EMAIL has made us all a bit lazy. As a result of this laziness, and a general new casual approach to communicating with each other, electronically, the effectiveness of EMAIL, a potentially powerful Internet tool, has slid down a slippery slope  to the point where it is becoming a burden vs. a time saving tool.

Here are a few thoughts about using EMAIL more effectively:

1) Communicate Effectively (i.e. Slow Down)

Nothing new here. Offline or online, it’s always best when you have clear thoughts and then communicate these clear thoughts carefully, logically, and appropriately.

When you do this people will not have to send you a return email for clarification or have to call you and to say “… got your email but I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Yes, EMAIL is fast, but slow down, take a moment to clearly and effectively communicate your thoughts, instructions, or questions.

2) Subject Lines Are For Subjects

Subject lines should not be used for communicating anything but a subject.

Sorry, but it’s down right obnoxious when I get an email and it’s only a subject line - no body content.

People who get a lot of email often scan subject lines to determine which email messages to open first. Many EMAIL applications allow you to search by subject lines as well as body content.

A subject line: “We need to talk…”

1) Might get picked up as SPAM or Junk EMAIL
2) Doesn’t really say much, frankly

Also, no body content may trigger SPAM and junk email filtering.

3) Don’t Trigger Junk EMAIL or SPAM Filtering

The use of red text, bolded text, bolded red text, the use of words like “free,” the use of ALL CAPS, and over-use of words like URGENT and EMERGENCY, and “needs your attention immediately” can trigger SPAM filtering and toss an email message into someone’s SPAM folder, delay it’s delivery, or wipe it out (delete it) entirely.

4) Don’t Expect Immediate Delivery

Slow down (again). While sometimes email might reach where you send it within seconds, at other times it takes longer. Not everyone leaves their email box open (i.e. on) all day. I’m not sure about you, but I can’t return email messages in all cases within an hour or two. If I responded to each email as I got it - I’d never get anything else done except responding to email messages.