by Pew Internet & American Life Project, Washington, D.C. claims that more than 60% of employers rate high-school graduates’ skills in basic English as fair or poor. This poor use of the English language is smattered throughout e-mails–a prevalent way for workers to communicate. The study cites that, “E-mail continues to be the ‘killer app’ of the internet. More people use e-mail than do any other activity online.”

When choosing e-mail as your communication medium, the success of your message will depend on the following components.

• The message is not time-sensitive or urgent.
• The message is simple and the stakes are low.
• You have a strong, influential relationship with the recipient.
• Negotiating is not the purpose of the message.
• Conflict between you and the recipient does not exist.

Before you hit the “Send” button, take the time to plan:

• Your purpose and objective.
• Action you want your recipient to take and the level of influence your message will have.
• Possible interpretations the recipient may have based on your writing style.
• Results your message will have based on who will be receiving it.
• When deciding if e-mail is the best way to communicate your message and influence your recipient, consider the advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages

• It’s a quick way to communicate a message and in some cases receive a response.
• E-mail is universal.
• It’s cheap and easy.

Disadvantages

• Since e-mail is impersonal and does not express emotion, it can be a trap for misinterpretations. You don’t have the opportunity to add emphasis or importance to words and to soften the message with your tone and facial expressions.
• Anyone with the right technical skills can gain access to your account.
• Because e-mail is quick and easy, we’re too relaxed with the messages we send.
• We’ve become impersonal and hide behind e-mail, which begins to control our life. Suddenly the majority of your day-to-day interactions are through e-mail and you jeopardize the relationships that you could enhance during a face-to-face or phone conversation.

Article published in Your Workplace issue 11-4