The advantages of electronic mail over physical post, and when post still matters

An invoice is ready to send, but the afternoon post has already gone. Print it now and it sits in an envelope until the next collection, while the customer can’t start checking a document they haven’t got.

Email removes that wait. The main advantages of email, or electronic mail, over physical post are faster delivery, lower sending costs, searchable records and easier sharing of documents. It also saves paper, and delivery notifications help you spot sending problems. For everyday correspondence, that makes email the obvious first choice.

The main advantages of email over post

1. Speed. An email can reach its recipient in seconds, with no wait for a collection or a delivery round.

2. Cost. Each message avoids the printing, envelope and postage that a letter needs.

3. Tracking. Sent records and delivery notifications show when a message went and whether a delivery problem was reported.

4. Storage and search. Digital correspondence can be filed and found by name, date, subject or document reference.

5. Attachments and copies. Several documents can travel in one message, with the right colleagues copied in.

6. Less paper. Sending electronically avoids the paper, envelopes and printing that posting needs.

Faster delivery helps work move sooner

Email can put an invoice in a customer’s accounts inbox the moment it’s ready. They can check the amount, ask a question or send it for approval without waiting for the post.

That matters when a missing document is holding something up. If a customer needs a copy statement to reconcile their account, you can email it during the call, and they can find the invoice they’re querying while you both have the details in front of you.

Faster delivery doesn’t guarantee faster payment. It does take the postal journey out of the gap between raising an invoice and the customer having it.

Lower sending costs add up

A posted letter needs paper, printing, an envelope and postage, and someone has to get it ready for collection. All of that repeats with every statement run or batch of letters.

Email avoids those physical costs. It helps most with documents you send regularly, like monthly statements, where the same preparation would otherwise come round every month.

Business email isn’t free: there’s software, storage and administration. The real saving is the materials and handling for each posted item, which for a finance team includes the time spent folding statements and matching them to envelopes.

Tracking helps you investigate missing messages

Email leaves a record of the address used, the time sent and what was attached. If a customer asks for an invoice again, you can check those details before resending. A failure notification may also warn you about a wrong address or another delivery problem.

Be precise about what each status means. A message in your sent folder shows you sent it. A delivery receipt, where supported, confirms it reached a mailbox; it can’t tell you anyone read it. Read receipts depend on the recipient’s software and settings, and they can decline to send one.

For an important contract or notice, decide what proof you need before choosing how to send it.

Digital records are easier to find and share

An email archive lets you search for a supplier’s name, an invoice number or a phrase in the subject line, which helps when a query turns up months after the original exchange.

Say a customer disputes the balance on a statement. With sensibly named documents and a shared correspondence record, the team can pull up the statement and the replies explaining it, even if the person who handled the account is away.

Good filing still matters. A document buried in one person’s inbox is hard for colleagues to find. Shared access, clear naming and agreed retention rules make the record useful to the whole team.

Attachments keep related documents together

An email can carry an invoice and its delivery note in the same message, so the customer has both when checking the charge. That alone cuts down requests for missing paperwork.

It’s also easy to include the people who need to respond. A contract can go to the right colleagues for review without printing a copy each.

Use clear filenames and check the recipients before you send. Where there are several versions of a document, make the current one obvious so everyone is discussing the same thing.

Email cuts paper and printing

Emailing a statement means it doesn’t have to be printed, enclosed and carried, provided the recipient can use the digital copy.

That’s a real reduction in materials. It isn’t the same as email having no environmental impact: devices, networks and storage all use energy. For routine correspondence the immediate change is simple. Fewer documents get printed and posted.

Where physical post still matters

Some customers don’t use email, can’t rely on it or prefer paper records. For them, a printed statement may be the easiest thing to read and act on.

Post also has a place when the recipient needs an original document, a physical enclosure or something returned with a handwritten signature. For formal notices, check the delivery requirements that apply before changing anything.

So the choice is document by document and recipient by recipient. Move everyone to email without checking and the team ends up chasing correspondence customers never open.

Sending email and post from one place

Hybrid mail lets your team send documents digitally and have the postal ones printed, packed and posted for them. Email sits in the same process, with the route set by each recipient’s preference.

With Stratas, invoices, statements and letters go out from your ERP by post, email or both. We handle printing, packing, franking and Royal Mail collection. Tracking references and available delivery confirmations are written back to your system, so staff can check the record when a customer calls.

Incoming post can be scanned, classified and routed into digital workflows too, so the contents reach whoever handles the next step.

Where to start

Look at what your organisation still posts each month: which documents, who receives them and why they’re on paper. Then check how much staff time goes on preparing the post and answering delivery queries.

That shows you which correspondence can move to email, and which postal work could be handed to hybrid mail.