If you are a working individual, student, or run your own business, you already know the importance of email. You use it daily to get things done. This service is worldwide popular, and the internet has made it possible. You can live at any corner of the globe, and still, use an email with an internet connection to reach out to anyone. In simple terms, it is a way better version of postal mail service, where the sender can send their message across to the receiver in no time. So, skip the postal mail service, and let’s look at what email has in store for us.
Advantages of Email
If business emails come to your mind when thinking of email, then you should look out for the informal ones. The email includes right from formal emails to casual ones. Here are some advantages of email.
1. Quick delivery
Before emails, we had written letters and other such traditional tools that took a lot of our time. With emails, there are immense benefits, revolutionizing the way we communicate. From professional to social relationships, we have experienced drastic changes. We can communicate so much faster than we ever were able to do. It is a very convenient way to send and receive messages. And, the best part, you can do so with just any device and an internet connection.
2. 24×7 Availability
Gone are the days, when external factors had an impact on your communication. You no longer have to wait for a specific day or time to send your messages. You can do so at any time, and you’ll be assured your messages are sent. The same goes for the receiver, they don’t have to be available at any specific location or time to receive the messages anymore. They can check their inbox whenever they want to, and send their replies.
3. Cost-effective
An email is a free tool, so you don’t have to invest in it. All you need are a device and an internet connection, and you can receive and send emails throughout the day. It is especially used by businesses to communicate with their customers. Considering it is one of the most effective as well as the cheapest methods of communication, it is widely used. You can check the best email hosting services to pick the best service for sending emails.
4. Reliability
If you think text messages are not enough to convey your message, then you can use multimedia to explain better. The email allows you to send textual messages along with multimedia, thus making it a reliable method of communication. Along with this, you can manage your inbox well using the amazing features email provides. You can prioritize your emails using filters. Furthermore, you can edit and format your messages here.
5. Environment friendly
The undeniable advantage of using emails is that the use of paper has been reduced. This means there is no need to chop trees to make paper when you can easily send emails. With physical letters, the risk of loss and theft is high, but with email, using stronger passwords, and taking security measures are enough to safeguard the information. No doubt it is an environmentally friendly option.
6. Email advertisements
Companies can make use of email marketing and other similar services to advertise their products and services. There are many services such as Gmail that allows users to target customers on their email inboxes. So, if you are a business owner, you might want to take advantage of such email advertising features to gain more customers.
Disadvantages of Email
Even though the advantages of email outweigh its disadvantages, our discussion won’t be complete until we address them. So, here are some disadvantages of email.
1. Internet-dependent
Sadly, what makes email communication possible can make the service unavailable without it. Without an internet connection, you cannot use email to send and receive messages, which means no communication. It is dependent on the internet, and we still have places on earth where the internet is not available 24×7, making it difficult for them to use it for communication.
2. Waiting time
With email communication, comes the waiting time. Communicating through email is not as simple as sending messages and getting replies. The receiver can respond only when they have access to it. And, the sender has to wait for the receiver to check messages. Moreover, you need to keep checking your emails regularly to stay updated, otherwise, you would end up missing important events. Additionally, with emails, there are possibilities of misunderstanding. Since emails are not capable of expressing emotions, you will have to be careful with the selection of words.
3. Phishing
Phishing is the disadvantage of email that scams the users into believing who they are not with the intention of stealing their information. This is very common, and many users receive such fake links on their email. Email is used as a medium to trick users into visiting malicious sites and provide their sensitive information, which is then used by scammers to cause harm. The scam is designed in such a way that even the experts fail to distinguish them from the original sites. And, they end up giving their valuable information. The worst part is that phishing attacks can be conducted in masses via email.
4. Virus
If you thought phishing was the only threat to using emails, then you should know the list of risks is endless. One such risk is the email virus, which basically attaches itself to the emails and ends up infiltrating and infecting the device. So what happens here is that firstly the virus attaches itself to the emails, and when users download the files or open an attachment, it starts spreading. If the problem is not addressed or left unattended, then over time it evolves and continues to infect more devices through emails. It’s easier for viruses to find victims with emails.
5. Spams
If you use email, by now, you might have already received many unsolicited messages. This is the drawback of email, anyone can send emails in bulk as its cost is very low. Most of the time, companies send these emails and even though some of them consider it spam, they can’t do much about it. Also, not every spam email is sent for commercial purposes, some are sent with the intention of gaining access to the devices, which is unethical. It is better to avoid getting scammed and look out for such emails.
6. Emails can be annoying
All emails are not useful. If you ever used an email service and signed up for something with your email ID, you should’ve noticed numerous emails that are unnecessary, or you don’t like. Even if you can unsubscribe from most of them, some services still send you promotional emails, which you cannot turn off. Gmail already sections your emails so that you can easily notice the most important ones to help you overcome this issue. It is one of the biggest advantages of Gmail.