![]() Identify yourself by creating a signature block that automatically contains your name and business contact information. ![]() For example, “Proposal attached” or “Your question of 10/25.” This helps the recipient understand the essence of the message. ![]() Subject lines should be clear, brief, and specific.For example, use a salutation like “Dear Ms. Proper salutations should demonstrate respect and avoid mix-ups in case a message is accidentally sent to the wrong recipient.Never write or send anything that you would not want read in public or in front of your company president. Although e-mail may have an informal feel, remember that when used for business, it needs to convey professionalism and respect. E-mail often serves to exchange information within organizations. You may also be assigned to “populate” a form e-mail in which standard paragraphs are used but you choose from a menu of sentences to make the wording suitable for a particular transaction.Į-mails may be informal in personal contexts, but business communication requires attention to detail, awareness that your e-mail reflects you and your company, and a professional tone so that it may be forwarded to any third party if needed. Many businesses use automated e-mails to acknowledge communications from the public, or to remind associates that periodic reports or payments are due. ![]() E-mail can be very useful for messages that have slightly more content than a text message, but it is still best used for fairly brief messages. In business, it has largely replaced print hard copy letters for external (outside the company) correspondence, as well as taking the place of memos for internal (within the company) communication (Guffey, 2008). It may be used like text, or synchronous chat, and it can be delivered to a cell phone. Being in an accident while conducting company business would reflect poorly on your judgment as well as on your employer.Įlectronic mail, usually called e-mail, is quite familiar to most students and workers. Research shows that the likelihood of an accident increases dramatically if the driver is texting behind the wheel (Houston Chronicle, 2009). Do you feel constantly connected? Do you feel lost or “out of it” if you do not have your cell phone and cannot connect to people, even for fifteen minutes? Sometimes being unavailable for a time can be healthy-everything in moderation, including texting. Use it when appropriate but do not abuse it. Contacting someone too frequently can border on harassment.Given the complexity of communication, and the useful but limited tool of texting, be aware of its limitation and prevent misinterpretation with brief messages. Texting often uses symbols and codes to represent thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Anticipate unintentional misinterpretation.Know your recipient “? % dsct” may be an understandable way to ask a close associate what the proper discount is to offer a certain customer, but if you are writing a text to your boss, it might be wiser to write, “what % discount does Murray get on $1K order?”.Texting can be a great tool for connecting while on the go, but consider your audience and your company, and choose words, terms, or abbreviations that will deliver your message. If the person is a two-hander, you are better off using fewer words and spelling them out. If the person is a one-hander, and knows all the abbreviations common to texting, you may be able to use similar codes to communicate effectively. Of course, there is no actual correlation between input and age, but it is a useful example to use when considering who your audience is when writing a text message. If he holds the digital device with one hand and inputs the number with the other, he may be over thirty, or may be less comfortable with some technological devices. If the person uses his or her thumb while holding the digital device, that person may have been raised on video games and be adept at one-handed interfaces. It is often said that you can tell how old someone is by how he or she inputs a phone number on a cell phone. Texting is not useful for long or complicated messages, and careful consideration should be given to the audience. It is useful for short exchanges, and is a convenient way to stay connected with others when talking on the phone would be cumbersome. Whatever digital device you use, written communication in the form of brief messages, or texting, has become a common way to connect.
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