Email can be a wonderful communication tool when its used right. You can pound one out in just a few minutes, convey a meaningful and important message, and reach your audience almost instantly, allowing them to start getting things done.

But it can also be a huge time sink on your own productivity, create huge problems in the office and generally not be the wonder tool so many hope it could be. The smallest, innocent email can cause disaster if you don’t know what you’re doing, so learning how to craft an effective email is important.

Today, we’ll walk through five important aspects you want to make sure you get right when you craft that next email, and what could happen if you don’t.

Step 1: Who’s your audience?