Email Tips

Honing email skills is a must as it becomes more popular for business and personal communications. Email offers many advantages over the telephone when used properly. It can be answered at your convenience, letting you ponder your reply. Email also gives you a written trail of correspondence that can later be recalled as needed.

Subject Line:
Create useful, descriptive subject lines. This helps the sender and recipient locate messages in the future. Important messages can contain URGENT in the subject line to attract the recipient's attention (or set to a High Priority in your e-mail software).

Spell Check All Messages:
Before sending any email communication, confirm that there are no misspellings. Use the spell check capability of your email software before you hit Send.

Respond promptly:
Online users expect it. Check your email multiple times daily, as often as you would your voice mail.

Write Succinctly:
Avoid wasting bandwidth and time. A general rule is that emails should be one page or less.

Quote Prior Messages Sparingly:
Do not over-quote a prior message in your response, especially if you are responding to only one or two points. Add just enough of the message to put your response in context. Place longer quotes at the bottom of your message.

AVOID USING ALL UPPER CASE LETTERS.
Using upper case is considered SHOUTING on the Internet.

Consider Content:
Use good judgment in all email messages. Email is easily forwarded to others. Do not say anything in an email message that you would not want printed on the front page of USA Today.

Proof Read Your Email:
Before sending, read through your entire message to make sure it is clear and concise.

Line Length:
Limit your line length to 60-75 characters across. Otherwise, some email programs will not properly wrap the lines. If you use more than 75 characters, the recipient might see = (the equal character) at the end of each line or an =20 for a hard return.

Text Format:
Send in Plain Text or Rich Text Format (RTF). Most email programs can read Plain Text and RTF. Once you start to add unique formatting, such as HTML, special characters (bullets, ampersands), different fonts, and color, you run the risk that the recipient will not be able to see your message. Knowing the technology level of your audience is helpful. When in doubt, send in plain text.

Attached Files:
Be considerate of the size of attached files. Many documents and files essential to a real estate transaction will be routinely attached to email in the near future, but you should get permission from your recipient before sending. Files types that may be attached:

Documents
Photos (gif , jpeg , bmp )
Voice (wav , mpeg )
Video (avi , mov , qt )

With limited bandwidth available to many using the Internet, a large file may create problems for the recipient. Most ISPs will limit the size of attachments to either 1MB or 5MB. If a large attachment is sent, the message might be refused. Also keep in mind that the recipient may lack the proper software version to open and read an attachment or view a graphic. Do not send attachments to discussion groups.

MailTo: Link:
Use the MailTo: prefix when entering an email address within an email message if you want the recipient to be able to click on the address and have it open a pre-addressed email response form (email hot link). Be careful not to leave spaces. Note: This does not work with AOL.

Web Site Links:
Whenever possible, use the http:// prefix when you want your reader to see a site or web page rather than emailing the entire web page. The http:// format increases the chances your recipient will be able to click on the URL and be transported to the web page itself. Double check the URL to make sure the link is working.

Links for AOL Users:
If you want to send embedded links to AOL users, you must embed the link in HTML code. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language - the base code for creating web pages) is not difficult to use for embedding links. Here is the format:

Click here to email me!

Emoticons:
Use emoticons (emotional icons) if and when appropriate to convey a mood or tone of voice. Many clever and complicated emoticons are posted on the Internet, but we suggest you keep it simple.

:-) Smile
;-) Wink
:-( Frown

:-0 Surprise, yelling or realization of error

Acronyms:
Veteran email users have created short cuts to express a phrase. Keep in mind that not everyone is experienced with the jargon and they may not want to admit it – possibly missing your point. Use acronyms sparingly. A few examples:

BTW = By the Way
FAQ = Frequently Asked Question
FYI = For Your information
IMO = In My Opinion
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

General Computer Help