• almost one hour in composition per memo
• each memo rewritten at least four times
• $80 (US) to write the memo for an employee earning $35K (US)

The problem with these assumptions is that they're extremely conservative, even for a poor writer. If we instead try

• almost one hour in composition per memo
• almost one hour spent in rewriting, reviewing, and moving the memo back and forth between writer and reviewer(s)
• an employee earning $30K

Then the memo costs $30 to write overall. If the same employee writes a memo a day, working full-time, that's about $6K/year on memos.

On the other hand, employees may receive from 10 to 50 e-mail messages per day, and spend at least an hour a day responding to them. With the same annual salary, e-mail responses cost over $4K/year per employee. If 25% of the e-mail messages sent are written poorly, or are sent to the wrong people, that amounts to $1K/year per employee wasted on bad writing and misdirection.

Common mistakes in individual use of business e-mail include

1. Being hard to reach. I have had people tell me that an e-mail address that's easy to memorize is a Good Thing [tm], and I used to shrug that off. But now I'm not so sure. Especially now that so many services (e.g. IEEE) will give you free, forwardable e-mail. You could have an address that is easy to remember, transferable (in case of multiple job assignments), and looks good on a business card.
2. Using uninterpretable subject lines. Given that readers of multiple messages will prioritize on the basis of subject line, a line that reads "Reminder" (or worse that that, "No Subject"), heads to the bottom of the priority totem pole.
3. Excessive informality. I don't *always* use my best English, especially when chatting with friends; but in a business environment, and with people you don't know, it's a good idea.
4. Forgetting to proofread. More than that: we have to be careful not to rely on spellcheckers, because they don't catch words that are spelled right but used wrong.
5. E-mail formatted in HTML. Many mail readers can't interpret HTML tags, and those tags come out verbatim in some cases, which really mucks up the message. AOL users and folks like me who use Netscape Communicator are at risk here. Better to write in plain text. If I type in a hyperlink, Netscape will interpret it as such, but if you don't receive this with Communicator you probably won't see those unsightly HTML tags.
6. Messages poorly filed/sorted. If we have to print 'em all out, we lose the advantage that e-mail gives us in the first place. Plus, it's never a good idea to assume that messages you send (however important) are saved by the recipients. YOU save 'em. :-)
7. Responses delayed. Ringle suggests that business e-mails should be responded to within a day. I can't be sure about *that*, but sitting on communications specifically sent to me (something I used to love to do with paper mail -- LOL) is not a good idea.
8. The use of humor. Humor, sarcasm, and double meanings are difficult to pick up in e-mail, because their success traditionally depends on hearers picking up conversational cues (e.g. a smile, a wink, rolling eyes, etc.). "Emoticons" were created to enable this on the Internet, but they are very crude tools and are often considered unprofessional in the workplace.

Group use of business e-mail has the following problems:

1. We respond to messages not intended for us. Or, we address messages in correctly. In this mailing list, for instance, if you hit your mail reader's "reply" button, your new message goes to the whole list. Is that what you want?
2. We blast the sender of the original message. I have asked participants in the mailing list (for instance) to avoid flame wars. That's not just for the comfort of bystanders; it's to ensure that we all look as professional as we are.
3. We are overly inclusive. We have a tendency to keep distribution lists in our address books, then send to everyone on that list when only a subset of those on the list may actually be interested. We also tend to hit "reply to all" instead of "reply."
4. "Me-too." Any response to a group message that fails to add new information, even if it's complimentary to the original writer, is considered throughout the Internet as a waste of the readers' time.
5. SPAM. SPAM is defined by most net readers as something like "unwanted, unsolicited e-mails or Usenet articles of a commercial nature, usually given wide distribution." It doesn't have to be commercial any more. Nowadays, each of us is the victim...ummm, I mean, "recipient" of jokes forwarded by several friends. (I can no longer tell you how many times I've heard the one explaining why God is a Civil Engineer...) And there are chain letters on the net as well, forwarded by our well- meaning friends. (If any of you are not familiar with the celebrated case of Craig Shergold, it might be a good idea to read up.) This is a bad idea in a business environment. And chain letters are illegal.

   NOTE -- there is a distinction between SPAM and "unwanted" jokes, chain letters, and virus warnings. The latter cases often come friends and known associates (and you can generally assume these folks mean well), and can be dealt with by contacting the sender and asking them to stop. In the case of jokes, this will usually mean getting dropped from someone's distribution list. For the other cases an explanation of why they shouldn't be sent will suffice.

   It's important for you to be gentle with co-workers who send you chain letters, links to the "Hampster Dance," or requests for help for poor Craig Shergold -- because the co-workers (most of the time) really do mean well, they just don't know better. And if you want them ever to know better, don't get preachy. When people are criticized for doing something they think is nice or polite or moral, it gives them a martyr's complex almost without fail.

1. Understand address books.
2. Separately file business communications from other types.
3. Use file folders to group specific subjects.
4. Understand file attachments. There's no longer any reason not to know how to attach a file; but you also have to be sure the recipient can get at the attached file.

   Many software packages will present the mail as not having an attachment at all, thus leaving recipients unaware they're missing something.

5. Understand the mail software. Well, gee: if you have the first four steps down here, you're in good shape. :-) :-) :-)

   Some mail software makes this more difficult than you would think. Outlook (for instance) has a rather "unique" understanding of rich text format (RTF), and there are certain attachments which only Outlook understands. Sometimes, things you don't want (e.g. company logos) get attached "by themselves."

You also have to watch out for "e-mail bloat." A short Word document, e-mailed as an attachment and containing several screen-shots, can be a problem. Word stores these images in a *completely* uncompressed format. A large document expands into a *very large* e-mail message. Too large to be delivered via modem: messages like that can time out a pop3 server. Why not take a few seconds and use a compression program on that document before you send it?

You can't depend on Microsoft to do this for you:

• Their image file format doesn't compress images;
• Word doesn't compress files when it stores them;
• E-Mail attachments are not compressed.

Many workers won't even use e-mail for certain purposes which they think require a more sensitive approach:

• praising (or vilifying) coworkers
• negotiating raises or promotions
• reporting wrongdoing
• resigning

Wallace mentions the need for "face time" to foster understanding, especially in these cases.

References

Griffin, C. E. "Money." Entrepreneur, 02.2000.
Craig Shergold and other Internet hoaxes that won't die
The Hampster Dance
Wallace, P. The Psychology of the Internet. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1999. ISBN 0-52163-294-3