Most careers do not require a sharp aptitude for creative writing or the ability to string together words at the level of an award-winning author. There is, however, one writing task that young professionals can and should have a mastery of: email writing. While writing a routine email seems simple, individuals across industries will tell you that they have experienced co-workers who lack effectiveness, or even common etiquette, when sending emails. The guidance below was compiled from professionals across various fields and experience levels, with the goal of providing best practices when it comes to writing emails the right way.
1. Have an effective subject line
With massive email volume comes a need to quickly alert your recipient to what the email is about, as it could determine whether or not they choose to read it now, later, or at all. For example, if the email pertains to a task for a project, ensure the subject line identifies that project and task with some specificity about what your message contains. While specificity is important, a long subject like is certainly something to avoid. With this in mind, don’t be afraid to use dashes, slashes, or abbreviations that you know the recipient will be familiar with.
2. Use appropriate greetings
Not every email requires a greeting line (i.e. quick reply or simple confirmation), but often times you’ll want to start your message with one. Here, keep it simple. “Hi ____,” is oftentimes the best way to start an email because it is simple and neutral. Frankly, co-workers aren’t reading your email for the greeting, so keep it simple and get to the important items. This same principle goes for your ending your email.
3. Write with concision
When hearing from professionals in diverse capacities one theme emerges: don’t write with fluff. Especially when sending an email to someone higher up in your firm, be as concise as possible without sacrificing necessary information. With the many tasks someone may have on their plate at one time, mental bandwidth can be in short supply from hour-to-hour and day-to-day. Use active voice, avoid rambling, and avoid writing a small essay. If your email comes to have multiple paragraphs or merely a large amount of information, consider re-evaluating how to convey the message. In some cases, you may want to write a memo into a word document attached to your email, then include its main points in the email itself.
4. Consider your audience
Is this email going to my manager or someone at my responsibility level? Is this email going to multiple people? Are the contents of my email going to be a top priority for the recipient or are they a less pressing concern? These are the types of questions to ask, but a lot of these considerations will come down to your experience, or lack thereof, with the audience. Audience can influence your content, greeting, tone, and more.
5. Begin with the most important information
Oftentimes an email will have importance levels to its information; some things may just be more pertinent than others. It is crucial to get your most important information, points, or questions across first, followed by whatever is deemed less important. There is no magic formula to deciding this, but a question to ask yourself is: If there is only one thing that this person can understand or answer, what would I choose to be that one thing?
6. Know when an email is appropriate in the first place
Conversations that are meant for phone calls or in person meetings are not meant for an email thread, and vice-versa. Does the email contain complicated details that will likely prompt questions? If so, set up a call. It’s perfectly fine to email about the subject and main points of a discussion when asking to have a verbal discussion. Conversely, some messages are better off sent in some form of a direct message, such as a Skype chat.
7. Don’t allow yourself to make sentence level mistakes
You should never give anybody a reason to question your ability to use correct spelling and grammar. The more someone writes, the more they may be subject to making mistakes. Similarly, the more you read over an email you send, the more likely you will be to catch small errors. While you can’t spend all day reviewing emails, make sure you read it over at least once before hitting send.
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