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Believe it or not, your choice of email client can say a great deal about your business, as well as affect your ability to conduct business.

An email client is the program used to send and receive email messages. There are many options available for users of both Apple and PC products, ranging from simple web-based applications, to full-fledged messaging solutions with contacts and calendaring built in. Common email clients include; Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, Microsoft Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Lotus Notes, Apple Mail, Eudora and others. Popular web-based versions are Google’s Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL.

Choosing the right email client can say a lot about your business, as well as impact your ability to do business. Email is designed to make communication easier by providing a way to correspond and send documents, images, and other attachments between clients and customers. Anything that hinders this basic functionality leads to lost business and poor relationships.

An excellent example of an inappropriate mail client for business is Incredimail. Many proponents claim Incredimail is the “fun and friendly” mail client. Providing HTML based email with emoticons, stationary, backgrounds, embedded images, sounds, animations, and 3D effects Incredimail is easy on the eyes and considered user friendly by many. However, programs like this are a resource disaster and standardization nightmare, utilizing excessive amounts of system memory and processing power, and using proprietary viewing and formatting options.

This causes problems for the email sender and receiver. The receiver gets to attempt to view an HTML, or webpage style, formatted message that only looks correct if they are using Incredimail also. The larger issue with emails like this is, they may not reach the recipient at all. Spam filters are more likely to tag emails like this as a threat, and quarantine or reject the email. When those using Incredimail receive an email from some other program besides Incredimail, this can cause problems also. Standardized emails received by Incredimail do not always open or view properly, or have been seen to be missing data completely. Attachments have been completely discarded with no warning or evidence. This is especially an issue in business. Attachments are the heart of business communications. Microsoft Word Documents and Excel Spreadsheets, Adobe PDFs, Jpegs, Tiffs, and other file formats can be missing entirely, leaving out the most vital part of the email.

In other words, leave the emoticons, stationary, fancy fonts, backgrounds, and extensive formatting for home. Cute emails are good for forwarding spam and chain letters to grandma, but keep business, business. Appropriate and professional correspondence will undoubtedly grow relationships and profits for everyone. Remember, its not only what you say, its what you use to say it with.