6.2 Emails
Electronic mail, widely known as “email,” is by volume the most popular written communication channel in the history of human civilization. With emails being so cheap and easy to send on desktop and laptop computers, as well as on mobile phones and tablets, a staggering 280 billion emails are sent globally per day (Radicati, 2017)—that’s over a hundred trillion per year. Most are for business purposes because email is such a flexible channel ideal for anything from short, routine information shares, requests, and responses the length of a text, to important formal messages delivering the content that letters and memos used to handle. Its ability to send a message to one person or as many people as you have addresses for, integrate with calendars for scheduling meetings and events, send document attachments, and send automatic replies makes it the most versatile communication channel in the workplace.
This mind-boggling quantity of 3.2 million emails sent per second doesn’t necessarily mean that quality is a non-issue for email, however. Because it has, to some extent, replaced mailed letters for formal correspondence, emails related to important occasions such as applying for and maintaining employment must be impeccably well written. Your email represents you in your physical absence, as well as the company you work for if that’s the case, so it must be both well-written and appropriate.
First, ensure that you really need an email to represent you because emailing merely to avoid speaking in person or calling by phone can do more harm than good. If an email is necessary, however, then it must be good. As people who make decisions about your livelihood, the employers and clients you email can be highly judgmental about the quality of your writing. To them, it’s an indication of your professionalism, attention to detail, education, and even intelligence. The writing quality in a single important email can be the difference between getting hired and getting fired or remaining unemployed.
Let’s say, for instance, that you get an email from a customer and they mention in it that they’ve been shopping around for a company to do a custom job for them. This means they’re emailing other companies with the same inquiry. Let’s say also that your competitors offer similar services at similar prices and are similarly reviewed positively online. With everything else being equal, the quality of the email responses may be the deciding factor. Responding to the customer quickly gives you an advantage because you show them that you can get things done promptly. If your email is also well written in a professional style and error-free in every way due to effective editing and proofreading, you stand a much better chance of getting the job.
Comparing this with another company’s email that came a few days later with multiple writing errors in it, the customer will likely go with the company that wrote the better email. Even though the quality of communication doesn’t necessarily guarantee quality of work in the product or service a company provides, customers will assume a connection. Indeed, the quality of communication can certainly say volumes about work ethic and attention to detail. We must all try to make a similarly strong impression in any situation where the quality of email matters. Activity 6.1 demonstrates a standard email.
Activity 6.1 | Sample Standard Email
Possible Email Structure
Activity 6.2 is a guide you can use to write a standard email.
Activity 6.2 | Email Structure
Tips for Effective Business Emails
If you’re struggling to write an email, err on the side of not wasting the reader’s time. Many readers get hundreds of emails a day. While a reader might sit down to read a letter or a memo, they will usually spend a few seconds scanning an email for relevant information before moving on to the next one. Unless your email is sensitive or you are breaking bad news, it’s nearly always a good idea to state the main point of the email clearly and to clearly tell the audience what you want them to do. For an email, you should tell the reader why you are writing, provide supporting details, then tell the reader what to do.
Here are some tips for sending successful emails:
- Use appropriate salutations: Proper salutations should demonstrate respect and avoid mix-ups in case a message is accidentally sent to the wrong recipient. For example, use a salutation like “Dear Ms. X,” (external) or “Hi, Barry,” or “Dear Barry,” (internal).
- Make subject lines clear: Subject lines should be clear, brief, and specific. This helps the recipient understand the essence of the message. For example, “Proposal attached” or “Your question of 10/25.”
- Be brief: Omit unnecessary words.
- Use a clear format: Include line breaks between sentences or divide your message into brief paragraphs for ease of reading.
- Have one clear purpose: If you find yourself covering more than one topic in your email, you should consider sending multiple emails so that your reader does not miss important information.
- Test links: If you include a link, test it to make sure it works.
- Announce attachments: If you include attachments, don’t forget to mention them in your message.
- Close with a signature: Identify yourself by creating a signature block that automatically contains your name and business contact information. It is becoming increasingly common for businesses to add First Nations Land Acknowledgements to their email signatures. It is important to find out from your organization if they use First Nations Land Acknowledgements and how to accurately include them in your signature.
- Reread, revise, and review: Catch and correct spelling and grammar mistakes before you press “send.” It will take more time and effort to undo the problems caused by a hasty, poorly written email than to get it right the first time.
- Reply promptly: Watch out for an emotional response—never reply in anger—but make a habit of replying to all emails within 24 hours, even if only to say that you will provide the requested information in 48 or 72 hours.
- Use “Reply All” sparingly: Do not send your reply to everyone who received the initial email unless your message absolutely needs to be read by the entire group.
Before hitting the send button, revise and proofread your email. Put yourself in your reader’s position and assess whether you’ve achieved the purpose you set out to achieve in the first place. Evaluate also if you’ve struck the appropriate tone and formality. After revising generally, always proofread an email. In any professional situation, but especially in important ones related to gaining and keeping employment, any typo or error related to spelling, grammar, or punctuation can cost you dearly. A poorly written email is insulting because it effectively says to the recipient: “You weren’t important enough for me to take the time to ensure that this email was properly written.” Worse, poor writing can cause miscommunication if it places the burden of interpretation on the reader to figure out what the writer meant to say if that’s not clear. If the recipient acts on misinterpretations and others base their actions on that action, you can soon find that even small errors can have damaging ripple effects that infuriate everyone involved.
