Your e-mail is a document, not a letter

For old people, like me, e-mail started out as a virtual way to write letters to people. Most of the letters I wrote were personal, to start. Then cc:mail came along and we could write letters at work, too.

But since then, e-mail has become a staple of work. If you need a record of your communication, you need to use e-mail. If you have colleagues in other locations, you'll probably use e-mail. If you're breathing, you'll probably use e-mail.

It's not 1995 any more. Your e-mail messages don't have to look and read like letters. You can make them documents, and use headings, bulleted lists, and font enhancements, such as bold and italics to make your point stand out.

Headings
Headings allow you to organize your content. Instead of the old-fashioned stream of consciousness flow, you can consolidate your points, then add a summary.

Bulleted Lists
Bulleted lists are a natural for e-mail. They allow your reader to:

• Individually identify all the items in a list
• Get a scope for the size of a list
• Easily digest the list.

Of course, you need to keep your list reasonable. Ideally, shoot for between five and nine items in a list. If you get past nine, you might consider whether multiple lists are appropriate, or whether you should re-organize your content.

Font Enhancements

You can already see the use of bold in this post, for section headings. You can also use bold to draw out important points, as long as you show restraint. Ideally, if you use bold for a section heading, you shouldn't use it for another purpose in most messages. The same goes for italics. Italics allow you to emphasize important points. Just don't go overboard. Also, italics are often used for document or book titles.

Summary

You should make use of the tools available in e-mail, but use them in the flow of your document. If you read over your content and you notice these tools, you probably haven't used them correctly. Sections, bulleted lists, and font enhancements are like offensive linemen in football: when they do their job, you don't notice them. When you notice them, it's often because they aren't doing their job.