1. Speed: Email combines the speed and efficiency of the telephone with the written word. You can communicate quickly with anyone on the Internet. Email usually reaches its destination in a matter of minutes or seconds. Email messages move as fast as current in copper wires or light in optical cables. When you send an email, it leaves your computer and arrives at the recipient's inbox immediately. Mail is delivered instantly from your office to anywhere in the world.
No other method of delivery can provide this service.
2. Environment Friendly: Email saves tons of trees daily as it has provided a great alternative to papers. Email saves tons of fuels daily saving on freight vehicle fuels. The environmental benefits from a potential reduction in the usage of paper for printing day-to-day communications can be enormous. Many large corporates have adopted electronic communication initiatives to reduce their carbon footprints and emphasize their "green" credentials.
3. Versatility: Email attachments - any digital document can be sent over email. It allows users to transfer files and documents. You can send letters, notes, files, data, or reports all using the same techniques. As long as a document can be converted into digital format, it can be sent over email. And the story doesn't end with text documents. Photographs, music and audio files and even video from a camcorder can be attached along with an email message. Though many email services put a limit to the email attachment size.
4. Cost effectiveness:
• Basic Cost: E-mail is inexpensive. It allows you to send a message to a large number of recipients simultaneously for much less than traditional postal rates, and often much less than making a quick phone call. Compared to telephone calls, faxes, or overnight courier service, Email is less expensive.
• Cost of Enclosures: The cost aspect comes into picture especially when sending huge attachments with the email. Imagine the money you will save by sending a 500 page document attached to an email instead of the same as hard copy printout - not only is the postage more expensive but there is also the cost of printing and paper to consider.
• Cost of Distance: The cost to you for email has nothing to do with distance, and in many cases, the cost doesn't depend on the size of the message. Most Internet access charges are based on the number of hours per month you access the Internet, or you pay a flat monthly fee.
• Cost of Multiplicity: E-mail allows the user to contact many other users at the same time, eliminating production and postage costs, and keeping many people in the loop at the click of a few keys.
• Overall Cost: Cost of sending an email is zero or negligible. If you have a 24 hour internet such as a through cable / broadband connection, the cost of sending an email is zero or very small. For dialup users, the maximum cost of sending an email will be that of a phone call or a few (depending on the size of the message and the files attached).
5. No time constraints:
• Anytime: There are no time or place barriers. You can write and respond to emails whenever you choose – day or night. It can free people from the office, make communications across time zones a simple process, and avoid 'telephone tag', where two people leave numerous phone messages as the other moves in and out of meetings.
• Convenience of Time: You can deal with your email at a convenient time. You don't have to be interrupted when email arrives, and you can read it or work with it when you have the time. Also, you can send it at a convenient time. It doesn't have to be written or sent at a time when you know the recipient will be available. This is what we mean by the term asynchronous communication.
• Even in absentia: After all, email is the first source to interact with a person personally when he is free unlike in a telephone or any real time we need the receiver to be engaged. The receiver has not to be present or online when a message is being sent to him.
6. No place constraints: The email can be sent and/or received from virtually any place of the world. You physically address becomes immaterial while using this mode of communication.
7. Saving of Time: E-mail can reduce time spent in meetings by educating participants on issues before the meeting, or it can eliminate the need for the meeting entirely. It allows you to easily inform others of what's happening and is more effective than any other method because of the ability to view documents without the cost and time constraints of face-to-face meetings. It is a quick and easy way to allow others to participate in or monitor a process.
8. A Record Keeper:
● Of course, the ability to keep the message as a record of agreements and commitments is important...although perhaps not as robust a legal document as paper. But, modern business runs on trust... and a good memory. But, sometimes we forget what we agreed to, and that e-mail record is a wonderful dispute-resolver.
● Email provides time stamped proof of an interaction. E-mail works well in that it provides the equivalent of a sales receipt for communication. It covers exactly what was said along with a time reference.
9. For future reference:
● Easy to archive for future recall. Most worthwhile e-mail applications provide search ability that can provide you with all your pertinent e-mail – often even sortable according to conversation threads – in return for a few entered key words.
● It contains details of correspondence. No need to rely on memory for facts of interaction. E-mail is great in that it allows access to useful information long after memory of it has faded.
● It's easier to reference. The text of a previous email message can easily be included as part of a reply to that message. Thus, email correspondents are able to keep the replies in context for each message. Including this context is not only polite, but also makes an email message more accurate and understandable.
10. Organizational Advantages: It facilitates consultation. Email can help you organize meetings. Emails can be sent in bulk One email message can be sent to multiple recipients almost at the cost of a single email. When compared to conventional postal service this is indeed a huge saving.
11. Dependability: Delivery is almost guaranteed. The delivery of email messages in almost guaranteed. Why do I say "almost"? Because sometimes for reasons that are beyond the scope of this article, email can get lost in cyberspace but this is very rare.
12. Transmission is Secure and Reliable: The level of security in transmitting email messages is very high, and the industry continues to strive to develop even tighter security levels. Email is private. Often telephone and fax messages are not. If the address information is correct, rarely does an email go astray. Fax machines can be out of order or out of paper and this prevents an important message from being delivered in a timely manner.
13. Request Return Receipt: Just like with postal and courier services, you can request a return receipt which simply involves a click of a mouse button by the recipient. But even if the recipient doesn't get back, you know your email has been delivered - refer point above.
14. Accessibility: This is one of the greatest advantages of using email - its accessible anywhere, anytime and through a multitude of devices - computers, laptops, palmtops and even cell phones. One can check email from any location as long as an active internet connection is available. Also email can be sent from any place with the same requirement of an active net connection.
15. Built in spell checking: Most email programs (or email clients) have built in spell check dictionaries - so you have no excuse of sending badly written messages. Spell checkers are also found in online email services such as Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo.
16. Notification of new arrivals: Email programs or devices can also be set up so you get a notification through sound or a flash of light when new messages arrive at your inbox.
17. Can be formal as well as informal: Email messages do not signify informality. Just because email is easy to compose and send does not mean it cannot be used in formal and official correspondences.
18. Automation: Several, if not all, steps in the emailing process can be automated. A good example is sending birthday greetings to people. An email program checks the birthday and the name of the recipient from a list. A message (from a template) is then formulated and sent on the specified date.
19. Email storage and organization: Storing and managing emails you receive is very easy if you use an email program or a good email service. Segregating messages into folders and organizing them properly is just like cleaning your desk and filing your work. However, with email there is no usage of physical space excepting that on your hard disk, of course. Also, any email client or a email website has an inbuilt search utility that hunts out the elusive email in a jiffy.
20. Manageability: Managing Email is Easy. You can manage all your correspondence on screen and so can your contacts. Your mails can be answered, revised, stored, and sent to others, all without reams of paper involved.
21. Email is Easy to Filter: The subject line on an Email makes it easy to prioritize messages. The reader can identify critical correspondence quickly and dealt with it immediately. Unlike regular mail which needs to be opened and reviewed, or voice mail which requires you to either listen to or scan all your messages for those that require immediate attention.