Email is an Instant Web Page

While reading online from a computer screen, our senses for aroma, audio, texture, and flavor labor just as quickly as reading print on paper. Our sense of vision has less patience. Studies have found people scan the text while on the Internet. We don’t take the time to read, let alone reread, the entire content on webpages, because we can easily move on to the next website. Our sense of sight provides fewer words for the other four senses to make those preliminary conclusions, so we’ll hard wire the sixth sense to what we previously learned from printed material.

Consider the last time you talked to someone you didn’t know on the phone, and then you finally met them. When did you think, “This is not the way I pictured the person to look.” That's because our sense of hearing didn’t match our perceptions. The same kind of thing can happen when you see someone without initially hearing their voice. Let’s say they have a small frame, which your senses may naturally match to an unheard high-pitched voice. It might startle you when they begin to speak in a heavy baritone, because the expectation doesn’t meet what you have found familiar in the past. In this example, our sense of sight didn’t match our sense perceptions.

Within a matter of seconds, one or more of our five primary senses work together, supporting each other behind the scenes, to give us a preliminary conclusion. This happens especially when reading books. We use our sight to read the words, while our other senses will quickly fill in the blanks. Depending on the type of printed literary source, our nose can “smell” the paper, our ears “hear” the author’s voice, our hands “touch” the book, and depending on the subject, we can even get a “taste” for something to eat. The sixth sense, our perception ability, summarizes those initial conclusions from the other senses into, “What does mean for me?” Sometimes, we possibly will read every single word, or even reread, to fully understand the context.

Knowing a reader’s online reading habits, can benefit anyone writing an email. Think of email as an instant webpage – the reader has a very similar option – if they can’t quickly get the jest of the information, the delete option looms near. But, email has one distinctive leverage advantage not accessible on the Internet; the reader has the option of becoming an instant writer, by sending a reply email.

An organized, carefully prepared email can save your reputation. Whether the initiator or sending a response by email, think about a webpage, and consider these four important points:

1. Who will read it? You may only send the email to one person, but the addressee can forward or blind copy anyone with an email address. If you have something potentially negative to say, which could damage another’s character, pick up the phone and directly resolve the dispute.

2. Use all caps sparingly. Remember how our other senses translate the words to perceptions? More than one word in an email with all capital letters can sound like screaming or yelling. Yes, showing your anger IS your first intention, but the way you use words can damage your character.

3. After three, call me. Unfortunately we often use email as our only communication device. Stop hiding behind the technology. After three emails on the same subject, which the recipient could not "hear" the point, pick up the phone, or in some cases catch the elevator to the next floor, if you are in the same building.

4. Keep It Short and Simple. This is the most important. Unless providing instruction, no email should be longer than 250 words. Remember the reader scans online, and "sees" very little text; the email screen becomes a webpage. If you have more to say, use the tried and true method of calling by phone, or think about writing a book.

Remember: Many websites have a Contact Us option; however in most instances only one person receives the message. An email, just like a webpage, has the potential for an unlimited number of recipients, and can give you international fame. Consider the perceptions EVERY time you write or reply to an electronic message.