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E-mail and Image

It is now commonplace to state that e-mails have become the preferred method of communication, especially in the world of business.  In the field of e-mail marketing, there are e-mail newsletters and blast e-mail campaigns; in the office, there are e-notes and e-memos.¹  

Two predominant factors have led to this preference for e-mail communication; these are speed and ease of use.  The very same factors, however, impose peculiar pitfalls into which it is easy for the authors of e-mails to plunge.  Ease of use and speed convey the impression that e-mails can be ‘dashed off’ at a moment’s notice; the entire process has an air of casualness, of informality.   

Nothing should be further from the truth.  The need to contemplate carefully the ‘crafting’ of an e-mail message is vital in the global village, in which customers and entrepreneurs rarely meet face-to-face.  In this new environment, image and presentation of self continue to be the basis of an entrepreneur’s reputation, credibility, and professionalism.  However, that image must be forged, not through dress, tone of voice, and business manners, but through the tone, form, and content of one’s marketing media, especially one’s e-mails.

 Here, then, are some basic rules regarding the ‘crafting’ of e-mail messages:  

1.     Maintain an air of formality in all e-mails, including personal messages.  Formality respects the boundaries in relationships and, therefore, conveys respect on the part of correspondents.  Think of the published volumes of letters written by people in all walks of life in the past, when letter-writing was an art: letters between literary luminaries, such as poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning; letters between political couples, such as John Adams and his wife, Abigail; and, letters between soldiers at the front and those who waited for them at home.  The authors of these letters, although intimates, invariably followed the learned rules of proper letter-writing; as a result, the letters have an air of formality and, therefore, convey respect between writer and recipient.  

This practice also applies to in-business e-memos.  The relationship       between management and staff should remain respectful.  E-memos that are ‘dashed off’ in a moment of haste can have detrimental effects on the morale of    individual workers or even the entire staff.  Some large corporations are hiring    editors to review managers’ e-memos before they are sent to staff members.  

2.     One method of infusing e-mails with formality is to use proper grammar.  Grammar comprises a set of rules; rules, by their very nature, impose structure, organization, and discipline and, thereby, convey an air of formality.  In effect, the use of good grammar will solve the problem of the too-casual tone in many e-mails.  This is especially important in business correspondence.  

Article to be continued in a future PARO Link ...

Writing Tip 
One Effective Use of Semi-colons ( ; ) :  

In the article above, there are a number of sentences that contain semi-colons.  Revisit the second sentence in the first paragraph.  The sentence contains two separate subjects and two verbs.  One solution is to insert a comma and an ‘and’ between the two phrases.  Another solution is to separate the two phrases with a period.   However, a semi-colon works well when two ideas are very closely linked.  It highlights the close relationship between the two ideas and, thereby, adds special emphasis to the point.  It prevents the appearance of too-many short sentences, which makes the written material sound disjointed.  It also prevents an over-use of the word ‘and’.  

 
Learn a New Word

 Chary: adjective:

      1.  cautious, careful, wary

               Example: The customer was chary of the salesman’s pitch.

      2.  frugal, sparing

               Example: She was chary of her time.

^{1 Debbie Weil, “The Etiquette of Email Marketing at the Office”, Available at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=985241}