At first glance, the look of an email message is different from other types of written communication. There is no need to add in addresses or dates at the start of the email as this is done automatically. With business email departmental directions and so forth are also absent as email goes directly to the department or person concerned, rather than through a delivery system that relies on written address directions. Due to the nature of email you are also more likely to find yourself writing to strangers than when writing ordinary letters and memos.

Addressing conventions are still fairly plastic so given email is relatively new territory in office communication for most people, does it matter how you address the people you email?

Yes!A rule of thumb: write email messages to people in the same manner as you would speak to them over the telephone or when sending them snail mail. This holds for terms of address as well as content.

Don't be tempted to be more informal over email than you would be face to face in a business environment. If you usually address your boss by their title, use the same title in an email. For personal email you can follow your own style. If you are informal, reflect this in your email. If you like traditional terms of address, then continue this habit over email.

Remember that in the office email is simply a cheaper, faster and more flexible method of communication than ever known before. However, it is still an official method of communication and should be treated with as much caution and respect as any other communication tool.

Writing to strangers can be tricky, especially if you don't know if they are male or female. Unfortunately there is no widely used formal gender neutral greeting (no, addressing someone as Yo! Dude doesn't qualify as formal). As long as your email message is friendly it is all right to leave out initial greetings. For example, say you are writing to a travel agent in Spain called Maria José Ramirez asking for travel information. You know that Maria is a girl's name but José a boy's name. Used together as Maria José and José Maria who can be sure which is the male and which the female?You can avoid the whole gender question and use the whole name, writing Dear Maria José Ramirez.

Note:be aware that if you sign email using a title such as Encik, Puan, Datuk etc a large percentage of foreigners will inevitably write back with Dear Encik, Dear Puan or Dear Mrs Datuk.

Now I Have Your Attention. . .

Email is fast, efficient and cheap.   Does this mean you should email your every thought and feeling the entire world?  Of course not!

In the office it is generally best to email people on the same subjects as you would contact them on paper. Would you call your CEO to tell him the results of your meeting?Or that your cat has had five kittens?If the answer is yes, then mentioning this by email is appropriate too. If you have never spoken to your CEO then it would probably be inappropriate. Remember that colleagues, especially bosses, can be very sensitive of their position and will not be pleased if you go over their heads straight to the top.

For personal email, remember the golden rule: never assume that other people are as interested in your life as they are in their own. Keep your email to the point and think before you forward or copy email to others.

Warning!Don't be tempted to fall into the flirty/personal approach with strangers. Questions such as are you married and what age/sex/religion are you? are all right in certain environments like romance chat rooms or among good friends but can otherwise considered as too personal, i. e. offensive.

Audience And Tone

It may sound strange, but many people emailing strangers for the first time use a very impersonal tone forgetting there is a person on the receiving end, not a machine.

Write your email as you would a letter or fax. And if you are asking a stranger for a favour like information or homework help, be very nice indeed!

Smileys

In the past most email systems only allowed users to use the alphabet, numbers and a few punctuation marks. They did not allow character formatting. Although newer email packages do allow you to use character formatting such as bold, italics and underline, this does not mean that the recipient of your email has a package that can understand them. This has resulted in the use of a series of punctuation conventions.

It's very seldom now that you see the use of * to indicate bolded text (although certain word processing software packages still automatically follow the command to *bold*.

Today smileys are much more common. Smiley are punctuation marks which, when viewed from the side, form drawings.

:-) is a happy face, denoting the writer is pleased or smiling, this can mean that a comment should be taken as a joke. This is used often with ambiguous statements. Example, Guess what, I'm being transferred :-) is good news.

:-( is a sad face. This is used when giving bad news or to show that the writer is feeling down. Example, Guess what, I'm being transferred :-(is bad news.

Although smileys are sometimes used in business communications among colleagues who are friendly, smileys should never be used in formal business email.

Acronyms

Acronyms are more often used in email than smileys, especially in countries like Malaysia where acronyms are fashionable. However, the chances are that your colleague (especially those overseas) will not be familiar with your favourite acronyms. Overusing acronyms can make a message seem like the sort of communication spies would send to each other: weird to look at and almost impossible to decipher.

Signature Files

You can configure your email package to place a message automatically at the end of each email message. This is called a signature file.

Business email signature files usually consist of the company's complete address, telephone and fax numbers and web site address. To save bandwidth make sure when you configure your email software that messages sent to colleagues don't include a signature file.

Personal email signature files should never show any personal contact details for security reasons. You don't want people to know you have valuable equipment in your home, nor do you want to be called on the phone day and night by salespeople who are convinced that someone who can afford a computer necessarily wants to buy alarm clock/television/exercise equipment etc.

Many people make their favourite quotation their signature file, on the principle that it says something about them. One friend who is a computer programmer uses the quote "Bang forehead on keyboard to continue. "

Those who have software that allows it, have a different signature file for each day of the year. Most of the time, personal signatures are humorous but be sure to avoid using whimsical signature files for business email. Someone is certain to find it offensive.

Be careful if you are using business email for personal purposes. If your signature file states your company details, the recipient might assume you are speaking on behalf of your company in an official capacity. If you want to have personal email, invest in a personal email address or use one of the free email services.

Signatures with binary drawings were fashionable some years ago, but are no longer common. Not only do these drawings take a lot time to produce, but they may not resemble anything if the formatting preferences used by the recipient is significantly different from the sender.

Newer email packages allow you to attach a "business card" to your email with or instead of a signature. These are useful for people with address-book programmes that are closely integrated with their email. The problems are that they may only need the business card once (not with every message), and many people will not be able to see them. If you use a business card, be sure you have a regular signature file as well.

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