11.  Don’t Send Attachments Whenever Possible 
There are so many versions of common computer programs and not everybody is literate with computers.  Attachments can be challenging just in getting them open and can spread viruses.  There is also a likelihood the files will become corrupted in transit and be unusable anyway.  Whenever possible, send information in the body of the email.

12.  Don’t Use Special Graphics Or Formatting 
Not all email users have the ability to see what you’ve created.  Using a color for your text other than black can also make your message difficult to read.  There are people who are color blind and colors show differently on different monitors.  Black on white is absolutely the easiest to read.  Graphics can also slow down the sending and receiving process.

13.  Don’t Use Background Color Or Images 
Like graphics and special formatting, while they might make your email look pretty, what it really does is make it more difficult for your readers to read your message.  the ABSOLUTE EASIEST text for people to read is black on white, using upper and lower cases appropriately.

14.  Eliminate What Comes After Your Response 
Unless necessary to your response, delete old messages and signatures from the email you send.  It makes your response cleaner and faster to send and receive.

15.  Check Your Spelling 
Nothing can block an easy read like misspelled words.  Use your spell checker and have a dictionary handy.

16.  Learn Your Grammar 
English teachers probably cringe with emails.  Learn at least the basics so your message flows.

17.  Don’t Send Spam 
Spam is considered to be anything sent that’s unsolicited.  No doubt you’ve been a victim of it.  Don’t become and abuser.

18.  Acknowledge Receipt Of Email 
Return Receipt is not reliable.  Many people choose not to notify the sender.  It can also be an annoyance to the receiver of your message when the Return Receipt window pops up.  Be considerate to your sender and if a response is indicated or seemingly expected, respond.

19.  Be Careful What You Say 
While email feels light, easy, and informal, it’s permanent.  Your email can be printed, circulated, shared, forwarded, ….  Make sure what you write is not something you don’t want made public.

20.  Ignore Chain Mail, Jokes, and Petitions 
Often these are hoaxes.  Even if they’re not, most people don’t like receiving them.  Don’t forward them unless they seem relevant and then be sure it’s relevant to the people you forward to.  If you do choose to forward one of these items, check it out first on Truth or Fiction or  Urban Legends.

21.  Respond Timely 
While immediate response is unrealistic, make a policy to respond to emails within a specific amount of time and let your customers, clients, friends, and family know what that is.  Don’t become a slave to your computer by thinking you have to respond sooner than is comfortable for you.

When somebody sends an email, there’s now an expectation that it be answered almost instantaneously.  We’re moving more and more into instant gratification and this is not good for stress reduction.

As a group, we have also moved away from writing notes and letters so our writing skills are not polished.  People are lazy in their writing of email thinking the informality lets them off the hook when it comes to form, grammar, and spelling.  Not true!  It’s probably more important now than ever to be clear, concise, and precise in our written communication.  Once you hit the send button it’s too late.

2.  Don’t Use All Small Letters 
Similar to all CAPS, our conditioning for reading includes both upper and lower case letters.  Further, it’s bad form to eliminate the capital letters that begin sentences and proper nouns.

3.  Identify Yourself As The Sender 
We’re all getting spammed with unwanted and unsolicited email.  It’s become more and more the practice for people to automatically trash emails when they don’t recognize the sender’s name.  Your email address is not enough.  Not everybody knows you by your email address.

4.  State Your Topic 
Don’t keep your recipient guessing about why you’re sending them mail.  Be concise in your description and ALWAYS fill in the subject line before sending so your receiver has some idea of what your email’s about.  Keep it short, 35 characters.

5.  Use The K.I.SS. Principle — Keep It Simple 
In our hurry up world, people aren’t interested in reading long emails.  Ideally, you want your email to fill no more than one screen. 

6.  Make Longer Emails "Chunky" 
When a longer email is required, break it into separate, shorter paragraphs.  People are daunted by screens full of solid text.  White space makes it easier for people to get through.

7.  Keep Your Body Text Lines Short 
Bearing in mind all the differences there are in the email programs people use, we want to play to the lowest common denominator of your readers.  That just means that you want to be sure your email is easy to read.  It’s hard for people to read very long lines of text so you want to be sure what they see on their computer monitor is short lines.  To that end, make sure you make your body text lines are no longer than 55-60 characters.  That means using hard returns to go to the next line.

8.  Use The BCC Option When Sending A Message To Multiple People 
It’s a matter of having a clean email and of protecting the privacy of the recipients.  If you don’t use the BCC option, all recipients addresses are visible to all the rest and, besides having to scroll through them to get to the message, it makes the addresses available to other recipients for potential spam and unsolicited emails.

9.  Get Rid Of The Trash When Forwarding Emails 
When you forward messages, something we do often, get rid of all that comes before the information you want to pass on.  If you been on the receiving end of an email that’s been forwarded multiple times, you know how annoying it can be to have to scroll through all the garbage.  Don’t make your recipients have to do it.