Craft Your Professional Email

Billions of emails are sent every single day. In business communication, email is one of the most important communication tools. We most likely send email applying for a job, communicate with clients, from employees to managers, or from one employee to another.

When it comes to work-related emails, you have to put extra attention to keep you and your email looks professional. From grammar errors to wrong recipients in email can put your job in jeopardy. But there is always room for development, right? Developing your writing skills can help you in writing a professional email.

It is essential to make your email clear and mistake-free. There are such common mistakes that professionals make when sending emails such as:

Errors

We often find these errors in the emails; wrong recipient(s), forget to attach files, and grammatical errors. People may not notice the small errors in your emails. But when your text is riddled with errors, people might be losing trust in you as a sender of the email.

Do this to prevent errors:

• Double-check the recipient and ensure that you’re sending your email to the correct recipient.
• Try to attach the files first before writing the body email.

Painfully long email

35% of business professionals open email via their mobile device. Recipient cannot see the subject and body email on their mobile as clearly as what they see on desktop. People will lose interest in the middle of reading the long paragraph email.

Do this instead:

• Try to keep your email clear, concise, and to the point.
• Also, pay attention to the writings. Do not use all caps, too much bold, underline, and italic.

Level of formality

Professional email requires a certain level of formality. The recipient is typically busy. People tend to write emails in a semi-formal way. Not too formal, yet not too informal. Analyze who you are writing to and try to fit the mold.

Do this instead:

• Be respectful with your tone and keep it positive.
• If it’s a business email, avoid using slang and emojis.

Salutations and closings

Avoid being too informal in writing salutation and closing. Most emails started with “Good morning” or “Hi” with the recipient’s name attached and end it with “I look forward to hearing from you” or as simple as “thank you”. Hmm… does it sound cliche?

Do this instead:

• After the salutation, you can jump right to the topics.
• You can end it with appreciation for the recipient like “Thank you for your help” or you can use call-to-action like “Would you please let me know the answer by tomorrow?”

Signature

Professional email includes a signature with information about the sender. If you’re employed, this signature includes your positions, company, company website, work email address, and mobile phone. If you’re a job seeker, don’t forget to include your LinkedIn page or personal website.

Proofread

Proofread is a must. Even though you’re busy, spare some time to proofread your email before sending it to the recipient.

Avoiding these common mistakes can help you maintain your professionalism in writing an email. You can always learn from the mistakes and improve yourself. Developing yourself takes time, but it is always worth the effort so you can boost your quality in writing skills.

Follow these simple etiquette in writing an email can help your career or business in the future. Good luck on crafting your professional email!

—

References:
https://truelist.co/blog/mobile-email-statistics/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/456500/daily-number-of-e-mails-worldwide/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2022/03/01/10-rules-of-email-etiquette/?sh=5b0658a94a94
https://www.g2.com/articles/professional-email-mistakes