How To Write An Effective Business Email

You might have at one point emailed a recruiter or a potential client and never heard from them. You might have thought they didn’t find you experienced enough or thought of it as bad timing when it’s your email that might have been the issue.

You might have always thought of email writing as a basic task that doesn’t require guidelines but there are protocols when it comes to writing an email. A business email is different from writing an email to a friend or family member.

Benefits of writing an effective business email

Writing effective business emails is very important to both business owners and customers. Think of a business without effective communication, chances are such a business won’t grow or lead to failure of the business.

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of writing an effective business email.

Keeps customers informed on new promotions or even the introduction of new products and services.
Builds trust with your customers.
Effective business emails help develop stronger relationships since customers make doing business with you a personal experience.
Encourages helpful feedback from your customers.
Keeps customers coming back for more due to good interaction they have had with your emails
Increases brand awareness since they focus on marketing your brand.
Improves relationships with vendors which translates to better business deals.

Tips for Writing an Effective Business Email

a). Use a professional greeting

When writing a business email, you have to be professional even in the way greet the recipient in the email. A professional greeting helps you make a good impression and establish trust and respect with the recipient.

A greeting in a business email is a way of introducing yourself and a professional greeting shows how professional you are as a person. Your salutation should start with “Dear (Name),” or “Good morning/afternoon/evening (Name).” If you don’t know the name of the recipient, you can you terms like “Human Resource Manager” or “Procurement Officer” depending on the office you are emailing.

Avoid casual greetings like “Hey Patrick”. That type of greeting can portray disrespect and unprofessionalism. This can make the recipient ignore your email.

A professional greeting tells a lot about how professional you are as an individual which can trigger the recipient to read the content in your email. This brings them closer to replying to your email. Note that this is a very important step in writing an effective business email since it can either turn off the recipient or make them want to read your email.

b). Write a concise, clear subject line

A concise and clear subject line is one of the most important factors when writing an effective business email. This helps you organize, and prioritize your emails and as an effective way to draw attention to your message and ensure that it’s read.

This is the first thing a recipient will see in an email. This means you need to ensure that it’s clear and communicates the right information. Your subject line needs to be straight to the point. If your recipient is busy, a concise clear subject line can help them quickly scan your email and understand what it’s about.

For example, if your email is about a new product launch, the subject line can be ‘New Product Launch: Details Inside’. If the information in your email is not accurately reflected in the subject line, the recipient may not get an insight to open the email. For example, if the email is about a new product launch but the subject line reads ‘Information on our Services’, the recipient may not open the email.

c). Use proper grammar and punctuation

To ensure your message is effective, you need to use proper grammar and punctuation. In a business email, you want to be taken as a professional, and therefore grammatical and punctuation errors will prevent you from achieving that.

Proper grammar and punctuation will also make sure that your message is understood and correctly interpreted. Grammatically correct email shows that you took your time to think about the message which translates to how much the email means to you and the information in it.

Make use of free tools like Grammarly to ensure your email is grammatically correct and well-punctuated.

d). Use a formal, polite tone

Communicating via email can be difficult since the recipient can’t read your body language or hear the tone of your voice. This means you need to choose your words carefully. A formal polite tone reinforces professionalism.

A formal and polite tone shows that you value your recipient’s opinion and you are willing to work with them professionally. This also gives the impression that you are professional, organized, and respectful. This also shows that you are taking time to communicate in a manner that is appropriate which is very crucial in business interactions.

This additionally can help you develop a good relationship with the recipient which is important for your business or for you if you are applying for a job.

For example, you can make use of words like, “kindly”,” hopefully”, and “If possible”. Avoid using demanding words like “Get back to me” or “Ensure you give me your feedback”.

e). Include contact information

If you are writing a business email, you definitely want the recipient to give you feedback on the same. Therefore adding contact information to your business email establishes a professional relationship between you as the sender and your recipient.

Contact information helps the recipient to respond quickly and effectively. When the recipient has your contact information they can easily contact you without having to go through the long process of writing an email. It also helps create a more organized and efficient communication process.

For instance, if you are emailing a recruiter, ensure you include your active phone number. If you are emailing a client or another business for a business partnership ensure you include your company’s contact information, especially the phone number for the manager (if you are emailing another business/supplier) or customer care (if you are emailing a client).

Avoid giving out a contact that is not reliable or any slow form of communication like social media accounts. However, you can direct them to your business website in case they need more information about your services.

f). Include a call-to-action

A call-to-action simply instructs the recipient to take a desired action. This helps the reader know what you want them to do and helps them clearly understand your reasons for reaching out. This will reduce any confusion or misunderstanding.

It helps increase the likelihood that the recipient will take action. One of the common call-to-action includes “ Looking forward to hearing from you soon”, “Looking forward to your feedback”, or “I look forward to hearing from you on a date we can meet next week.”

This makes your business email more persuasive. It also creates a sense of urgency and importance. Therefore ensure you include a call-to-action in your business email to ensure that the desired is taken quickly and with a sense of urgency.

g). Avoid the Use of All Caps

Using All Caps in writing a business email can damage your professional reputation. Email is mostly used for professional communication and therefore it is important to be aware of the mistakes you make when writing a business email.

Here are some of the reasons why you should not use All Caps:

It’s considered rude
Makes the message hard to read
Damages your reputation
It can annoy the recipient.

However, you can use All Caps only on areas you want to stress or a phrase but not in your entire email.

h). Wrap up the email

People don’t understand how important the final part of an email is. You need to wrap up your email the right way. Your conclusion should leave the reader with a sense of closure and a clear next step.

You can do this by summing up the main points of the email. Ensure that you leave the recipient with a good impression of you or your business. Do not forget to thank the recipient for taking the time to read your email.

Ensure you still keep a polite and friendly tone even in your conclusion. Ensure you use professional closing like “Sincerely” or “Best regards”.

Conclusion

Writing an effective business email is essential for any formal communication. If you follow the above tips you will write a professional business email which is more likely to help you get the feedback you are looking for from the recipient.

When writing a business email ask yourself why you are writing the email and what you want to achieve. With that in mind, it’s easier to write down the correct and the most important point while still ensuring your recipient understands what you expect from them.

Don’t write a long email since the recipient may not have all the time to read stories. Pay attention to your tone and avoid using informal or slang and also avoid the use of all caps. If you follow the tips above well you will increase the chances of your email being read, understood, and responded to.

Share some Love