Email writing is an important aspect of business communication regardless of your profession and position. Grammar errors, spelling mistakes, incorrect names, lack of proper greetings and poor writing are common problems for many people due to the lack of care into email writing. So here are 6 tips to improve your email writing to ensure you make the best impression and email etiquette.
1. Avoid oversharing details by email
It’s important to avoid sharing personal or sensitive information in an email. It would be better to deliver important news in person to communicate with better understanding, compassion and empathy. Moreover, to make changes if your message has been misunderstood the wrong way.Â
2. Utilising good subject lines
Subject lines are meant to summarise the email so the receiver can decide whether it’s important to read it now or later. Some of the important things that you should consider such as:
- using dates when it comes to sending daily or weekly reports, for example: “June 27th inventory update attached”
- using a call to action if it requires an immediate response, for example: “Meeting tomorrow afternoon. Please reply before 6 PM.”
- avoid leaving blank subject lines as usually will be seen as “spam”.
3. Keep your message in a polite tone
If you are on good terms with the people you interact with, try to avoid using informal language, slang, jargon or any inappropriate abbreviations. Using emoticons can be good for clarifying your intent, but only use them only with people you know well. Last but not least, remember to end your message in good terms with “Best Regards, Yours Sincerely or All the Best”.
4. Ensure messages are clear and concise
Keeping your sentences clear, brief, informative and on point is a crucial aspect that many people tend to overlook. If you want to explain more than a single topic, you should consider writing a single email for each matter to ensure your messages are clear while allowing your recipient to respond each at a time. Alternatively, you can combine a few related points into a single email by using numbered paragraphs or bullet points to relay your message.Â
5. Check the tone of your email
The choice of words, capitalization, punctuation, length and sentence can easily be misinterpreted without a proper visual and auditory cues. Consider how your email expresses itself emotionally. If your intentions or emotions could be misunderstood by others, choose a less ambiguous way to rephrase your words.
6. Double-check your writing
Lastly, before you click “send” to your recipient, give yourself a few minutes to double-check your email for any potential grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes. Every email message is essentially a part of your professional image as the job you do, so make a habit to check your messages to ensure it does not contain any weak words and unnecessary typos.Â
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You Jing is a content writer who writes career and lifestyle contents to inspire job seekers and employers alike on their journey to work-life balance, empowerment and transformation in their career path.
Reach me at youjing@jobstore.com