By Michelle Frederick

E-mail is the most common, convenient, and potentially the most costly means of business communication today. With all this e-mail traffic, the potential for disaster is huge if you are not careful to write messages that are as safe and secure, as they are clean and clear.  The goal is for employees at every level in an organization to avoid e-mail liabilities while creating electronic documents that are as persuasively and powerfully written, as they are risk-free. 

When composing e-mail messages it is important to limit your message to one primary message.  Unlike traditional forms of writing, e-mail is designed to be quick and brief.  To engage the reader, be sure to make your first three sentences clean and clear.  If the reader feels confused in any way, a common response is to hit the delete button.  Another rule when composing e-mail messages is to limit your e-mail to one average computer screen.  Since this is an electronic medium, most readers want to see the message in one screen and are more inclined to read it in full if contained in one screen. 

The most effective e-mails are written in the "right tone."  In e-mail, this means keeping it positive and using contractions to make it sound friendly. "I," "we" and "you" do belong in e-mail.  Another aspect of creating the right tone is to be sure to spell and grammar check your e-mail.  The quickest way to lose credibility is to have misspellings and poorly constructed sentences. 

With e-mail, a new world of etiquette has emerged called "netiquette."  Using the proper netiquette can improve your e-mail communication.  This includes trying to remain gender neutral.  We don't always know the gender of our e-mail audience so why risk offending someone.  Also, be sure not to copy or reply to the world.  This can lead to unwanted e-mail to unintended or uninterested recipients.  It's not in our best interest to annoy our colleagues with superfluous e-mail.  Finally, respect others' time.  More and more of our time is consumed with electronic communication, so it's important to limit how much you communicate by e-mail. Don't forget there are other tools for communicating and some are far more effective than e-mail.

Even with the best of intentions, misunderstandings are likely to occur in almost any type of communication. However, electronic mail does not offer the benefits that some other forms of communication carry for repairing misunderstandings and miscommunications. 

When used correctly, quick, courteous communication via e-mail can boost productivity and enhance relationships with both customers and colleagues.

Michelle Frederick is Training & Organizational Manager for Facilities Administration at American University.