Emails – they are the backbone of professional communication nowadays. As the Internet gradually took over the world and revolutionised the way we communicate, emails became the pillar of professional communication in the new age. Most of the corporate communication nowadays – whether inter or intra-company affairs – are taken care of through emails.

That is precisely why it is vital that you brush up on the professional email writing skills that help you conduct your business in a better way. Nothing conveys your professionalism and outlook towards your trade better than a crisply written email. You can put through your perspective and convince people sitting in offices across the oceans about why your idea is the best for the company.

Who would not want to know about the secrets of wielding one of the most potent tools of professional communication to suit their needs and ambitions, right?

Here are thus the smartest tricks to help you hone your business email writing skills to perfection, with a few pointers about excellent proofreading after you are done composing the impressive emails.

Who is the email for?
– Learning to define your audience

There may be more than one recipient of your email. In that case, you will need to determine for whom the email primarily is. The simple reason that you need to identify who the audience is. Here is the ultimate breakdown of the various types of recipient fields in a professional email.

1. To: The main recipient of the email, also the person who requires to reply or to take some action based on the contents of the email.
2. Cc: The secondary recipients of the email, also the people who need to be kept in the loop of the information conveyed in the email, but do not require to take action or to reply to the email.
3. Bcc: Those recipients who need to be made aware of only the first email and do not require receiving the replies on the concerned email thread.

Learning whom to put in which field when composing the email is thus key to writing it perfectly. You should always use the Bcc field for the email with great consideration of the entire scenario. The best way to go about this if you wish to avoid adding a Bcc field to the list of recipients of your business email, then try sending a separate email to that person. You should ideally include why you have sent the content of the email to them in a short paragraph when doing so.

What is the agenda of the email?
– Learning to filter purposes

The golden rule of writing emails goes like: there MUST be one and ONLY one agenda of an email. Avoid piling on more than one subject or topic in an email for it results in a lot of confusion and puts you in a questionable position.

Mention the topic of your email in the subject field using clear, unambiguous words. The subject line almost always determines whether the recipient opens your email with a purpose of engaging in serious conversation on the topic or whether he just gives it a cursory glance before setting things in motion. Make sure the subject line is well worded and coordinated with what you want to say in the email.

What should be the opening line?
– Mastering email greetings

The best way to open emails is with a greeting. Greetings rarely go wrong and set the mood for the rest of the email in a nice and polite manner without appearing too pushy. However, the tone of the email largely depends on the recipients. The same goes for greetings as well. Here are a few things to keep in mind when composing the greetings or the opening line of an email.

1. Informal greetings: Hi, (first name)
2. Formal greetings: Hello, Mr./Ms. (last name) – in case you are unsure of whether to put Ms./Mrs./Miss/Mr., use the full names instead
3. Formal greetings to groups: Hello, (team name)

You cannot go wrong if you stick to these basic styles of greeting in a business email. However, depending on the tone of the email and your professional camaraderie, some greetings can be tweaked around to fit your requirements. You can alternatively try seasonal greetings such as “Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. (last name)” and the like for some good opening lines.

What to include in a business email?
– Learning to structure emails

The content of your business email should be streamlined to fit only the information that is directly relevant to the subject of your email. Make sure that you steer clear of meandering about before getting to the point. Here is how you can ideally construct a business email body.

1. First paragraph: State the purpose of writing the email at the very outset. Do not make the readers wait for long before they can understand what the email is about and what they are required to do.
2. Second paragraph: Mention the details of the agenda in this part. If you want to request some files from a certain department or wish your clients to appear for a review session online, then the details of the same should be stated in this paragraph.
3. Third paragraph: You may include the call to action in the last paragraph of the email before you sign it off.

Brevity is one of the best ways to go when composing business emails for it helps to keep up that professional image. However, it is best to go over all the details carefully to convey your message clearly. You will do fine without winning the “shortest email of the year” award, but your job may be at jeopardy if you do not mention the crucial dates for submission of files in the sent email.

What should the formatting be like?
– Picking up smart formatting tricks

Thanks to the Internet, we now have options galore when it comes to formatting our emails. The kids in us would love to go overboard at this opportunity and fill the emails with coloured texts and italicised paragraphs, but business emails do not call for unleashing the Van Gogh in you.

The formatting options can be used to your advantage to convey your message in a better way if you learn to use them correctly. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing the formatting for your business emails.

1. Avoid using ALL CAPS unless you want to convey the recipients that you are yelling at them, or worse still, if you wish for your email to end up in the Spam folder.

Exception: Do use ALL CAPS for the subject line of the emails when sending them to organisations that strip the HTML formatting of the emails (such as the military academies).

1. In order to emphasise some portions of the email, you can try using the bold or italics formatting for your emails. Italics goes really well for sub-headings while bold is a great choice when there is crucial information (such as dates or times of meetings) to be conveyed.
2. Select a font style and size that is easy on the eye. That does not mean that you get to choose Comic Sans for the official emails. Select a formal and easy-to-read font style and size and stick to it for all future communication in that thread.

Formatting tips for emails call for a lengthy discussion indeed, but these were the most important ones to be kept in mind when composing professional emails.

What should be the closing line?
– Mastering suave sign-off techniques

Do not forget to include a sign-off in your business emails. Not including them makes it look like a half-hearted attempt at initiating a conversation, and that does not bode well for your professional outlook. However, over-friendly sign-offs and signatures can really annoy your professional acquaintances, so here is what to remember when composing sign-offs and signatures for business emails.

1. Formal sign-offs: Regards, thanks, best etc. (you can avoid these if you wish to stray a bit from conventions or if the recipient has good camaraderie with you
2. Informal sign-offs: Hope you have a great day, hope this helps, thank you so much, looking forward to hearing from you etc. (avoid ‘hoping’ for a good day in case your email sends negative news or information, for the obvious reason)
3. Worst sign-offs: TY, BRB, nothing at all (never use these unless you want to jeopardise your professional relationship entirely or send of millennial vibes in your business emails)

Finally, include your signature and entire contact information at the end of the emails. Some people come off as too pretentious by sending the emails with a “quote of the day”. Ditch this practice and try smarter quips such as a brief sign-off and your signature – the classic email sign-off.

How to edit and proofread a business email?
– Honing revision tactics

You have composed your email, and you are about to hit the send button. But wait, have you carefully proofread what you just have written? Revising your emails before sending them is a practice we must all bring in to our daily lives little by little or we will be eternally stuck in the cycle of sending out one typo-filled email after the other, resulting in poor or unexpected response rates due to a shabby-looking email with errors.

Try some effective online editing and proofreading tools to take over the task of editing and proofreading. However, you need to be the one, who carefully reviews it before hitting ‘send’ to check for spellings, grammar, formatting and content of the email. Make sure you have done them all correctly before you send out the email.

These seven strategies will help you grasp the purpose and tricks of sending a professional email in style. You can now pack in a lot more punch in those business emails following the seven go-to tips for better writing that speaks volumes about your professional outlook towards your job. It is thus time to impress those recipients with a well worded and crisp email the next time you need to communicate something official, and marvel as it gets the job done way faster and more effectively. Happy writing!

Author bio:

Mia Ryan is an academic consultant who has recently joined Assignment help as a subject matter expert. His work as an SME is to provide students with necessary guidance and support on their assignment.