Advantages and Disadvantages of Email with Definition

On this page, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of email as well as the definition of an email so that people can get a clear idea about email.

Definition of the email (Electronic Mail)

Electronic mail is popularly known as email where textual messages are sent to the receiver through telecommunication links. Here, computer terminals are, connected together in a network to transfer a message from one to one or one to many. The sender first types the message on a computer screen and then sends it to the receiver.

The respective message is dropped in the receiver’s mailbox and the receiver can read the message and answer if required. Both sending and receiving of email are processed and directed by mail server computers which are connected through a network.

In an email, both the sender and receiver must have an individual account like micle@yahoo.com or micle@hotmail.com or micle@gmail.com, etc. There are various web portals like yahoo, Hotmail, g-mail, etc. to open an email account free of cost.

Multinational and large companies have their own mail servers to provide access to their employees to deal with internal and external business needs.

Email is a store and forward (S&F) Service where it is not necessary for the receiver to be present at the computer. The message resides in the receiver’s mailbox until it is read or deleted. File, data, sound, image, or video clip can also be sent through email as an attachment.

1. Bartol and Martin said: “E-mail is an email system that allows high-speed exchange of written message through the use of computerized text-processing and communication networks.”

2.Newstron and Davis: “Electronic mail is a computer-based communication system.”

3.Bellriegel, Slocum, and Woodman: “Electronic mail is a computer based system that enables individuals to exchange and store messages with their computers.”

So, we can say that sending written messages from one computer to another through the net is known as email.

Advantages and disadvantages of email are given below:

Advantages of email

The advantages of an email system may be stated as under:

Email is cheap
E-mails turn out to be a cheaper alternative to telephone conversation because it is a person-to-person communication system. It offers a low cost.

Email is fast
It eliminates the time spent establishing telephone calls. It is faster compared to traditional mail.

Failure notification
For some reason, if your email can not be sent to the receiver a failure notification sends to you so that you can understand that your mail is not sent.

Attachment
One of the most important advantages of email is an attachment facility. Email gives you a facility of attachment so that you can attach anything like a picture, audio file, video file, document file, PDF, etc.

Product advertisement
Nowadays email is the most popular way of product advertising because it gives you an opportunity to send an email to thousand even millions of your clients at very little time with very little effort and this kind of email marketing is very less expensive.

Paperless communication
Communication through email is paperless communication. So, email saves our environment because traditional communication needs paper, and paper is produced from a tree. So, we should increase the use of email to save our environment.

No chance of missing
In other traditional communication we can miss some messages like in phone calls sometimes we can attend the call or we may miss some word for network problems. In the case of physical mail, it may lose or destroy for any reason but in the case of email, there is no chance of missing or destroyed.

No time barrier to sending email
Email can be used nonstop 247 it is not like another traditional communication process. So, you can send an email at any time as your demand.

Auto-response
Email can provide an auto-response when it receives an email from any person so, it ensures the sender that the email is sent successfully. Most people give their basic information with this confirmation message.

Remained address
The email automatically remained the email address of both receiving and sending so, there is no hazel to mind email address.

Record
Email carries a record or evidence all the time because if you don’t delete mail from your mailbox mail is never destroyed. So, if you need this next time you may see it anytime anywhere.

Communication without a physical presence
It permits communication between two parts without the parties actually being present simultaneously

Privacy is maintained
Privacy of communication is ensured because the mail is delivered to the video in an individual’s mailbox which can be opened by the intended recipients only.

Reduction in consumption of papers
It reduces the consumption of paper in the office because internal memos and reports can be exchanged electronically without using paper.

Increase inefficiency
It offers increased access to the employees. So it can increase the efficiency and the goodwill of the office.

World Access
An email has no country barrier, someone can send an email everywhere in the world. It can be sent to any network in the world. It can be sent through a Local Area Network (LAN) or a worldwide network.

Easy to Operate
Communication through email is easy. When any messages -comes, the recipient can read the messages first, and then he decides how to respond. If the recipient likes to respond he can do so or if he thinks not to respond to the messages, he can just delete them. The message can be saved and a printout of the message can also be taken.

Flexibility
It provides flexibility. A message can be sent to more than one person at a time.

More Convenient
Email is more convenient than any other mode of communication. The sender can send multiple copies of an email message.

Storage
Most people now use email as safe storage for their important documents or data. For example, most people scan their important document like academic document, passport CV, photo, and many more official document and attach them to an email so that, they can find them anytime anywhere. This is one of the most important advantages of email.

Disadvantages of the email (Electronic Mail)

We know email is a recognized method of communication, but face the disadvantages below:

Absence of privacy
There is a chance of leakage of information through email if a mail server is hacked.

Lost password
You may lose or forget your email login password. Though there is an option to recover a password that also needs another email address. And the last option is a security question that also should be reminded. Suppose if you lose both password and security questions it is very difficult to recover your email address though it is vastly important to you.

Virus
An email may carry the virus to you. So, all the time you should care about it. It is one of the greatest disadvantages of email.

No alert
Email does not give any alert like phone or mobile so, sometimes we can be late to see the important message.

Overlooking of message
Busy people may not give attention or may overlook any message due to receiving thousands of emails every day.

Lack of personal touch
It cannot convey an emotion or personal touch the way a face-to-face conversation or even a phone call can.

Missing Non-verbal communication
Body movement or facial expressions are not involved in email. So, the quick attention of the receiver is not possible here.

Change of sudden rumor
Email can spread rumors suddenly as it requires a click only to send a bad message to thousand receivers.

Unwanted email
Email can spread mail containing a virus or spam content which can damage computer systems totally.

Related Content of Electronic Communication:

• What is a Voice-Mail
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Telephone
• Advantages and Disadvantages of the Internet
• Uses of Mobile in Business Communication
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Fax with Fax Definition
• Information and Communication Technology