Emails have been a great part of our work routine since the 1980s. People use it to communicate and send documents for official purposes. In organizations, it is the most conventional mode for both internal and external communication. Management can use emails to allocate tasks, apprise departments about updated policies, send appreciation, or even relay warnings. Moreover, in marketing, email campaigns are used by businesses to engage audiences, build relationships, and get leads. Thus, it is extremely important to learn about email etiquette to ensure proper communication of messages, leaving no room for misinterpretation, and getting better response rate.
Since we have been using emails for decades, you might think that we might have mastered the art already. Well, recent research suggests otherwise. Fundera, a growing lending platform, conducted a survey in which it found that some people, especially, younger generations feel anxious while writing emails. They spend a lot of time composing emails worrying about whether they got the tone right. Dan Schawbel, who is the workplace expert, found that young people are also sometimes too casual while writing emails, treating their office communication as if they are speaking to a friend.
To get your language, tone, and message correct, you need to know a few email etiquette tips. Let us explore that further in this blog.
1. Make Your Subject Line Professional and Clear
As it is often said “first impression is the last impression,” the same is true while writing emails. One of the first things a reader notices about your email is your subject line. It helps the reader get the gist of your email’s content, prioritize them, and set expectations. As far as email marketing is concerned, the subject line is key to grabbing the reader’s attention. Therefore, it is crucial to make your subject line concise, clear, and professional.
Subject lines should not mislead the readers and clearly explain what the email is all about. An email with eye-catchy and clear subject lines is also easy to search in the inbox later on. A professional subject line helps your email stand out in the sea of emails and get readers’ attention.
2. Compose Your Email Before Writing the Subject Line and Recipient’s Address
The content of your email copy is the most important aspect of email etiquette rules. Therefore, it is a good practice to first compose your email before writing the subject line and recipient’s address. This will prevent the possibility of accidentally hitting out the send button before the email is written and revised. Once you craft your email, you can then decide what subject line you should use and who should be included in the “cc” field. If you send emails that are not ready to be sent, your reputation can be hurt in the organization and your relationships with the client might be soured.
3. Revise Your Email’s Content
An email is a professional way of communication, and thus, it should be without any errors. Ensure that you have proofread your content and identified as well as corrected any emails. Make sure that the tone of the email is perfect and there are no slang or informal words anywhere. It is also important to verify the structure of the sentences, punctuation, spellings, and overall clarity. It is advisable to make your emails crisp and straight away get to the point without beating about the bush. Avoid making your tone too promotional even if you are writing for your customers. It is important to know that if you are writing emails to clients or customers, even a minor mistake can hurt your credibility.
4. Spell Out Terms
Clarity is everything in email and using too many unfamiliar acronyms dent your clarity. Readers with time constraints wouldn’t look too much into it, leading to less response rate. Spelling out terms correctly instead of using acronyms is good email etiquette. Even if you are using abbreviations related to your industry, you must use them in a limited way. While introducing any new terms, you must offer some explanation about it to get the reader familiar with it. It is important to look at your email from the reader’s perspective and consider whether your language is clear or confusing.
5. Take a Closer Look at Your Recipient’s Email Address
Sending an email to “Alex” in the sales department instead of “Alex” in the accounts department is a common mistake. There are times when the name in the email address is the same, but the domain is different depending on the organization and department. Pay close attention to the recipient’s name and address before sending the email. Otherwise, you might end up sharing confidential details with the wrong client or employee leading to vast implications.
6. Check Your CC Well
The CC field is an important field in an email that is used to include people who should see the email but they are not the primary recipients. For example, you can include HR in the CC while applying for leave but the email should address your manager. Refrain from including any person in the email for the sake of it. This is because emails might contain a few details or documents that are meant to be confidential.
Only the concerned persons should have access to those details. It is also important to not forget anyone in your CC. For example, you might forget to include a team member while writing an appreciation email. But, this might hurt the confidence of that team member affecting his performance in the organization. It is important to respect all concerned parties while writing an email and include them in the cc.
7. Reply to Your Emails
Email etiquette is not only limited to composing an email but also replying to them. Often, you might see your emails getting overcrowded with hundreds if not thousands of emails. Forget replying; it becomes difficult to sift through them. Nevertheless, replying to the email is a good etiquette that cannot be ignored. If you are running a business, then it is especially not a good practice to continuously ignore emails. You might miss out on a few opportunities or offers that prove can be game changers. You can at the very least acknowledge the sender and tell them that you would get back to them soon.
8. Learn How to Reply to Your Emails
Learning how to respond to emails is also critical for effective email communication. Firstly, basic etiquette suggests that you should typically respond to emails within 24 hours of receiving it. However, depending on the priority, you can choose to reply before that. If you take longer than 24 hours, then you should include an apology in your response. Ensure that your response is polite, professional, and clear. Include a general greeting to start off on a good note. Then, address all the points mentioned in the email. If the email had both concerns and questions, respond to both in separate paragraphs to increase the clarity of your emails.
Even if the sender is aggressive, you can try to calm things down with a calm and clear response. If you can respond to the sender’s worries on your own, you can do so using a professional tone. However, if the matter is beyond you, feel free to ask the sender to contact your seniors or other department. If the content of the email is not clear to you, you can ask for more clarification. You might be surprised how many times a good reply can help deescalate the situation and win the client back. Furthermore, there is no need to “reply all” if you feel not all people in the “cc” need to know your response. At the end, don’t forget to include closing remarks and a signature in your replies to improve its professional nature.
9. Learn the Art of Formality
Using the terms like “sincerely”, “thank you”, “please”, “dear” “kind regards”, “requesting you” might seem simple and obvious, but it leaves a great impact on the sender. Also make sure you are using appropriate salutation to set the right tone for your email. The salutation must match the relationship you have with the sender. If you are unsure, you can stick to using “Dear” in salutation. It is the most common but also most appropriate in the professional sense especially if you have no idea who the sender is. Also, don’t forget to include “Sir/Ma’am” now and then if you are writing to the higher management. Format terms in the email communicates respect and sets the right tone for communication.
10. Don't forget to Include Attachments
It is necessary to substantiate your message, claims, or results that you include in your emails with relevant attachments. Attachments allow readers to know further about the subject and then get back to you. For example, while sending monthly reports, you can include relevant spreadsheets and docs to give a comprehensive performance overview. While writing to clients, you can include relevant links, brochures, and banners to make an impact. However, if you forget to include these attachments and hit the “Send” button, then impact is not the same. You can obviously use the reply option and then include attachments but they don’t look that professional. An email should be cohesive, clear, and attached with relevant documents that are visible to the reader.
11. Utilize Signature Block
Have you ever noticed that professional senders include a signature block that includes all details about them? It not only validates their authenticity but also adds a more professional look to the email. By including your name, profession, and contact details in your signature block, you allow readers to trust you more. Moreover, if the readers want to communicate further with you, they would know how to reach you.
12. Try to Make Your Emails As Brief as Possible
The most important thing about emails is the intent of the email. If you can make your point in just a few words, then there is no point dragging the email. If you are crafting an email campaign and you need to present a lot of information, you still need to refrain from using lengthy paragraphs. If you can put your point across succinctly, then it will likely leave a much bigger impression than 15-20 bullet points or large paragraphs. Senders are likely to lose interest in reading long emails and even forget half the information later on. Try to use short and straightforward sentences to keep the reader engaged. If you want, you can always follow up on these emails later or ask them to call you for further contact.
13. Avoid Sending Emails on Controversial Topics
One of the basic email etiquette rules for writing emails is avoiding writing on topics that are controversial. For example, if you get an email from a client who is using an offensive tone, try to resolve the situation in meetings instead of forwarding the email to others. Forwarding such emails not only harms your reputation but also escalates the situation to the point of no return. Also, avoid sharing controversial incidents at the workplace over email. Instead, you can take up the matter through in-person meetings with HR. Avoid using any words, sentences, phrases, or tones that are awkward or problematic.
14. Avoid Personal Details in Your Email Copy
Even if you are talking to a close colleague on the email, you can avoid sharing personal details. You and your colleagues might delete the email later on, but don’t forget that it stays in the server. Sharing private and unofficial details on the email might be problematic because somebody else might read it.
15. Use Anchor Tests for Hyperlinks
Sharing long URLs might hamper the appearance of the email. It makes things look messy and disorganized, affecting your mail’s readability. Instead, you can use anchor texts for these links to ensure a clean and organized look for your emails. You can use this saved space for including more texts that are relevant for your email copy.
16. Measure Accessibility
One of the last things you must consider while writing your emails is accessibility. It is often overlooked, but it is quite important for increasing the visibility of emails. For this, you need to make sure that your emails are accessible for all email clients and recipients. Accessibility naturally allows more people to access your email, improving your response rate considerably. You can follow a few easiest tips like using black font color over the rest, refraining from using italic or bold texts, ensuring proper sizing, and standard fonts.
Conclusion
professional and organized. These email etiquette tips can also be used while crafting creative email campaigns for clients. Writing professional and effective emails improves your reputation and builds relationships, which is vital for long-term success in business. For more blogs on emails, check out our website!So, these were the 16 tips you can use while composing your email to make them look more
