5. Email pros and cons

Advantages
Disadvantages

Sending an email to someone is very easy, people need little training to learn how to do this

Both you and the person receiving the email must have an email address and access to a computer or device that can access the Internet

Emails are free to send -so long as you have an email account and a connection to the Internet.

If you don't know the email address of the other person then you can't send them a message

Emails are usually received fairly quickly, most of the time a couple of seconds after they are sent

Some people change their email addresses fairly often as they switch ISPs or jobs

People don't have to be present to receive the email

Spam is a big problem, up to two-thirds of emails sent are spam

Emails can be sent any time of the day or night, 365 days a year

People can waste company time at work by sending emails to friends instead of working

Files and images can be attached to an email

When you are on holiday, your email box can become full and extra messages might not get stored

Multiple copies of a message can be sent to a group of people

You may have to wait a long time to get a reply.

A carbon copy of an email can be sent to other people

Email attachments can contain viruses

You can request proof of receipt or proof of the email being opened

Some companies won't allow email attachments to be received

Messages can be prepared in advance and saved until you are ready to send them.

There are a lot of email scams and it is easy to get fooled by them

Messages can be encrypted making it possible to send confidential information

There is no guarantee that the email came from the legitimate sender. Email addresses can be spoofed.

Electronic signatures can be used to authenticate the sender

 

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Click on this link: Pros and cons of email