Email (also e-mail) communication is the most used written communication in the business world today. Billions of emails are sent worldwide each day whereas writing letters for business purposes is becoming less day by day.
Emails are fast
Email communication is faster, clearer, paperless and most importantly emails documents your communication. So, emails help you track your conversation with other people.
At work, there are different types of emails you have to write to different people from different backgrounds. Your emails to your co-workers can be semi-formal, but the emails you write to your clients, boss, line manager, vendors, subcontractors and other professionals need to be formal and professional.
Writing good emails is important to everyone
Most of the time, it is from your emails your co-workers, clients and other professionals get to know how professional you are while they can show how good you are at what you do as well. As the saying goes ‘the first impression is the best impression’ your emails are often one of the most important ways to impress who you are working with as well as your prospective clients. They get to know you through your emails quite often. So, here are ten tips to write professional emails.
1. Write good subject lines
A subject line of an email is like a newspaper headline. It is the first thing your recipient sees when he or she is checking the email inbox. So, the recipient must be able to understand the main idea or the purpose of your email just by reading your subject line. Often, if your email has a good subject line, the recipient will read it and act on it first out of the many emails he or she has received. Emails with bad subject lines always remail unread in most of the inboxes, because everyone is burned with a lot of work at the workplace.
2. How to write a good subject line?
- be specific
- be to the point
- the subject line be short but informative
- use sentence case, not all caps
When you are replying to an email you need to change the subject line of the email as the topic changes.
3. Greetings or salutations in an email is important
It is important to include a proper greeting at the beginning of your email. Greetings that you can use in your emails at work can either be semi-formal or formal. Semi-formal greetings are good for internal emails whereas you need to include formal greetings others.
Some of the proper greetings that you can use in business emails
- Dear Mr. / Mrs. / Ms. / Miss/ Dr. (Do not use the first name, but the surname)
- Dear Sir/ Madam
- To Whom It May Concern (if you are writing to a company and you do not know to whom you need to address it)
4. The opening line of the email
Mention why you are writing this email in the opening line. Because people do not have time to read stories with a lot of work in their hand. They just want to know what you want. So, tell that in your first sentence.
5. Be Brief
Keep the body of your email short, but informative. Tell the recipient what you want and mention if there is any action you want him or her to take. If you have more than three short paragraphs, send the rest of the details as an attachment.
6. Be Polite.
You need to be careful with your tone and the way you write. Do not forget to say ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and mean it.
7. Do not write about many things
You need to avoid confusing your recipient. So, do not write about many things or make several requests in the same email. Because the recipient might not act on it if you have asked a lot in the same email.
8. List of things you need to avoid in business emails
- Jokes
- Emojis/ emoticons
- Emotional comments
- A text message or chat language (plz, ROFL, btw… )
- Multi-coloured fonts
- Sentences in all caps (SEND ME THE REPORT BY TODAY EVENING)
9. Have a professional closing
In the business world, ending an email as perfectly as organizing the body of the email is quite important.
Some of the closing you can use
- Best regards,
- Sincerely,
- Yours sincerely,
- Yours faithfully,
Do not forget the comma (,)!
10. Check and check again before you send
Double-check what you have written before you hit the send button. Because, typing errors, grammar mistakes, an unsuitable tone, poor vocabulary, etc make you look unprofessional in the business world.