Key Ways to Make Your Email Communication Effective

Its needless to say that email is one of the major forms of formal communication in the world. It is highly essential to have great email skills. Good email skills could definitely take you a long way.


Following is a simple decoded email guide that could help enhance your skills.

• Subject Line: Should be like the newspaper headline. It should catch attention, be precise and should convey the whole meaning.

• Greetings and Sign Offs: Don’t start with plain text. Starting an email with the greeting is super important. When you are in doubt and don’t know how to address the person - try to be formal in order to avoid offending them.
   

Some common ways to address:
 

Dear Ms./Mr./Mrs. XYZ (Name of the person),

If you don’t know the name of the person you are addressing, or if the e-mail addresses a diverse group, try something generic, yet polite:

To whom it may concern,

Dear team OR Dear Members

Hello Everyone

Likewise the closing and Signature of the email is very important. Always sign off with the name at the end of the email. If you are writing a professional mail, it is always good to mention your position.

Thanks and Regards,

Mary Thomas

Sr. Research Associate

Sometimes for your closing, you can just use something brief like: Thank you, Best Wishes, See You, Regards or perhaps your name will do the needful.

For a very formal message, such as a job application, use the kind of closing that you might see in a business letter:

Sincerely, Respectfully etc.
 

• Concise and Precise Language: While writing the body of the email should be concise and precise. Think what exactly you want to convey to the person and write accordingly. Do not write endless stories without even conveying the proper message. Avoid long sentences and bigger words as well. Whatever you are trying to say, put that in simple words. The tone of the email should also be right. It should not be misinterpreted or misread. Do not try to be very direct or very casual. Maintain a balance.

• Email Format: There are few non-negotiables in an email. Below is the example of the same.

Example:

To:

Subject:

Dear Madam/Sir

We are writing to you on behalf of XYZ. We are looking Thank you for contacting <Company Name> regarding delivery of your Order Number xxxxxxxxx.

Regrettably, due to certain unforeseen circumstances, we are unable to deliver your order by the expected delivery date i.e. 21 December 2016.  We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused due to this.

However, we assure you that this is a sole incident and does not indicate the level of service that we aim to provide to our clients.

Please accept the enclosed Voucher worth Rs. 1000 as a small gesture of goodwill.

Regards,

XYZ

So, the non-negotiables are Subject Line, Greetings and Sign Offs.

• CC: / BCC: - CC stands for Carbon Copy and BCC stands for Blind Carbon Copy.

  • When to CC: If you feel that you want some other person to get the exact message and that person might suggest something or take action, then always ensure to CC them.

  • When to BCC: If you just want other people to get the message and no action is required from them, always BCC them. Blind copying e-mails to a group of people can be useful when you don’t want everyone on the list to have each other’s email addresses.

• Grammatical Skills: Avoid grammatical mistakes at all cost. Bad grammar could paint a wrong picture about you. You should definitely have the basic grammar skills – starting with Caps Letter in the beginning of the sentence, Proper punctuations etc.
   

                 Following is an example of very bad email:

Hi Mary,

As per your requirement, we have come up with this abc product. which suites your all the requirement which you asked for.

kindly provide us the opportunity to serve you with our best services.

Looking for the positive from your side.
 

This email has no proper message, no proper punctuation marks, grammatical mistakes are there and there is no signature.

• Avoid Casual Language - Never take emails casually. Ensure the seriousness of the email at all points.
   

Few example:

Informal – Thanks for emailing me on 15th February

Formal – Thank you for your email dated 15th February

Informal – Sorry, I can’t make it to the event.

Formal – I am afraid I will not be able to attend the event.

Informal – Can you…?

Formal – I was wondering if you could….?
 

• Follow Ups: As important it is to write an email; it is equally important to take feedback. If you have written an email and haven’t taken the feedback, the purpose of writing gets lost. Always ensure to follow up.