The Art of writing a Complete Business Email

The Art of writing a Complete

Business Email
Do’s and Don’ts

Version 0.1

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Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Why is it important to have a well-drafted Email? 5

General Guidelines 5

Examples 17

Introduction

Millions of us write emails as part of our work but few of us know the keys to
an effective business email. Too many business emails are impersonal,

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longwinded and difficult or tedious to read. Most writers hide behind tired
phrases and an over-formal approach when writing business emails.

One of the most important criteria while drafting an email is keeping the
reader in mind and understanding his needs. A good email should be
effortless reading that makes the reader want to read more. It should be
clear and concise, with short sentences and simple words. It should keep to
the facts and be easy to read and to understand.

Every email should be clear, human, helpful and as friendly as the topic
allows. The best emails have a conversational tone and read as if you were
talking to your reader. In brief then, discover the Seven-Cs of email writing.
You should be

Clear

Concise

Correct

Courteous

Conversational

Convincing

Complete

While drafting an email, you are trying to convince someone to act or react in
a positive way. Your reader will respond quickly only if your meaning is
crystal clear.

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Why is it important to have a well-drafted Email?

A company needs to implement etiquette rules for the following three

reasons:

Professionalism: by using proper email language your company will convey

a professional image.

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Efficiency: emails that get to the point are much more effective than poorly
worded emails.

Protection from liability: employee awareness of email risks will protect

your company from costly lawsuits.

'By requiring employees to use appropriate, businesslike language in all

electronic communications, employers can limit their liability risks and
improve the overall effectiveness of the organization's e-mail and Internet
copy in the process'

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General Guidelines
1. Putting your reader first
For all writers the most important people are their readers. If you keep your
readers in mind when you write, it will help you use the right tone,
appropriate language and include the right amount of detail.

What do readers want from an email? They want relevant information,

presented in a clear, easy-to-understand style. They don't want muddled
thinking, background information they already know, business-speak and
jargon or waffle. Above all, they want to get the gist of your message in one
reading—they don’t want to dig for the meaning through long sentences and
a boring style. So if you always keep your readers in mind, you will have to
adapt your style and content to meet their needs.

Getting a clear picture of your readers before you start to write helps to focus
your writing to get your message across. The better picture you have of your
readers, the better you can direct your writing.

Ask questions to get a clear picture of your readers.

Who are my readers?

What do they already know about the subject?

What do they need to know?

Will they understand technical terms?

What information do they want?

What do I want them to do?

What interests or motivates them?

What prejudices do they have?

What worries or reassures them?

What will persuade them to my view?

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What other arguments do I need to present?

How are they likely to react to what I say?

If you imagine yourself in your reader's position, you're more likely to write a
good email

2. How should I format my email?

You are most likely familiar with the general rules about formatting email but
here are some tips to keep in mind.

Be sure that your email is formatted to wrap your text after about 70
characters. This keeps the email from looking disjointed. When you do not
have a wrap around option for 70-80 characters then your email will mostly
likely look like this:

Dear John,

I am really interested in leasing

your apartment but I need just a little bit more
information. Do you
have
time to meet with me tomorrow afternoon
around three or so?

Usually, settings for character length will be found in the "preferences" option
on the tool bar of your email client. Consult your help menu for more
information.

Here are some additional formatting tips to consider.

Try to keep the email brief (preferably to one page) so that readers do not
have to scroll.

Return emails in the same day that you would a phone call.

Use capitalization and punctuation in the same way that you would in any
other document.

Format your email to be sent in plain text rather than HTML because some
email clients may not read HTML.

Write a salutation or greeting for each new subject email. However, if you
exchange several emails over the same topic (for example, a meeting day
and time) it is not necessary to include a greeting because it is as though you
are carrying on a conversation. When we carry on conversations, we do not
say hello each time we speak.

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Be sure to write an appropriate and specific subject in the subject line so that
the recipient knows what to expect. For example: "April 22 production team
meeting agenda" instead of "meeting."

3. Getting the right tone to your business email

When you write a business email, it’s important to use a tone that is friendly
but efficient. Readers want to know there’s someone at the other end of the
email who is taking notice and showing interest in their concerns. Try to
sound—and be—helpful and friendly.

To do this, write as you would speak and talk on paper. This doesn't mean
you should use slang, bad grammar or poor English, but try to aim for a
conversational style and let the reader hear your voice.

Imagine that your reader is sitting opposite you at your desk or is on the
telephone. You’d be unlikely to say, “please be advised” or “I wish to inform
you”; instead you’d be more informal and say, “I’d like to explain” or “Let me
explain” or use other everyday expressions.

Here are some ways to change your writing style to a conversational style.

(i) Use Contractions

Using contractions such as it's, doesn't, I'm, you're, we're, they're, isn't,
here's, that's, we'll gives a personal and human feel to your writing.

If there are no contractions in your writing, put some in. You don't have to
use contractions at every opportunity. Sometimes writing do not comes
more naturally than don't. When you speak, you probably use a combination
of these styles—try to reflect this in your writing.

(ii) Use Personal References

Use words such as I, we, you, your, my, and our in your writing. Don't be
afraid to identify yourself—it makes writing much more readable. This is a
useful trick to make writing look and sound more like face-to-face talk.

Using I, you and we also help you to avoid using passive verbs. It makes your
style more direct and clear.

So instead of writing:

Our address records have been amended...

write

We’ve changed your address in our records...

Instead of writing:

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The company policy is...

write

Our policy is...

Using active verbs with personal references is a quick and dramatic way to
make your writing readable and more direct.

(iii) Use Direct Questions

Direct questions are an essential part of the spoken language. Using them
gives your writing much more impact and is a common technique in
marketing and advertising material. Marketing people use this technique to
put information across clearly and to give their writing impact.

In much business writing, we hide questions in our writing by using words

such as whether to introduce them. Look for these in your writing and
change them into direct questions. For example:

Original: We would appreciate your advising us whether you want to

continue this account or transfer it.

Redraft: Do you want to continue your account or transfer it?

Original: Please inform us whether payment against these receipts will be

in order.

Redraft: Can we pay against these receipts?

Apart from making your style more conversational, direct questions liven up
your writing—it’s as though you change the pitch in your voice. There’s
nothing like a direct question to get some reaction from your reader and to
give your writing impact

4. Writing a strong close to your business email

If the average business email starts poorly, then it invariably finishes poorly.
Your closing paragraph should bring your email to a polite, businesslike close.
Typical final paragraphs in business emails invite the reader to write again or
use overused and meaningless phrases that detract from the impact of the
email. Take a look at these examples of good closing sentences for business
emails:

I would again apologize for the delay in replying and I trust that this has
clarified the points you have raised, however, if you wish to discuss any
points I have not clarified, or need any further information, you may wish to
telephone or contact me accordingly.

I look forward to hearing from you and in the meantime, should you have any
queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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I regret that I cannot be of more assistance in this matter, and should you
have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Your last paragraph should do something. In a longer email it can summarize

the key points or repeat the key message. If some action is needed, explain
what you want the reader to do or what you will do. Use positive words such
as when not if.

Make sure you avoid using weak phrases and overused business phrases in
your closing paragraph.

Thanking you for your...

Hoping for a prompt reply...

Thanking you in advance for your assistance...

Trusting this answers your questions...

Please do not hesitate to contact me

I trust this clarifies the situation

End your email positively and politely. Don’t leave your reader in mid-air, but
use the final paragraph to explain or repeat what you want your reader to do.

5. Be concise and to the point.

Do not make e-mail longer than it needs to be. Remember that reading e-
mail is harder than reading printed communications and a long e-mail can be
very discouraging to read. Therefore, cut needless words and needless
information.

6. Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions.

An email reply must answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions – If
you do not answer all the questions in the original email, you will receive
further e-mails regarding the unanswered questions, which will not only
waste your time and your recipient’s time but also cause considerable
frustration.

7. Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation.

This is not only important because improper spelling, grammar and
punctuation give a bad impression of your company, it is also important for
conveying the message properly. E-mails with no full stops or commas are
difficult to read and can sometimes even change the meaning of the text.
And, if your program has a spell checking option, why not use it? It is also

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necessary to further proofread the email, as spell check might not catch
words that are spelled correctly, but are misused within the context of the
sentence.

8. Make it personal.
Not only should the e-mail be personally addressed, it should also include
personal i.e. customized content. For this reason auto replies are usually not
very effective. However, templates can be used effectively in this way, see
next tip.

9. Use templates for frequently used responses.

Some questions you get over and over again, such as directions to your office
or how to subscribe to your news email. Save these texts as response
templates and paste these into your message when you need them. You can
save your templates in a Word document, or use pre-formatted emails.

10. Answer swiftly.

People send e-mail because they wish to receive a quick response. Therefore,
e-mail should be replied to within at least 24 hours, and preferably within the
same working day. If the email is complicated, just send an email back saying
that you have received it and that you will get back to them.

11. Do not attach unnecessary files.

By sending large attachments you can annoy customers and even bring down
their e-mail system. Wherever possible try to compress attachments and only
send attachments when they are productive. Moreover, you need to have a
good virus scanner in place since your customers will not be very happy if
you send them documents full of viruses!

Title the document that you are attaching in a way that is easy for the
recipient to find once he or she downloads it to his or her files.
For example, if you are sending a document that is a goal statement then
title it "goalstatement.doc."

12. Use proper structure & layout.

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Since reading from a screen is more difficult than reading from paper, the
structure and lay out is very important for e-mail messages. Use short
paragraphs and blank lines between each paragraph. When making points,
number them or mark each point as separate to keep the overview.

13. Do not overuse the high priority option.

We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf. If you overuse the high
priority option, it will lose its function when you really need it. Moreover, even
if a mail has high priority, your message will come across as slightly
aggressive if you flag it as 'high priority'.

14. Do not write in CAPITALS.

IF YOU WRITE IN CAPITALS IT SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. This can be
highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response in the form of a
flame mail. Therefore, try not to send any email text in capitals.

15. Don't leave out the message thread.

When you reply to an email, you must include the original mail in your reply,
in other words click 'Reply with History' or ‘Reply to all with History’, instead
of 'Reply’. If you receive many emails you obviously cannot remember each
individual email. This means that a 'threadless email' will not provide enough
information and you will have to spend a frustratingly long time to find out
the context of the email in order to deal with it. Leaving the thread might
take a fraction longer in download time, but it will save the recipient much
more time and frustration in looking for the related emails in their inbox!

16. Add disclaimers to your emails.

It is important to add disclaimers to your internal and external mails, since
this can help protect your company from liability. Consider the following
scenario: an employee accidentally forwards a virus to a customer by email.
The customer decides to sue your company for damages. If you add a
disclaimer at the bottom of every external mail, saying that the recipient
must check each email for viruses and that it cannot be held liable for any
transmitted viruses, this will surely be of help to you in court (read more
about email disclaimers). Another example: an employee sues the company
for allowing a racist email to circulate the office. If your company has an
email policy in place and adds an email disclaimer to every mail that states
that employees are expressly required not to make defamatory statements,
you have a good case of proving that the company did everything it could to
prevent offensive emails.

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17. Read the email before you send it.

A lot of people don't bother to read an email before they send it out, as can
be seen from the many spelling and grammar mistakes contained in emails.
Apart from this, reading your email through the eyes of the recipient will help
you send a more effective message and avoid misunderstandings and
inappropriate comments.

18. Do not overuse Reply to All.

Only use Reply to All if you really need your message to be seen by each
person who received the original message.

19. Mailings > use the Bcc: field.

When sending an email mailing, some people place all the email addresses in
the To: field. There are two drawbacks to this practice: (1) the recipient
knows that you have sent the same message to a large number of recipients,
and (2) you are publicizing someone else's email address without their
permission. One way to get round this is to place all addresses in the Bcc:
field. However, the recipient will only see the address from the To: field in
their email, so if this was empty, the To: field will be blank and this might look
like spamming. You could include the mailing list email address in the To:
field.

20. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons.

In business emails, try not to use abbreviations such as BTW (by the way)
and LOL (laugh out loud). The recipient might not be aware of the meanings
of the abbreviations and in business emails these are generally not
appropriate. The same goes for emoticons, such as the smiley :-). If you are
not sure whether your recipient knows what it means, it is better not to use
it.

21. Be careful with formatting.

Remember that when you use formatting in your emails, the sender might
not be able to view formatting, or might see different fonts than you had
intended. When using colors, use a color that is easy to read on the
background.

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22. Take care with rich text and HTML messages.

Be aware that when you send an email in rich text or HTML format, the
sender might only be able to receive plain text emails. If this is the case, the
recipient will receive your message as a .txt attachment. Most email clients
however, including Microsoft Outlook, are able to receive HTML and rich text
messages.

23. Do not forward chain emails.

Do not forward chain emails. We can safely say that all of them are hoaxes.
Just delete the emails as soon as you receive them.

24. Do not request delivery and read receipts.

This will almost always annoy your recipient before he or she has even read
your message. Besides, it usually does not work anyway since the recipient
could have blocked that function, or their software might not support it, so
what is the use of using it? If you want to know whether an email was
received it is better to ask the recipient to let you know if it was received.

25. Do not ask to recall a message.

Biggest chances are that your message has already been delivered and read.
A recall request would look very silly in that case wouldn't it? It is better just
to send an email to say that you have made a mistake. This will look much
more honest than trying to recall a message.

26. Do not copy a message or attachment without permission.

Do not copy a message or attachment belonging to another user without
permission of the originator. If you do not ask permission first, you might be
infringing on copyright laws.

27. Do not use email to discuss confidential information.

Sending an email is like sending a postcard. If you don't want your email to
be displayed on a bulletin board, don't send it. Moreover, never make any

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libelous, sexist or racially discriminating comments in emails, even if they are

meant to be a joke.

28. Use a meaningful subject.

Try to use a subject that is meaningful to the recipient as well as yourself. For
instance, when you send an email to a company requesting information
about a product, it is better to mention the actual name of the product, e.g.
'Product A information' than to just say 'product information' or the
company's name in the subject.

29. Use active voice instead of passive voice.

Try to use the active voice of a verb wherever possible. For instance, 'We will
process your order today', sounds better than 'Your order will be processed
today'. The first sounds more personal, whereas the latter, especially when
used frequently, sounds unnecessarily formal.

30. Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT.

Even more so than the high-priority option, you must at all times try to avoid
these types of words in an email or subject line. Only use this if it is a really,
really urgent or important message.

31. Avoid long sentences.

Try to keep your sentences to a maximum of 15-20 words. Email is meant to
be a quick medium and requires a different kind of writing than emails. Also
take care not to send emails that are too long. If a person receives an email
that looks like a dissertation, chances are that they will not even attempt to
read it!

32. Don't send or forward emails containing libelous,

defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks.
By sending or even just forwarding one libelous, or offensive remark in an
email, you and your company can face court cases resulting in multi-million
dollar penalties.

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33. Don't forward virus hoaxes and chain emails.

If you receive an email message warning you of a new unstoppable virus that
will immediately delete everything from your computer, this is most probably
a hoax. By forwarding hoaxes you use valuable bandwidth and sometimes
virus hoaxes contain viruses themselves, by attaching a so-called file that will
stop the dangerous virus. The same goes for chain emails that promise
incredible riches or ask your help for a charitable cause. Even if the content
seems to be bona fide, the senders are usually not. Since it is impossible to
find out whether a chain email is real or not, the best place for it is the
recycle bin.

34. Keep your language gender neutral.

In this day and age, avoid using sexist language such as: 'The user should
add a signature by configuring his email program'. Apart from using he/she,
you can also use the neutral gender: ''The user should add a signature by
configuring the email program'.

35. Don't reply to spam.

By replying to spam or by unsubscribing, you are confirming that your email
address is 'live'. Confirming this will only generate even more spam.
Therefore, just hit the delete button or use email software to remove spam
automatically.

36. Use cc: field sparingly.

Try not to use the cc: field unless the recipient in the cc: field knows why they
are receiving a copy of the message. Using the cc: field can be confusing
since the recipients might not know who is supposed to act on the message.
Also, when responding to a cc: message, should you include the other
recipient in the cc: field as well? This will depend on the situation. In general,
do not include the person in the cc: field unless you have a particular reason
for wanting this person to see your response. Again, make sure that this
person will know why they are receiving a copy.

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Examples

The basics of good business email writing are easy to learn. Below are a few
phrases that are usually found in any standard business email. By using these
standard phrases, you can give a professional tone to your English business
emails. These phrases are used as a kind of frame and introduction to the
content of business emails.
The Start

Dear Personnel Director,

Dear Sir or Madam (use if you don't know who you are writing to)
Dear Mr., Mrs., Miss or Ms (use if you know who you are writing to, and have
a formal relationship with - VERY IMPORTANT use Ms for women unless
asked to use Mrs. or Miss)
Dear Frank (use if the person is a close business contact or friend)

The Reference

With reference to your advertisement in the Times, your email of 23 rd March,

your phone call today,
Thank you for your email of March 5 th.

The Reason for Writing

I am writing to enquire about

I am writing to apologize for
I am writing to confirm

Requesting

Could you possibly?

I would be grateful if you could

Agreeing to Requests

I would be delighted to

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Giving Bad News

Unfortunately
I am afraid that

Enclosing Documents

I am enclosing
Please find enclosed
Enclosed you will find

Closing Remarks

Thank you for your help. Please contact us again if we can help in any way.
Please contact us again if there are any problems.
Please contact us again if you have any questions.

Reference to Future Contact

I look forward to ...

hearing from you soon.
meeting you next Tuesday or seeing you next Thursday.

The Finish
Yours faithfully, (If you don't know the name of the person you're writing to)
Yours sincerely, (If you know the name of the person you're writing to) Best
wishes,
Best regards, (If the person is a close business contact or friend)

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