#[1]German version [2]Bahasa Indonesia version

A Beginner's Guide to Effective Email

   Revision 2.0 -- [3]Kaitlin Duck Sherwood

   See [4]the list of alternate sites if this site is slow for you. There
   are also [5]translations into German,French, Indonesian and [DEL:
   Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) :DEL] . (The Chinese versions
   have gone down, alas.)

   You might also be interested in [6]Finding Email Addresses or one of
   the books in my [7]Overcome Email Overload series.
     _________________________________________________________________

Introduction

   I believe strongly in the value of electronic mail in both corporate
   and personal domains. Email is cheaper and faster than a letter, less
   intrusive than a phone call, less hassle than a FAX. Using email,
   differences in location and time zone are less of an obstacle to
   communication. There is also evidence that email leads to a more
   egalitarian information structure.

   Because of these advantages, email use is exploding. By 1998, 30% of
   adults in the United States and Canada had come on-line (according to
   a site that, by 2008, is no longer around, alas). A 2007 Pew Internet
   and American Life Project survey found that 73% of U.S. adults connect
   to the Internet regularly. Almost all of those use electronic mail.

   Sadly, in the twenty-plus years that I have been using email, I have
   seen a large number of people suffer mishaps because they did not
   understand how to adjust their communication styles to this new
   medium. I wrote this document to try to help people avoid those
   problems.

   This is not a document on the mechanics of sending email - which
   buttons to push or how to attach a photograph. Those details are
   different for every different email software package, and are better
   handled by manuals for the program. I instead focus on the content of
   an email message: how to say what you need to say. I don't think of
   this as email etiquette (commonly called netiquette) because I don't
   think these guidelines merely show you how to be a nice person. These
   guidelines show you how to be more efficient, clear, and effective.

   This is not dogma. There will be people who disagree with me on
   specific points. But, if there was only one right answer, there
   wouldn't be a need to write this guide. Hopefully, this guide will
   make you examine your assumptions about email and thus help you
   maximize your email effectiveness. Then you can write to reflect your
   own personality and choice.
     _________________________________________________________________

What Makes Email Different?

   Electronic communication, because of its speed and broadcasting
   ability, is fundamentally different from paper-based communication.
   Because the turnaround time can be so fast, email is more
   conversational than traditional paper-based media.

   In a paper document, it is absolutely essential to make everything
   completely clear and unambiguous because your audience may not have a
   chance to ask for clarification. With email documents, your recipient
   can ask questions immediately. Email thus tends, like conversational
   speech, to be sloppier than communications on paper.

   This is not always bad. It makes little sense to slave over a message
   for hours, making sure that your spelling is faultless, your words
   eloquent, and your grammar beyond reproach, if the point of the
   message is to tell your co-worker that you are ready to go to lunch.

   However, your correspondent also won't have normal status cues such as
   dress, diction, or dialect, so may make assumptions based on your
   name, address, and - above all - facility with language. You need to
   be aware of when you can be sloppy and when you have to be meticulous.

   Email also does not convey emotions nearly as well as face-to-face or
   even telephone conversations. It lacks vocal inflection, gestures, and
   a shared environment. Your correspondent may have difficulty telling
   if you are serious or kidding, happy or sad, frustrated or euphoric.
   Sarcasm is particularly dangerous to use in email.

   Another difference between email and older media is that what the
   sender sees when composing a message might not look like what the
   reader sees. Your vocal cords make sound waves that are perceived
   basically the same by both your ears as your audience's. The paper
   that you write your love note on is the same paper that the object of
   your affection sees. But with email, the software and hardware that
   you use for composing, sending, storing, downloading, and reading may
   be completely different from what your correspondent uses. Your
   message's visual qualities may be quite different by the time it gets
   to someone else's screen.

   Thus your email compositions should be different from both your paper
   compositions and your speech. I wrote this document to show you how to
   tailor your message to this new medium.
     _________________________________________________________________

   Go on to [8]Context
     _________________________________________________________________

   You can send correspondence to [9]ducky at webfoot.com but be advised
   that
    1. I get a lot of email.
    2. I don't get paid for this.
    3. I probably don't know the details of your particular email
       software.
     _________________________________________________________________

   Created 10 Dec 1994
   Modified 30 Dec 1995: added introduction, shareware note, jargon link
   Added mirror sites 3 Feb 1995
   Added link to Business Netiquette International 28 Jun 96
   Modified 29 Dec 1997: Removed the term "mirror site", after a new user
   pointed out that new users probably don't know what that means. Also
   removed the invitation to write me, as I was getting overwhelmed by
   email.
   Modified 20 Oct 1998: Moved the mirror sites to a separate page.
   Removed the "shareweb" note, since almost nobody sent any money. Put
   cautionary note on my email address.
   Modified 22 Oct 1998: Moved the bibliography to a separate page.
   Modified 28 Oct 1998: Moved the copyright notice to a separate page.
   Modified 30 Oct 1998: Minor tweaks to add new pages on status,
   formality, format, and domain names. Tweaked 7 Dec 1998
   Removed redundant "post" 8 Dec 1999
   Fixed typo 24 Feb 2000
   Beautified slightly 23 May 2001
   Took out a link to a site that had gone down; added information from
   the 2007 Pew Internet Life survey.

   Please see the [10]copyright notice. Webfoot logo
     _________________________________________________________________

   [11]Introduction

   [12]What Makes Email Different?

   [13]Context

   [14]Format

   [15]Page Layout

   [16]Intonation

   [17]Gestures

   [18]Status

   [19]Formality

   [20]Greetings and Signatures

   [21]Summary

   Appendix A: [22]Acronyms and Jargon

   Appendix B: [23]Domain Names

   Appendix C: [24]Bibliography
     _________________________________________________________________

   [25]About Overcome Email Overload with Eudora 5

   [26]About Overcome Email Overload with Microsoft Outlook 2000 and
   Outlook 2002

References

   1. http://members.aol.com/Scheffner/Email.html
   2. http://www.webfoot.com/advice/translations/indonesian/email.top.html
   3. http://www.webfoot.com/ducky.home.php
   4. http://www.webfoot.com/advice/email.mirrors.php
   5. http://www.webfoot.com/advice/translations/index.php
   6. http://webfoot.com/advice/FindingEmailAddresses.php
   7. http://www.OvercomeEmailOverload.com/
   8. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.context.php
   9. mailto:ducky@webfoot.com
  10. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.copyright.php
  11. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.top.php#intro
  12. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.top.php#why
  13. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.context.php
  14. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.format.php
  15. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.layout.php
  16. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.intonation.php
  17. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.gestures.php
  18. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.status.php
  19. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.formality.php
  20. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.sig.php
  21. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.summary.php
  22. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.jargon.php
  23. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.domain.php
  24. http://webfoot.com/advice/email.biblio.php
  25. http://www.OvercomeEmailOverload.com/eudora/
  26. http://www.OvercomeEmailOverload.com/outlook/