#21061
Allowing for Personal Choice -- HTML or Text E-Mail
When you ask readers whether they want your e-mail newsletter in HTML or text e-mail, be sure to honor their preference.
Allen, Cliff. Allen.com (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#23395
We can't halt the flow of incoming email messages, but we can give you some suggestions that will help you become a better email communicator.
Blicq, Ronald S. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#31340
Are You Guilty of Sloppy E-mails? It Can Cost You
Some of the nicest people we know send the most thoughtless e-mails. Many are telegraphic, with a smattering of disconnected words and abbreviations, leaving the reader to fill in the blanks. Most are dashed off without review and arrive in their native state: confusing, grammarless and brimful of spelling errors. That's not even to mention lack of logic and transitions.
Canavor, Natalie and Claire Meirowitz. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#20814
Automated Email From Websites to Customers
Transactional email can be a website's customer service ambassador, but messages must first survive a ruthless selection process in the user's in-box. Differentiating your message from spam is thus the first duty of email design.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#28149
Avoid the Use of Familiar Phrases and Messages in Your Emails
Sometimes copywriters and content writers write in clichés. To a reader, the line has barely any meaning, and certainly no impact. Why not? Because it is too familiar. Because he or she has read the same phrase so many times before, in too many other places.
Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#18855
A Beginner's Guide to Effective Email
In a conversation, there is some minimum of shared context. You might be in the same physical location, and even on the phone you have, at minimum, commonality of time. When you generate a document for paper, usually there is some context embedded in the medium: the text is in the proceedings of a conference, written on a birthday card, handed to your professor with a batch of Econ 101 term papers, or something similar. With email, you can't assume anything about a sender's location, time, frame of mind, profession, interests, or future value to you. This means, among other things, that you need to be very, very careful about giving your receivers some context. This section will give specific strategies for doing so.
Sherwood, Kaitlin Duck. Webfoot.com (1998). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#10690
Business Letters: Accentuating the Positives
Your letters will be more successful if you focus on positive wording rather than negative, simply because most people respond more favorably to positive ideas than negative ones. Words that affect your reader positively are likely to produce the response you desire in letter-writing situations. A positive emphasis will persuade the reader and create goodwill. In contrast, negative words may generate resistance and other unfavorable reactions. You should therefore be careful to avoid words with negative connotations. These words either deny--for example, NO, DO NOT, REFUSE, and STOP--or convey unhappy or unpleasant associations--for example, UNFORTUNATELY, UNABLE TO, CANNOT, MISTAKE, PROBLEM, ERROR, DAMAGE, LOSS, and FAILURE.
Purdue University (2000). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence
#25784
Checklist for Effective E-Mail 
Use this checklist to ensure that your e-mail reflects a high level of professionalism and increases your credibility within your company.
ULiveandLearn.com (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#28806
Communicating Across Cultures by E-mail: Advice for Consultants 
E-mail styles and preferences can vary from country to country, presenting a possible challenge to effective communication. Read on for how to add a personal touch to your messages so that e-mail becomes an asset to your business.
Lash, Becky. Intercom (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#20809
Divide a Sales Letter Into Hook, Line and Sinker
A writer/sales trainer tells how to structure effective sales letters and avoid common mistakes. Many sales letters fail not because of content but because of poor structure.
Writing that Works (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence
#29322
What did the kids say? Email is dead. It's hanging on as a mode of communication for adults (that's us) and within businesses. Kids will even use it to communicate with adults. But for the majority of kids, email has been replaced by two things: text messaging and social networks.
Lentz, Michelle. Write Technology (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#19766
E-Mail, Acronyms, and Alphabet Soup
Emoticons have become pretty complex, now including ones like :-# [lips are sealed], :-& [tongue tied], or :-'' [pursing lips].
Ray, Deborah S. TECHWR-L (1998). Humor>Writing>Correspondence>Email
#14690
Hay-Roe presents nine rules for writing clear, concise e-mail messages.
Hay-Roe, Hugh. Intercom (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#14284
The ability to recognize effective correspondence is valuable. It will not only allow you to assess what may have gone wrong in a transaction, but also to plan for better communication in the future. Professional communicators understand the importance of being critical about their writing. They are able to evaluate the documents they produce, recognize potential problems, and make the necessary adjustments. They can also appreciate well written documents, learning communication strategies that they might use in the future. In this exercise you will practice your ability to evaluate correspondence. Using the criteria outlined in Chapter 14 (“Correspondence”) of Technical Communication, 5e, you will analyze a letter sent to a professional journal in your discipline. You will present your analysis in a memo written to your instructor, so you will have an opportunity to develop your own correspondence writing style.
Burnett, Rebecca E. Thomson (2001). Academic>Course Materials>Correspondence>Evaluation
#28840
Every Email You Send is a Customer Service Email
If you do business online, there are times when you send your customers, prospects and subscribers an email or two. The emails you send tend to fall within one of three categories. Each of these three types of emails requires a slightly different approach. Their purposes are different, and each should be optimized to perform their respective tasks.
Usborne, Nick. Excess Voice (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#29113
A Generational Approach To Using Emoticons As Nonverbal Communication 
The purpose of this article is to help determine whether the use of emoticons in computer mediated communication (CMC) are truly nonverbal cues. A review of the literature revealed that the traditional nonverbal theorists failed to predict the future employment of nonverbal cues in electronic CMC. A variety of emoticons are then described including the traditional happy face 3 and sad face 3, numerous variations of faces employing keyboard keys, a number of abbreviations commonly in use, and FLAMING. Inasmuch as emoticons are presently in widespread though informal use, the problem of how and what business communication instructors should teach about emoticons is discussed. The conclusion reached is that of a generational recipient determinism. It is recommended that recipients who are Traditionalists (born before 1946) should not be sent e-mail with emoticons; those who are Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) probably should not be sent e-mail with emoticons; those who are Generation Xers (those born between 1964 and 1980) may be sent e-mail with some of the more common emoticons; and those who are termed Millenials (born after 1980 and coming of age after 2000) may be sent e-mail with generous use of emoticons.
Krohn, Franklin B. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#23159
Getting the Right Tone to Your Business Letter
When you write a business letter, it's important to use a tone that is friendly but efficient. Readers want to know there’s someone at the other end of the letter who is taking notice and showing interest in their concerns. Try to sound—and be—helpful and friendly.
Business Letter Writing. Articles>Writing>Correspondence>Business Communication
#24741
How to Create a High-Impact Sales Letter — FAST
A sales letter must capture the reader's attention immediately or it won't get read. Most people accomplish this by stating their biggest benefit at the top of their letter. I've found something that works even better.
Leduc, Bob. Nine Yards (2002). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Marketing
#21301
How do you write an effective email that your recipient finds clear and easy to understand? There's more to it than just typing a few words and clicking the Send button. These notes give you some guidelines on the following: technical issues, document structure, the importance of knowing your audience, language issues and layout and visual design.
Unwalla, Mike. TechScribe (2002). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#30087
How to Write Successful Direct Marketing Letters
Direct marketing in the form of direct mail is used by almost every company whether it is the local service station or shoe repair shop or a Fortune 500 company. Unlike documentation that instructs or describes a process, marketing materials must persuade as well as inform. Increasingly, technical communicators’ responsibilities are being expanded to include marketing materials such as advertisements and direct mail. Writing successful direct marketing letters or advertisements can be easier by using a 10-point guide that uses the principles of attracting attention, arousing interest. creating desire and asking for action.
Smith, Gem. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Marketing
#31961
Should you use CSS or (horror of horrors) tables? And what do you do when images are ‘blocked’?
Greiner, David. Vitamin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#24406
Hybrid Language: A Study of E-Mail and Miscommunication
Electronic communication is a hybrid of spoken, written and digital communication. Using linguistic theories and ethnographic methods, this paper examines how the unique language composition of email contributes to miscommunication between individuals. Until written language evolves to account for electronic media, careful reading and writing of email, recognition of its hybrid nature, and occasionally bypassing it as a communication channel, can assist in avoiding or correcting miscommunications.
Grosvenor, Laura. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Language>Correspondence>Email
#21073
Email usability can be dramatically increased or decreased by how URLs are designed and placed in messages. An example of one problem is described in detail in this article. Also, a couple of simple tips are provided to help you improve the URLs in your email messages.
Rhodes, John S. WebWord (2002). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
#28054
Incompetent Email Marketing = Lost Future Opportunities
Lack of personalization made an email newsletter completely useless to the recipient, damaging long-term customer relationship efforts.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Marketing
#31465
With recent press surrounding the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act and possible future charges for sending e-mail as well as virus creators competing with each other for infection rates, how can you ensure that your e-mail communications are still effective and reach their intended recipients? E-mail has qualities that make it an ideal communication vehicle. But for all of these positive characteristics, e-mail has taken a serious blow over the past six years. An anti-spam technology company estimated that 62 percent of all e-mail sent across the Internet was identified as some sort of spam by users of their technology.
Hoy, Richard. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Correspondence>Email
