We all know that email is one of the most common platforms for exchanging messages. These days, I do not know anyone — let alone an employee — who doesn’t own an email account. Because of its efficiency, you’ll more likely use email in some capacity no matter what your role is in a company. Writing email professionally is something that you need to learn one way or the other.
If you don’t know how to write an email professionally, don’t worry as you are not alone. Most people don’t know how to write a formal email. Sure, it’s way easier to write casual emails to friends or family, but writing formal email takes more time and practice.
In this article, you will learn how to write a good email that will surely help you in the workplace. Now, let’s get started learning.
What is a formal email?
A formal email is typically sent to someone who’s in authority or someone you don’t know well. Oftentimes, a workplace with a formal environment uses formal emails with their boss and colleagues.
6 Tips When Writing Email Formally
According to a survey, the average employee receives around 80 emails every day. With that amount of mails, it’s easy for an employee to overlook individual messages. Using these tips can help get your emails noticed and acted upon.
1. Write a meaningful subject line
Before hitting the “send” button, take a few minutes to think of a subject line that accurately represents the content of your message. Remember that your message is not the only one on the recipient’s box. A meaningful subject line will help a busy recipient decide whether to open the email immediately.
Here’s an example of a formal subject line:
Subject: Required Marketing Team Meeting: October 12, 3:00 PM
Compare that with this vague and informal subject line:
Subject: Upcoming meeting tomorrow
It is also worth noting not to brashly announce that the contents of your message are inexplicably important:
Subject: Important! Read Immediately!!
2. Keep message clear and focused
Just like traditional business letters, emails need to be clear and concise. Keep your sentence short but straight to the point. When writing emails, always ask yourself the purpose of your email. Are you apologizing for an error on your part? Or are you responding to a request?
Keep your email organized. It’s human nature for readers to only get partway through a complex message. They will hit the “send” button as soon as they have something to contribute and forget to read the rest of the email. It also helps to split unrelated points into separate emails. This will determine whether any part of the email applies to them.
3. Identify yourself clearly when writing emails
When talking to someone outside your circle over the telephone, you would probably say something like, “Hello, this is Mr. Murphy.” But it’s not the same for routine workplace communication. When writing an email to your colleagues, you don’t usually use a formal salutation such as “Dear Ms. Gates.” That’s why you have to ask yourself whether the recipient knows you well enough to recognize your email address.
As much as possible, use an email address that is recognizable enough for your recipient. The standard when devising a professional email address is to create them using the most common format:
First name initial + surname + domain ([email protected])
For the signature, make sure to keep the tone formal. Use your first and last name. And if you’re writing on behalf of the organization and you know the title of the recipient, feel free to use it.
4. Always be kind when writing emails
Before sending it, you should be aware of the tone of your email. If you know to yourself that you’re writing in anger, go save a draft, and get a cup of coffee. Imagine someone reading your email the next day. Would your friends and associates be shocked by your attitude?
Of course. Instead, wouldn’t it be better to show them how you kept you cool and how you carefully explained your position — whether it’s an error on your part or theirs. At the end of the day, you wouldn’t want to work with someone for several months with whom you had bad blood. Would you?
5. Review your email
Now that you’ve written and formatted your email, you’re almost ready to send your message. As an email writer, you have to review your email carefully. Look for grammatical and spelling errors, typos, and mistakes in a name.
Always remember that a slapdash email leaves a bad impression.
6. Respond promptly.
When writing emails, you wouldn’t want to wait in vain only to end up without receiving any reply in the end. This goes the same way around. When you’re the recipient, make yourself available to your online correspondents. Even if your reply is, “Sorry, I’m too busy to respond to your favor right now,” at least it’s better than receiving no reply at all.
Establishing Email Etiquette in the Workplace
For managers and HR employees, it is necessary that you highlight the importance of respect when writing emails. Not everyone in the team has much experience writing formal emails, so be sure to educate and teach them the proper way of writing an email professionally. By using the above tips, they’ll be composing effective emails in no time.