By Cheryl Sloan Wray
Sure people use their telephones to communicate with others. And they still put letters in the mail. But e-mail correspondence is probably the most common form of day-to-day communication in American life.
Bill Patton, business administrator and family minister of First Baptist Church, Enterprise, in Coffee Baptist Association, uses e-mail on a daily basis to communicate with a large number of people. “I send a lot more e-mails than I make phone calls or write notes,” he said.
And there are numerous benefits to using e-mail. “I can deal with issues on my own time rather than play telephone tag,” Patton said. “And I can research answers instead of popping off opinions or incorrect information.”
Patton added that the same goes for those he is contacting. He’s not interrupting their busy day or asking for an unexpected response.
E-mail also saves time and is convenient. “It gets things done without waiting physically to be in the same place together,” Patton said. “And it leaves a trail of questions and responses that are referable later on.”
Patton is not alone in his use of e-mail. The Radicati Group, a technology market research firm, says that one in six people worldwide use e-mail, and The Wall Street Journal reports that business people will soon be spending three hours a day on e-mail correspondence.
But with the tremendous increase in e-mail communication in the business world comes etiquette challenges, experts note. Things that were never at issue with traditional forms of communication are now a problem with e-mails.
“There are certain professional standards expected for e-mail use,” said Laura Stack, president of the business consulting firm The Productivity Pro.
Several primary issues come into play with e-mail correspondence, including the professionalism of the sender’s writing style. E-mail messages can be casual, but they should not be sloppy, Stack said.
“You should follow standard writing protocol. Your e-mail messages reflect you and your business, so traditional spelling, grammar and punctuation rules apply,” she said.
Stack added that using all capital letters looks as if the sender is shouting, while using all lowercase letters looks lazy. Also don’t use a lot of colors and graphics.
She also recommends that e-mail users keep messages brief and to the point, be cautious in blind-copying recipients, be careful in sending virus warnings or junk e-mail, be sparing with group e-mail and use the subject field to indicate content and purpose.
The biggest challenge in e-mail communication, however, has little to do with actual writing style or format. It has more to do with the tone that e-mails can convey to the recipient.
Patton said the biggest downside to e-mail is that he can’t fully express emotion or intensity in writing and, in turn, cannot interpret the level of emotion or intensity from the person sending e-mail to him. When e-mailing with church members, it is especially challenging, because an e-mail doesn’t relate whether other issues are going on in their lives.
“I can’t ask or ascertain when there are other issues I should be concerned about,” Patton said. “For example, it would be nice to know that you can’t come to the meeting because your grandmother died and not just that you can’t come this time.”
The lack of emotion also keeps him from being as supportive as he needs to be with church members sometimes. “Most of our parishioners need a touch regularly,” Patton said.
Stack agreed that e-mail cannot always communicate the tone intended by the sender.
“E-mail communication can’t convey the nuances of verbal communication,” she said, noting some people use emoticons such as smiley faces in an attempt to infer tone of voice. “But don’t overuse them and also realize that they can’t always diffuse a difficult situation.”
In general, e-mail has made communication easier, more practical and efficient but the challenges exist.
Patton reads and rereads his messages before he sends them, making sure that they are tailored to the recipient. “I like to read it as if it’s on the front page of the newspaper. I want to make sure it’s just right.”
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