Disclaimer: The information shared in this article is based on the experiences of my professional life and should not be considered as the all and only knowledge about the underlying subject. However, it can be relied upon to be a source good enough to develop your base on the same.
Have you ever wondered whether the emails you are writing to your recipients are communicating your intentions and messages effectively? A well-composed email with just as much information as necessary and grammatically correct content can really boost your chances of being perceived as a very influential personality, which in turn can help you in establishing yourself as a valuable person. But most of the corporate workforce these days don’t consider email as a mean to strengthen your personality and make people listen to you, for them, it is just another mode of communication.
The email sender can take liberty while writing an informal email to some friend or family relative, nonetheless, are they allowed to exploit this liberty while writing a formal email which is addressed to some higher official, to your colleague, to an administration and many more. Not only does this sound very unprofessional but it also projects you as a very ignorant person, who just has this tendency of being careless, breaking the rules and hence puts a bad first impression on a person who might be receiving their mail for the first time.
So, it is imperative to be very careful while writing a formal email. Over the years of my short professional life, I have managed to compile some information about email writing. I don’t claim it to be all the knowledge that you need for writing a perfect email, however the information included will definitely help you to write effective emails and project yourself as a professional person.
Things to take care of while SENDING a formal email.
1. Who are to be included in the ‘recipients’ list of the email? – Those who are directly responsible for handling the subject matter should be included in the ‘To’ section, whereas the recipients who don't need to take any action on the subject matter but are required to be aware of the whole situation under discussion should be included in the ‘Cc’ section of the email. Refrain from using ‘Bcc’ option in a formal email because this option violates the transparency principle of the formal emails. So, don’t use Bcc except for under exceptional circumstances.
2. Can ‘Subject Line’ be left blank? – Technically, ‘Yes’. However, leaving the subject line blank is considered an extremely bad practice. Putting an effective subject line will decide if the recipient will read your email thoroughly or completely ignore it. An email without a subject line is most likely to be lost in the other emails or spams, or worse, it can make the recipient irritated. So never ever leave the subject line blank.
3. What to mention in a ‘Subject Line’? – The subject line should be written such that it clearly communicates the context of the email to its recipient just by reading that single line and hence is required to go through the complete email only if he/she wishes to go through the details. Every keyword of the subject line should be capitalized, however never ever put a subject line in ‘all caps’, this may appear intimidating to the recipient.
4. Rules and Conventions about Salutation. – This part of the email tells about the way to address your recipient. The two words that are most commonly used in this section are – ‘Hi’ and ‘Dear’. Use of Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs., first name, team etc. You can choose to avoid title before the name. For ‘Mrs./Ms.’ while addressing a female recipient if you are not aware of her marital status, then ‘Ms.’ title can be used and ‘Mrs.’ must be used if the recipient is married. While writing one’s name in salutation always capitalize the name, not doing so may project you as arrogant and disrespectful. For addressing a team, simply use ‘Hi Team’ or ‘Dear Team’. Don't forget to put a comma after the salutation which is another technicality of the email writing.
5. Message body – This can be divided into three parts. The first part gives an introduction to the subject. The middle part should include detailed information about the subject. And the last part of the message should be conclusive and if required should include any expectations from the recipient too. Do include a sentence, in the end, asking the recipient if he/she has any concern regarding the subject.
6. Signature – A signature is another important part of an email. A signature is something that helps the recipients identify you and your designation and the modes of communication with you. So, a signature must include at least the following fields: Your name, your designation, your department or project, your contact details like extension number, your alternate email id, your official contact number etc.
Things to take care of while REPLYING to an email.
1. Timely reply. – Reply to an email if you are addressed directly, i.e. your email id is in the ‘To’ section of the email. And the reply should be sent in due course of time. The respond will eventually lose its significance if it is sent after time, or worse, it can cost your job.
2. If you are in the ‘Cc’ section of the email – You can reply to such emails if you are involved in the concerned subject. Example: if you are involved in some project as a software developer and the managers are discussing the project, you can reply if you find something is being discussed about your piece of the task. You can also reply if the person who is directly addressed is not available to answer.
3. Use ‘Reply All’ option carefully – This is one such pitfall you can fall into quite easily. Don’t do ‘reply all’ unless it is very necessary or unless it is concerned with all the recipients.
Above mentioned were some of the technical details regarding emails. Following are some of the best practices that should be observed to make your email effective and convey your message in the same tone you want to send it in.
1. Try to be objective. Avoid using ‘I’ wherever possible. This might make your email sound like arrogant. For example: if you want to mention about some task that has been completed by you. You can write – ‘The task has been completed’ instead of writing - ‘I have completed the task’. The same should be considered by replying on behalf of team. This will sound politer and more modest.
2. Never ever reply to an email in the heat of the moment. Instead of retaliating back and venting out all your frustration in reply, take your time and reply when you are thinking sensibly and rationally. Never ever lose your calm while replying to an email, this might go against you.
3. Be firm yet polite while making a statement.
4. Although avoid being hypercritical, however, don’t refrain from bringing one’s shortcomings in light politely and without exaggeration, wherever necessary.
5. Add the recipients’ address in the last to avoid sending email accidentally.
6. And the last but not the least, always proofread your email before hitting the send button. This certainly will save you from a lot of embarrassment due to some silly mistakes you might have made in the email content.
These are some of the trivial details about writing an effective email, however, there are many more which has not yet been added in the list above. The same will be shared soon in a compiled format in another article.
The readers are free to do a critical analysis of the article above.
Happy reading!!!
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