5 Tips How to Write Good Emails

Believe it or not, there really was a time when people worked without email. The medium has so revolutionized the way we communicate in business that life without it is now hard to imagine.

In this article, we look at how to combine basic business writing skills with an awareness of the particular challenges that email presents. Good emails require a mixture of skills: software, time management, language and writing. There are five important things to keep in mind:

1. Plan before you write

Although email is often seen as an instant form of communication, you still need to do some planning, whether you are writing an apology, a marketing message or an invitation to a meeting. Before writing an email, you should:

• Think about your objective and the best way to achieve it;
• Decide whether to reply to a previous email or start a new one;
• Make sure you have all the relevant information and data;
• Aim to use as few words as possible;
• Be sure to answer all questions when replying.

If your email is important, it can be advisable not to send it immediately, but to save it first. Then look at it later and edit it before you send it off.

Before you write your next email, think about whether it would be better to make a phone call instead. Emails are generally better when:

• A written record is needed;
• You have to communicate complex information;
• An immediate response is not necessary;
• You want to communicate the same message to many people.

2. Write for the reader

The style of your email should depend on your relationship with the person to whom you are writing. We all write differently to colleagues, bosses, suppliers, customers, first contacts and so on. We also write differently when marketing and negotiating. Remember in particular that not all business emails are informal, just because most personal ones are.

Remember also to respect your readers’ time; do they really need to receive this email? Also, treat the readers as your customers; be as polite as you would be in face-to-face communication. Do not get into email wars by being over-direct.

3. Be Clear

The best compliment you can pay the reader is to write clearly. This means:

• Using a relevant subject line (for example: “Sales Meeting, Manila 20 September” not just “Meeting”;
• Giving a clear opening, explaining why you are writing;
• Presenting important information in a logical sequence of paragraphs;
• Having a conclusion which states clearly any further action that may be required.

Follow these guidelines to make your emails easy to read:

• Maximum of 70-80 characters per line;
• Maximum of five lines per paragraph;
• Empty line between paragraphs;
• Maximum of 25 lines per email;
• Numbers or bullets to list points.

4. Get the style right

Remember that the style of your email should depend on the person to whom you are writing it. Any communication that you send paints a picture of you and your company. Some people believe that the immediacy of email means that less attention needs to be paid to aspect of spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Remember the reader! If you are writing to someone who will notice and will react negatively, then get it right. And because emails get copied and forwarded, you are never fully in control of who will read your message, so you should try to get it right every time.

You should always use a spellchecker, but that alone is not enough. It’s important to go through your email thoroughly to ensure that it’s error-free.

Email users often use punctuation more liberally than in traditional correspondence, for example multiple exclamation or question marks to highlight points, and lots of dashes. Also, capital letters are often used for emphasis. Whether this is appropriate will depend on your relationship with the person receiving the mail. It is best, however, not to overdo such forms.

5. Think before you send

Have you ever sat at your computer after hitting “send” and wished for all the world that you hadn’t? So now, when you finish an email, you lean back to reflect for a moment. How does it look? How does it read? Does it sound right when you read it aloud? Is it polite? Is the information accurate? Is the spelling and grammar correct? Do you really need to mark it priority? And, last but not least, Do you really need to send this email to this person? If you answered “yes” to all these questions, wait! Have you remembered to attach the file you wanted to send? If not, do so now.

Remember also that there is no such thing as a confidential email. For many reasons – from company policy to hackers and software problems – whatever you write can at some point be read by someone other than the person you want to send it to. Keep this in mind at all times and be careful!