Using an e-mail program
Most
e-mail programs that use the internet have relatively standard elements. To
send an e-mail you need to fill in the following information.
To: The e-mail address of the person that
you want to send
Subject:
A brief but meaningful statement about the subject of the message.
Cc: The addresses of those people who
will receive a copy of the message.
Body
text: Start this part with a greeting, followed by the message, and finish with
a close.
Let
us look at each of these elements in detail.
The 'To* element
It
is here that you type the e-mail address of the person that you want to send
the message to. E-mail addresses are made up of two parts: the 'username' (also
called the 'userid') which is found to the left of the @ character, and the
domain which is to the right of the @ character. In the example below, the
username is jchan and the domain is office.com.hk.
jchan@office.com.hk
The
username must be unique within a certain service provider. Sometimes, you can
choose your own username but other times your company or service provider will
assign you one.
Take
great care when typing the e-mail address as it can be easy to make mistakes.
It is usual practice to use lower case letters for e- mail addresses although
using upper case should still allow the message to reach its destination.
Spelling and the position of the full stops is very important though and a
mistake can mean that the e- mail is sent to the wrong person or not sent at
all.
The 'Subject' element
A
brief and meaningful statement about the contents of the message allows the
receiver to read quickly through his or her list of incoming mail and identify
messages of special importance. It also allows the receiver to save certain
messages and delete others. An e- mo.il message that contains a blank subject
is likely to be ignored.
The 'Cc' element
As
with normal business communications, 'cc' stands for 'carbon copy' (a hangover
from pre-photocopier/computer days), and indicates the other people who will
receive a copy of the message. An e-mail 'cc' differs, however, in that the
e-mail address of each person is included along with their name. Remember that
the recipient of your message (the 'to' person) is not the same as the person
or people who receive a copy for information (the 'cc'
The recipient is the person that you
directly communicate with, so address the message accordingly. It can be
confusing to receive a message that is actually meant for someone else,
especially if it requests some actions to be taken.
The 'Body text' element
This part comprises the full text of
the message you are sending. Start this section with an appropriate greeting,
followed by the message itself, and finish with an appropriate close.
While it is desirable to be brief,
business messages will usually be longer than personal notes. Remember that you
are communicating, so keep messages short and to the point, but not so short as
to obscure their meaning.
Most e-mail programs allow you to
attach word processed documents, program files or pictures to your message.
This serves the same purpose as the 'Enc.' section often found at the end of a
business letter. Attachments are useful if you wish to preserve the
typographical style and format of an original document, or if retyping a
document or file would be too time-consuming. Whenever you send an attachment,
it is advisable to include a short introductory sentence explaining the
contents of the attached file.
If you are responding to a message,
use the reply function rather than creating a new message. When replying to a
message, you will often only need to reply to part of the received message.
Include the relevant section of the received message in your reply, but save
time and space by not returning the whole message along with your comments - quote
the relevant sections only.
Network etiquette
Network etiquette, or netiquette, can
be seen as a protocol for human communications over a computer network.
Netiquette means being considerate towards other people both locally and around
the world. It also alerts you to how your actions can affect other internet
users. It is very important to consider netiquette before using e-mail.
Choose your words carefully
One advantage of e-mail is that it is
immediate. The downside to this is that once the send button has been clicked,
the message cannot be retrieved. As, such, remember to choose your words
carefully. Although computer networks are impersonal and often involve
communicating with someone you have never met or are unlikely to meet, follow
the same standards of politeness as you do in other aspects of your life.
If your correspondent uses your first
name, it is perfectly acceptable to use his or hers. In the case of first-time
correspondence, • immediate informality is unwelcome in a business situation, especially
in the international business world.