Tips to Write a Business Email

Have you ever tried to find out how much time in a day you spend writing, replying to, and second-guessing emails?

According to research, human beings tend to send 332 billion emails every day. Another research demonstrates that workers in the US spend an average of 2-3 hours a day checking their work emails and an additional 2 hours on personal emails. In other countries, like Australia and India, the trend is similar. With the increase in remote and hybrid workplaces, this frequency – along with email exhaustion, fatigue, burnout, and job dissatisfaction – is growing hugely. Now, what can you do to get a couple of hours back?

If you desire to spend less time worrying before hitting ‘send,’ you need to excel at crafting an exceptional message. As a matter of fact, honing this skill will help you more than save you precious time. It will enable you to enhance your reputation as a thoughtful business person, convey your ideas clearly, increase your influence, avoid trivial back-and-forth, and truly get things done.

You can always ask professional stalwarts of reputed letter-writing services like MyAssignmentHelp to >write a business email for you. You can also keep on reading this post diligently. Here, we will go over the best tips and techniques to create the perfect business email that captivates the reader’s attention and helps them take action, irrespective of whom you’re emailing.

Let’s get started!

• Incorporate a Subject Line with Key Words

Before diving deep into crafting a business email, always incorporate a remarkable subject line. This is especially crucial if you are reaching out to a new contact, who may presume an email marked ‘no subject’ is spam and delete it without even opening it. Ensure that your subject line succinctly references your email‘s key point, like’ Inquiry about internship openings.’ Use keywords in the subject line if the recipient needs to search for the email later to follow up.

• Address the Recipient in a Proper Way

According to the report “Email and Document Usage Benchmark,” 91% of employees communicate with their clients through email, and 61% prefer it to any other communication method. Hence, it’s a safe bet that you will need to send countless emails over the course of your professional life. Hence, it is crucial to learn how to address your recipient properly while crafting a professional email.

The most outstanding way to address a professional email recipient is “Dear,” followed by either their first name or their last name, along with a suitable honorific. If you are unsure which honorifics to use, stick with their first or last name.

You can start the letter with ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello,’ followed by the recipient’s name. Generally, this is for individuals with whom you already have a relationship, like a manager or a colleague.

• State the Purpose

If you are beginning the email communication, it may be impossible to incorporate a line of thanks. Rather, try to start by stating your purpose. Like, “I am crafting this mail to enquire about…”  or “I am writing in reference to….”

Make your intention clear early on in the mail and then shift it into the main text. Remember, people want to review your emails quickly, so keep your sentences short and crisp. You will also need to pay close attention to spelling, grammar, and punctuation to offer a professional image of yourself and your organization.

• Professionalism is the Key

In a similar vein, make sure to write your email professionals in style. Ensure you’re not using any capitalization or exclamation points excessively. Know you’re not texting.

Avoid using any kind of smiley faces and other emoticons, unless you have established this kind of rapport with the individual on the other hand.

• Keep it Focused

A business email should cover one topic. It could be a question, a request, an answer, or an explanation. Irrespective of what it is, the letter’s body should focus on this topic.

Write your email concisely, but don’t leave out any kind of key information. Know ‘concise’ implies ‘only as long as it needs to be.”

• Avoid Rambling

This is a business email, not a handwritten letter. You do not need to include volumes of information. You will simply need to get your basic points across. For every element that you write, ask yourself if it truly needs to be there. This is because individuals don’t have the time to read everything in every email they receive.

• Utilize White Space

Do you know white space, or the areas without text, tend to improve readability? To accomplish a visually appealing mail, begin by using shorter paragraphs with white space between them.

People tend to skim emails for the crucial points, and long sentences or paragraphs make this challenging. We suggest incorporating a maximum of 4-5 lines per paragraph, with the most significant information being in the first paragraph. You should also –

1. Separate your email greeting and the start of your message with a return.
2. Left-align the professional mail, and avoid indenting your paragraphs
3. Refrain from writing a huge block of text. Add breaks whenever you shift to a new topic.
4. Akin to your greeting, separate the end of the message and your email sign-off with a return.

• Format Correctly

The best way to improve your business emails is to utilize the formatting tools available – bullet points, bold, italics, etc. However, ensure to keep your fronts and font sizes consistent. Do not use big words to emphasize a word, as this is common in spam emails.

Always presume that your recipient is receiving tons of other emails throughout the day. Expect them to only look at parts of your message rather than all of it.

An impeccable way to engage your reader is to use bullet points and numbered lists for your most vital points. This makes it incredibly easy for the recipient to go through the email swiftly and digest parts of the information. Bullet points and numbered lists also help in creating white space, which enhances the visual appeal of the email.

• Emoticons is a Big NO

Refrain from using cute little emoticons while writing your professional emails. They are just that – cute. They do not look professional. They do not even make you seem more humble or humorous to your business associates.

While you’re at it, avoid using acronyms as well. Make sure to spell things out, and if essential, include them in brackets after.

• Say Thank You

Towards the end of the email, ensure to thank the person. Whether you’re responding to a colleague who has just provided the data you requested or thanking a company for their time and consideration, this is an important step and an expectation in email correspondence.

• End with a CTA

Finally, remember the individual you’re sending the mail about the central issue of your letter by concluding with a call to action. A simple “Looking forward to hearing from you soon” sets up the expectation that an individual must respond to you. It will also lead to a prompt reply.

Further, if you have a matter requiring immediate attention, you can be even more specific in your call to action. Simply end the email by saying, “I look forward to hearing from you about the day we can meet next week.”

• Add Your Closing Remarks

Before you end the mail, it’s polite to thank your reader once again and include certain polite closing remarks. You can start with “Thank you for your patience and cooperation” or “Thank you for your consideration.” You can also follow up with “If you have queries or concerns, do not hesitate to let me know” and “I look forward to hearing from you.”

• End with a Closing

The final step to writing an incredible business email is to incorporate a suitable closing with your name, “Best regards,” Thank You,” and “Sincerely.” All of these are professional. Refrain from using closings like “Best wishes” or “Cheers” unless you have a cordial relationship with the reader.

Finally, before hitting the send button, make sure to review and spell-check your email one more time to ensure it’s truly remarkable.

• Incorporate a Signature

This section should incorporate your contact information, title, company, or link to pages with additional information about you or your company. All these crucial parameters can add another layer of information for your recipients and create an effective professional email signature.

It’s Time to Hit the Send!

Mastering how to write an effective business email is one of the most critical skills you can master. And, akin to every other skill, it takes a little practice. Investing time to develop better-written communication skills will be worth it in the long term. It will also enable you to save time, prevent miscommunication, and develop remarkable professional relationships.

However, ensure to think through the message, keep it concise and clear, and proofread it diligently. Then, you’re ready to hit that send button!