In the modern day, people exchange emails in business more than letters or phone calls. Whether you’re an employee in an office, self-employed or freelancing, you will be handling multiple emails every day. Learning how to write emails well is a skill not many of us think about but improving your email writing skills really makes a difference!
Many people are unaware of how to effectively write emails. The repercussions of getting email writing wrong as huge: miscommunication, sending out the wrong idea of your business to potential customers, even sounding offensive! These problems can occur due to faulty grammar, too casual a tone or simply not proof-reading your emails before sending them.
So, to get the most out of your emails, here are the best tips for writing emails for better communication.
1. Include a Short, Informative Subject Line
The subject line is important in emails because it lets the recipient know the content of your email. Writing long sentences is to be avoided: rather, just have a few words describing the purpose of your email. Think of it like an abstract, or a summary of your intended point! Whilst leaving the subject line blank might seem mysterious and appealing, in reality it will annoy recipients or worse, look like spam.
2. Keep your Email brief
Get straight to the point in your emails – no one wants to receive a novel! In the present day we are always so pressed for time that reading a lengthy email is liable to send the recipient to sleep – or they might not even read it!
It obviously depends on the content and purpose of your email, and sometimes long emails are unavoidable. But you should try to be as brief and concise as possible. If you are looking for a response from your reader, use questions that can be easily answered with yes or no.
3. Check your tone
Depending on who you are sending the email to, you will have either a casual, conversational tone or a more formal tone. However, gone are the days of letter formality, so unless you are writing a cover letter for a job, most emails fall in the middle of conversational and formal. This means writing in proper English (not using slang like ‘I’m gonna send it to ya’ or ‘Cool’) and not being too familiar with the recipient. You can use tools like Grammarly to check your tone or get a friend to read over the email before you send it.
Limit your use of emoticons, too. Generally speaking, businesses do not send emoticons unless the parties involved are very familiar with each other. Emoticons lower the tone of an email and make it look unprofessional and childish. Imagine receiving an email for a job ending with a smiley face! How could the employer take the potential employee seriously? Don’t do it.
4. Remember your manners
Manners go a long way, and cost nothing more than a few extra seconds of typing. This can be as simple as using words like ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ in your emails. Taking the time to be polite will do you wonders of good, whether you are emailing potential customers and leads, emailing your professor in university, or emailing your team at work.
As the old saying goes – manners cost nothing, but can go a long way!
5. Proofread
With add-ons like Grammarly out there, there is really no excuse for grammatical or spelling errors in emails anymore. Particularly if English is your first language! Always proofread your emails for typographical and grammatical errors. Again, sending an email with errors will make you look unprofessional and lazy, as it’s an easy element to correct!
If you struggle with grammar and conciseness, some other useful tools are Paper Fellows, a community of writers and professionals who will answer your questions, and Word Counter, a tool to help you count the words in an email and keep them concise.
Jenny Han works as a email marketer at Cheap Essay writing services. Jenny writes about latest tech and business trends, she also is an online proofreader.
