1 . T Y P E S O F E M A I L S 2 . P A R T S O F A N E M A I L 3 . C O N F I D E N T I A L I T Y 4 . T H E S U B J E C T L I N E 5 . T H E G R E E T I N G 6 . T H E O P E N I N G 7 . T H E B O D Y 8 . T H E C L O S I N G 9 . T H E S I G N A T U R E 1 0 . S A M P L E E M A I L S R E F E R E N C E S
Professional Emails
A Practical Guide
Reply promptly to serious messages.
Reply promptly to serious
messages. If you need more than 24 hours to collect information or make a decision, send a brief response explaining the delay.
Four Types of Email
1. No-Reply Email –You want to tell the receiver
something, either a compliment or information. No reply is necessary.
2. Inquiry Email - You need something from the
receiver in a reply. Example: advice, or questions answered. The reply is your desired outcome.
3. Open-Ended Email – to keep communication
lines open, for the purpose of some future result or benefit.
4. Action Email – The goal is not the reply, but some
action on the part of the receiver. Examples: a
Parts of an Email
Parts
of an
Parts of an Email
Confidentiality
Your e-mails are not private. Avoid sending
confidential, proprietary, sensitive,
personal, potentially embarrassing, or
classified information via e-mail.
When sending the same email to several
people, via CCs or BCCs, remember that
their addresses are visible in the CC box.
Use the blind copy (BCC) or mail merge
function to protect the privacy of your
contacts.
Parts of an Email
Subject
The Subject Line
The subject line is the first thing the target
receivers see when sorting through their
in-boxes.
Always write a subject line that is informative,
direct, and states the main issue in the email.
Keep it short; long subjects lines don’t show
well in the browser windows, or are ignored.
Use sentence case, not all caps.
When replying, change the subject line when
Parts of an Email
Greeting
The Greeting
(Salutation)
Always open your email with a greeting.
For formal or business e-mails, use the
surname, not the first name:
Dear Mrs. Cowabunga,
Dear Sir,
If you’re contacting a company, not an
individual, you may write
To Whom It May Concern:
Parts of an Email
The Opening
Begin with a line of thanks. Find any way to
thank target receivers. This will put them at
ease, and it will make you appear more
courteous.
For example, if someone asked a question,
you can begin with:
Thank you for contacting Tanza Company.
If someone replied to your email, you can
begin with:
State your purpose
State your purpose in the opening
sentence.
I am writing to enquire about …
I am writing in reference to …
Don’t write a long introduction, don’t
tell a story. Skip the niceties.
People just want to know what you
Parts of an Email
Inform
ation in
The Body
Be brief but polite. Tell them exactly
what you want, in as short an email as
possible.
If your message runs longer than two or
three short paragraphs, reduce the
message or provide an attachment.
Remember to say "please" and "thank
Write about one thing
If possible, don’t overwhelm the target
receiver.
If you write about multiple things, with
multiple requests, it is likely that:
your email won’t be read or acted on
the receiver will only do one of those things
Use “If … then” statements
To avoid back-and-forth exchange, and save
time, anticipate the possible responses.
Give a desired action for each possible
response.
For example, instead of asking if they’ve
received a response, waiting for a reply, and
then replying to that reply, try and do it all in
one email:
Did you receive a response from Mr. Xena? If so,
please email the report to me by Tuesday. If not,
Keep it professional
Don’t use jokes, emotions, or emoticons. Do not send inflammatory or emotionally charged
comments via e-mail.
Don't use abbreviations or acronyms such as PLZ,
ROFLOL (rolling on the floor laughing out loud), or WUWT (what's up with that).
Avoid exclamation points, ellipses, question marks,
bold, italics, underlines, or multi-colored font.
It is considered very rude to use CAPITAL
LETTERS LIKE THIS BECAUSE IT MEANS THAT YOU ARE SHOUTING.
Parts of an Email
Professional Closing
How do you properly end an email? A simple
question, yet so many people are not sure
about what is proper email etiquette.
In the business world, ending an email
professionally is just as important as
perfecting the rest of the message.
If you do it sloppily, you might lose some
precious business opportunities.
Avoid this by following a few basic rules of
The Closing Remarks
Courtesy is always important, no matter how short
the email is. Before you end your email: Thank you for your patience and cooperation. Thank you for your consideration.
Include an accurate follow-up statement:
I will send you additional information. I look forward to receiving your input.
If you have questions or concerns, do let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.
The Closing
Use a professional closing: Best regards, Sincerely,
Thank you,
For more casual emails:
Best wishes, Cheers,
For more formal emails:
Yours Sincerely, Yours Faithfully,
Parts of an Email
Signatur
The Email Signature
A professional signature makes it easy to contact you. Your email account can automatically add these data to
the bottom of the email:
full professional name job title
business phone/fax numbers business street address
business website, if any
a legal disclaimer if required by your company.
Depending on policy, you may also want to include a link
How to create a signature
Click the gear icon in the upper right, thenselect Settings.
Enter your new signature text in the box at the
bottom of the page next to the Signature option.
Click Save Changes.
Signatures are separated from the rest of your
message by two dashes.
To see a signature in Gmail, click the Show
trimmed content button at the bottom of the
Your Signature
Different signatures for different addresses
If you send mail "from" multiple addresses in Gmail, you can set a
different signature for each address in the General tab of your settings.
Choose the second radio button in the "Signature:" section.
Use the drop-down menu to choose the appropriate address and set
the signature you want.
Editing your signature
If you're editing your signature and only have an option to create a
plain text signature, this is due to the settings.
Click Compose to create a new message, then click the Rich
formatting option in the message.
Parts of an Email
Attachm
Attachments
If there are any attachments, mention
them in the email so that the receiver
knows to look for and open the files.
Appropriately name the attachments so
that the receiver knows what each
document is just by reading the file
name.
Review
CLARITY: Once you’ve written an email,
take a few seconds to read over it before
pressing the Send button. Read it as if you
were an outsider — how clear is it?
AMBIGUITY: Are there any ambiguous
statements that could be interpreted the
wrong way? If so, clarify.
LENGTH: As you review, see if you can
shorten the email, remove words or
sentences or even paragraphs.
Parts of an Email
Revise, Check,
Check, and then check again
Before you hit the send button
Edit and proofread. You may think you're too
busy to do the small stuff, but your reader may
think you're careless, unqualified, or
unprofessional.
Review and spell-check your email one more
Finally
Reply promptly to serious messages.
If you need more than 24 hours to collect
information or make a decision, send a brief
note to explain the delay.
Some replies are delayed by electronic
transmission. Explain the delay.
Some messages arrive at the end of the last
working day of the week. Check emails just
before you leave.
J O B I N T E R V I E W - T H A N K Y O U J O B A P P L I C A T I O N - C O V E R L E T T E R
R E Q U E S T F O R A N U P D A T E
Sample 1
Job
Interview
- Thank
you
Dear Mr./Ms. Last Name:
It was very nice to speak with you today about the sales
position at the ABC Organization. The job seems to be an excellent match for my skills and interests. The self-confident and aggressive characteristic requirements you described needed for this position confirmed my desire to work with you.
In addition to my experience, I will bring to the position
assertiveness and the skills to motivate others to work cooperatively as a team.
I appreciate the time you took to interview me. I am very interested in working for you and look forward to hearing from you regarding this position.
Sincerely,
Your Complete Name Your company address
Sample 2
Job
Application
- Cover
Letter
Dear Hiring Manager,
I saw your job posting for a graphic designer in the ABC site. I believe I can be an ideal match for the position advertised.
I have extensive experience in the planning and design of all graphic-related projects. In my position as ___ for ___ Company, I was part of several projects for website design, the company intranet portal, product brochure design, print and media advertisement as well as newsletters for our customer subscribers.
Attached is my resume; these are some sample websites that I designed:
URL URL
If you require further information, please let me know.
I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your consideration. Best Regards,
Your complete name Your company address
Sample 3
Request
for
Update
Hi Jane,
Can you lease update me on the status of the project timelines?
Last week you mentioned that you were waiting for Sam to send you the development timeline and that you were
working on communication and planning documents (including timelines) for the project.
I am planning for the project in Asia Pacific and need these dates to initiate discussion with the countries. The pilot will be a topic of discussion on our weekly status calls next week. Your assistance in getting this information as soon as
possible is appreciated.
Thanks, Robert
Know more at
Basic Explanationshttp:\\www.englishtown.com/community/channels/article.aspx?articleName=184-email or www.ehow.com/how_4995393_end-email-professionally.html
Good Explanations http:\\grammar.about.com/od/developingessays/a/profemails.htm;
home.comcast.net/~leparcell/email.html
Practical Explanations
http:\\www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/do-your-emails-suck-how-to-write-emails-that-get-results.html
Excellent Explanations (Detailed)
http:\\thinksimplenow.com/productivity/15-tips-for-writing-effective-email/
Excellent Explanations (With Examples) http:\\jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/e-text/email/ Concise Explanations 1
http:\\www.ehow.com/how_4679819_write-professional-email.html
Concise Explanations 2
http:\\www.ehow.com/how_2159648_write-professional-emails.html
Practical Explanations
http:\\rarepattern.com/nodes/2008/01/email-etiquette-best-practices-things-avoid
http:\\www.techrepublic.com/article/10-e-mail-best-practices-You might like these
8 E-mail Mistakes that Make You Look Bad
http:\\www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/8-e-mail-mistakes-that-make-you-look-bad.html
How to Know If Your Email Has Been Read
http:\\www.ehow.com/how_5775094_email-read.html
Why Emails Should be Short Instead of Nice
http:\\gigaom.com/collaboration/why-emails-should-be-short-instead-of-nice/
7 Rules for Communicating Clearly and Concisely
http:\\gigaom.com/collaboration/7-rules-for-communicating-clearly-and-concisely-in-email/
Five Things I Learned From 20 Years of Email
http:\\gigaom.com/2012/08/19/five-things-ive-learned-from-20-years-of-email/
Two More Killer Tips for Effective E-mail http:\\blogs.bnet.com/businesstips/?p=4686
Don't Annoy Your Boss and Co-Workers with E-mail Gaffes
http:\\blogs.bnet.com/businesstips/?p=4262
Write More Efficient E-mails to Save Time and Frustration
http:\\blogs.bnet.com/businesstips/?p=3204
Don't Bring Down Your Mail Server with Reply All
T H A N K Y O U
