Business Emails for Dummies

Our work email is probably one of our most essential tools – and we don’t even realize it! Daily correspondences and important plans can all be made with a quick email conversation. But how do we know what is a good use of our work emails? Keep on reading to get the basics of business emails.

The Recipients

Who are you sending the email to? A group of people? An angry customer? Your boss? A combination of colleagues? Is it someone outside of your company? It’s important to set your email’s tone and purpose based off of who is getting the email. Before you begin writing your email, you should know who exactly is going to receive it.

Once the recipients have been determined, make note of them but don’t put them in the “To” bar quite yet. You want to have a chance to proofread your email before it goes out, so the best way to prevent yourself from prematurely sending an email is not putting anyone in the recipient bar until you are 100% ready to send that email.

The Subject Line

Your subject line should NOT consist of all of the information in the email – it also shouldn’t be vague. So what is the happy middle ground? Think of your subject line as a very brief summary of your email. Is there a date mentioned in your email? You should include that in your subject line. If your email is time-sensitive, mention that in your subject line too!

The Main Content

Be direct and concise with the content of your email. Your emails don’t have to beat around the bush – get to the point! If your email contains important information, don’t be afraid to embolden it. Of course we hope everyone reads the emails we send them, but we can’t always count on that. If the important points are in bold, then they will be easier to find when our less-than-observant coworkers go back looking for that information.

If your email is a bit longer, try to add some white space by using bullet-points or shorter paragraphs. It’s tough to read a wall of text on a screen; the white space will definitely help out!

Your Signature

Hopefully your company has a standard signature all employees follow. If not, we’ve got some tips for creating one!

• Keep it simple! All you need to include is your name, job title, company, and contact information! You should link to your company’s website in your signature, which can be done over your company’s name (like this!).

• Incorporate some color; this will add visual interest as well as clearly indicate where your information is so it can be found at a quick glance.

The Don’ts

It can be easy to improperly use your business email. Stay away from using colloquial and vulgar language; you might be able to get away with that in your personal email, but your business email should be strictly professional. Don’t send the latest meme or political debate – that is, unless it’s relevant to your job!

And finally, if you get an email from someone that contains a link or attachment you don’t recognize or weren’t expecting, do not click them! It could be a virus that will infect your computer and spread to others’ computers if they are not careful. If you’re ever unsure about an email’s legitimacy, contact the person who sent it to you and ask them if they really did send it.

Remember: this is your professional email account. Don’t do anything within your email that you wouldn’t want your boss – or their boss – to see.